People rave about Bette Davis in this film, and duly so. She's wonderful. But, for me, Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington is tops. Not only a favorite performance of mine, but character too. I put the performance up against entire careers. George Sanders, for whom I have a very high opinion, is at his best also. Celeste Holm — whom I'm delighted to say is still among the living and working as of 2010, no less — is indispensable. The demise of Barbara Bates adds a poignancy to the final scene as Phoebe stands before the mirror wanting success "more than anything else in the world."
More than anything, a film is its characters. All About Eve exemplifies this by combining perfect casting with writing of the wittiest kind. The Killer to Killer scene where Addison unravels Eve's fictitious life is one of my favorites, period. She is loathsome, yet I can't blame him for being so caddishly enamored.
More than anything, a film is its characters. All About Eve exemplifies this by combining perfect casting with writing of the wittiest kind. The Killer to Killer scene where Addison unravels Eve's fictitious life is one of my favorites, period. She is loathsome, yet I can't blame him for being so caddishly enamored.