All About Eve (1950)

 Joseph L. Mankiewicz's "All About Eve"

When Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1950 film "All About Eve" was released in the US, it became a sensation, especially among critics and 'Hollywood' people especially. This is not all too surprising, as the film centers on the structural components of the 'entertainment' industry and the people that inhabit it (along with critics and journalists that cover it). To me, and I'm sure everyone else, the most sensational thing about the film was the phenomenal performance by the iconic Bette Davis.

Bette Davis stars as Margot Channing, an aging Broadway star, who begin to become concerned after she takes in one of her young 'fans.' The fan, the titular Eve, begins to maneuver her way into Margot's inner circle and eventually manipulates people and situations so that she becomes Broadway's next big star. As Margot begins to realize her decline and the ascension of the young protégé, she must reconcile with the relationships of the people around her and her own relationship to her glamorous profession.

The more obvious themes of the film center on the entertainment industry and the games that people play to 'get to the top.' The final shot in the film of the young new girl standing in the mirror holding Eve's award perfectly exemplifies these themes and the circular nature of the rise and fall of entertainment stars. I may be pulling at strings here, but many aspects of the film seems to have parallels to Coralie Fargeat's 2024 body horror film "The Substance." An aging woman in the entertainment industry begins to feel the pressure of the system wanting to move on to a younger model, all the while the younger model is more than happy to drain her of her lifeforce in order to preserve her ability to ascend and become the center of the spotlight. However, this theme isn't exclusive to these films, as its components are obviously universal. I was simply called back to "The Substance" while watching "All About Eve" simply because I had recently watched it.

However, I feel as though there are some more interesting thematic musings that draw my attention. In fact, I feel as though "All About Eve" is a far more abstract film than its plot-driven narrative would suggest. Nothing too complex, but it's a film about life and one's life cycle. Sure the specificities of the story centers on the entertainment industry. And this localization would make it easier for director and scriptwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz to inject as much personality into the film as he can due to his familiarity with the subject. But, the way Mankiewicz structures the film can be used to identity the rise and fall of anyone in any profession, or simply life in general. 

As you can identify in Margot Channing, she begins to realize that there are far more important things in life than one's ability to maintain control over the external circumstances of one's life beyond interpersonal relationships. Jobs come and go, people move on from you, and you age. However, through these revelations of one's own shortcomings in maintaining a hold on power, money, or fame, you begin to center yourself on what's more important in life. Margot uncovers within herself the desire to be married to her lifelong partner Bill and to maintain her friendship with her closest allies. These relationships become far more important to her than her own ego-driven desire to stay in the spotlight. Eve, on the other hand, sacrifices all of her relationships to attain this power, this wealth, and that spotlight. Because of this hard-driving desire, she becomes all along at the film's end. Even the dastardly reviewer who helped manipulate her to the top turns on her in the end. She has the trophy, the spotlight, and the fame, but she ends the film unhappy and alone.

I very much enjoyed "All About Eve" and felt it was a great watch. It felt to be very akin to "Sunset Boulevard" released in the same year. Although, "Sunset Boulevard" is the far superior picture. These two films feel like the last sullen realizations of the fading empire of Hollywood. The age of the big drama picture was coming to an end. The silent stars and the talking picture goddesses were preparing themselves for the final curtain call. This sentiment seeps throughout the entirety of these films. A new day was dawning in Hollywood, although it wouldn't fully arrive for another decade or so. Marlon Brando would change the very fabric of the acting profession forever the following year with "A Streetcar Named Desire." John Cassavetes would ignite the flame for the New Hollywood movement later in the same decade with his 1959 film "Shadows." The Golden Age of Hollywood was coming to an end, and a film like "All About Eve" was a superb example of a film ruminating on its own place in the world of industry, in the world of entertainment, and more importantly, in the world of art itself.