All About Eve

(Joseph L. Mankiewicz, US 1950, 138 min., 35mm)

Mankiewicz finally emerged from his brother Herman’s shadow with All About Eve, which swept the Academy Award nominations (fourteen in all—still a record) and captured six, including Best Picture and two for Mankiewicz as writer and director. A film about stardom and power (two recurring themes in his later films), the story follows the rise of one star, Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) and the fall of another, Margo Channing (Bette Davis). Modeling herself on Margo’s every move, Eve serves as Margo’s personal assistant and inserts herself into Margo’s life—and the theatre. As Eve’s ambition becomes apparent, Margo lashes out and begins to lose allies even as Eve is making her play for a role written for Margo. “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”