All About Eve (1950)

Time for a Bette Davis movie! Review coming eventually.

REVIEW:

I was rather disappointed in this. This movie receives tons of praise and it, along with Sunset Boulevard, was one of the most highly-praised films of 1950. This didn't live up to my expectations at all which will be explained in just a moment.

This movie tells the story of an aging Broadway actress and an up-and-comer trying to become a star. I didn't really get all that excited about the plot and it became less and less interesting as the picture wore on. It was rather straightforward and I didn't find anything all that unpredictable about it. The movie ends in much the same way it began which was a reasonably effective plot device, but doesn't add all that much.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of this film was the acting. All over the place I've read that Bette Davis and Gloria Swanson somehow canceled each other out and therefore neither one of them won the Best Actress award that year. Gloria Swanson delivered what is likely the best acting performance I have ever seen in Sunset Boulevard whereas Bette Davis was far inferior to Swanson in this picture. In fact, I'm not sure if she should even count as a leading actress - Anne Baxter had more screen time and was also nominated for Best Actress. I would argue Baxter was more deserving of the award than Davis although they're both far below Swanson. The award went to Judy Holliday but I have not seen Born Yesterday so I can't comment on the decision.

Continuing with the acting, Bette Davis just seemed too old. While I realize she was supposed to be playing an older character, this just did not seem like Bette Davis. I've seen Davis in two other films from the 1930s and that is the Bette Davis I think of when I think of Bette Davis. While she went on to make plenty of movies after this film, I would argue her best years were behind her at this point despite the fact most critics say this is her best performance. She was nominated for 8 Academy Awards prior to this film (winning 2) but just twice more after this (winning 0).

Overall, this is a decent movie, but nothing all that spectacular. It competed with Sunset Boulevard in almost every category at the Academy Awards that year and I found this to be a far inferior film. It's certainly worth a watch but probably not worth a repeat viewing.

70/100
C-

UP NEXT: To be determined.