The Lady Eve [DVD] [1941]

Preston Sturges indeed should be proud for creating a rogue of a rowdy affair about battle of sexes entailing romantic reluctance and sexual dilemmas and the paradoxical idealism of true love examined as a romantic comedy ,within a sharp script which discovers the comic genius of HENRY Fonda ,but the limelight is stolen as always by BARBRA Stanwyck as JEAN and LADY Eve,without her it would be impossible to contemplate a movie so perfect in comic timing and an emotional harmony connotating a simple plot ,yet so profoundly rich in affect as to make present cinema look pathetic after 70 odd years of being created .If this was the archetype of the hollywood romcom ,then i regret to say that Hollywood is in stone age today compared to the forties as this works at every dimension and all the human senses are satiated besides the sense of style and intellectual curiosity .It does so by an impossibly ingenious plot in a delicious presentation where frothy comedy has already touched you so deeply in heart and mind that you accept the characters as bigger than life with conviction .Henry Fonda is charles Pike a rather shy introverted billionaire and an eligible bachelor who indulges as an ophiologist in spare time and is looked after by a delightful guardian played by Demarest .He boards a cruise ship after an Amazon river trip and immediately becomes the ogling focus of all female species abroad including Jean who is part of a triumvirate team of con artists and cardsharps headed by her father colonel Harrington played by a wry Charles Coburn ,as they set about to target and victimise the vulnerable billionaire with jean turning her wicked feminine charms on the vulnerable victim and the two leads start a whirlwind courtship where jean somewhere falls truly for pike and thus puts an end to her father's malicious plan to fleece the naive young man .Unfortunately Pike discovers their true identity and in a rash encounter callously breaks Jean's heart who then decides to get even and sets about on an adventure as a disguised english aristocrat lady eve which is both about love and vengeance .The superlative dialogue and the triumphant secretive directorial style of preston sturges is beyond comparison or analysis as he is beyond and above all others with a stupendous mixture of slapstick and subtle humour .This is totally lacking in the cinema of today where you usually breed inadvertent contempt for half baked characters and dizzy dialogues .This movie is set on a cruise liner and the Pike country estate within gorgeous indoors and outdoors and plays in a train and ship compartment but it is so naturally balanced within a graceful style that it becomes enormously spacious and widely arousable in every site with an enhanced vision with costumes that are the epitome of classic French vogue and haute couture .A special mention for Henry Fonda as the stoic,naive but charming millionaire who had the courage to play the buffoon to gentlemanly perfection which can also be called comic genius and also to EUGENE PALETTE who plays his father as a victimised husband in a great performance .A great screwball movie dedicated to the paradox of the lighter side of social discrimination and the delightfully essential sin committed by Adam and Eve in their hour of damndest glory ,this is a tribute to the golden age of American cinema .

This is one hell of a special film, and one of the most enjoyable, original and downright erotic films of its era. {Hollywood still knew how to be genuinely erotic in 1941 ~ the Hays Code was by then in place with its buckets of cold water, but was administered by people too dense to expunge the more subtle dialogue in such films as this or, say, The Big Sleep.}I've never seen the great Barbara Stanwyck more joyfully sexy or Henry Fonda more guilelessly funny, and, let's face it, Fonda wasn't the normal go-to guy for humour.This is one of Preston Sturges' wittiest but also most touching films. Stanwyck repays the trust her director obviously had in her with a performance of such unforced gutsiness, wit and alluring flirtiness ~ at least in the first half ~ that you want to reach through the screen and give her a big kiss. Fonda manages to be her equal, even to the extent of playing a man who can't see a table without falling over it, but who falls for "Eve" in a big way. We really don't know if these two will get together until the final moments of this perverse tale of con artists, charming snake fanciers, upper class nobs and society dames.The plot is hard to summarise, so I won't even try ~ and anyway, it is described elsewhere on this page. Suffice it to say it is a 'screwball' comedy, so there's a lot of backchat, sexual innuendo, misunderstandings and buffoonish clowning. The great plus is that, as with the immortal Grant/Hepburn comedies of that time, the stars play it straight, without trying to 'be funny'. Fonda's hapless greenness is believable, while Stanwyck's deceitful seducer is played by the lady to perfection. Her performance is so seductive that it's not only Fonda who is left swooning with desire ...Some of the best comic supports are to be seen in smaller roles, in particular the unique, pitch-perfect Charles Coburn as Stanwyck's roguish father, rotund, rust-voiced Eugene Pallette as the rich owner of the mansion where the 'second act' is played out, and ~ joy of joys ~ on loan from his usual billet at the Astaire/Rogers dance factory, the insinuating, wholly individual, mildly bonkers Eric Blore, in one of his finest and most rewarding roles as the fruity conspirator and friend of Eve.All in all, Sturges at his best, Fonda like you've rarely seen him before or since, and the sometimes underrated Barbara Stanwyck at her glowing, slinky, magnificent peak.Wonderful.

An okay film hampered by Henry Fonda, hes' not a suited for comedy actor, Cary Grant would have been a better choice.

At her peak, Barbara Stanwyck was the highest paid woman in America. She gave definitive performances in melodramas, social dramas, westerns and film noir - but my favourites are her comedies. This is one of her best. Fonda is sometimes a bit stolid in his acting but here Stanwyck's energy seems to rub off on him and he displays immaculate comic timing. Everyone involved eats up their roles and the direction moves efficiently. Great fun.

Since the bonus content is nowhere to be found in the product description, here it is:-new, restored 4K digital transfer, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack-audio commentary from 2001, featuring film scholar Marian Keane-introduction from 2001 by Peter Bogdanovich-New conversation with Tom Sturges, Bogdanovich, James L Brooks, Ron Shelton, as well as critics Susan King, Leonard Martin and Kenneth Turan.-New video essay by David Cairns-costume designs by Edith Head-Lux Radio Theater adaptation of the movie from 1942 with Stanwyck and Ray Milland- audio recording from 2013 of "Up the amazon", a song from an unproduced musical based on the movieEnglish HoH subtitles and a booklet containing an essay by Geoffrey O'Brien and a profile on Preston Sturges.

Amazing film!

This movie is fascinating when it comes to costumes -- by the great Edith Head -- but otherwise pretty much a standard silver screen rom-com.

Barbara Stanwyck was sexy in this role and Henry Fonda was a perfect foil for her. But on seeing it again after many years I was disappointed with relatively tame ending. Still great entertainment though.

Deliziosa commedia con grandi interpreti , assai poco verosimile ma che importa?Edoarda Paolini

An absolute gem! Brilliant and witty writing, great actors from Stanwyck to Fonda, plus the always hilarious Eric Blore and William Demarest. Oh, and Eugene Pallatte! It sets the gold standard for comedy, chemistry and casting, in my opinion. Stanwyck was never lovelier, nor Henry Fonda more handsome. Even the costumes and set design are gorgeous. Really, it's a comedy for the ages, and one where the female lead is the smartest one in the room, from beginning to end! ENJOY!!

Die Stanwyck und Coburn sind als Tochter und Vater ein Gaunerpaar, das sich hochstapelnd in die reiche Gesellschaft mogelt, um sie mit falschem Kartenspiel auszubeuten. Als die Beiden herausfinden, dass sich an Bord des Passagierschiffs, das sie zu ihrem Jagdgebiet erkoren hatten, ein millionenschwerer Erbe einer Bierbrauerei befindet, planen sie, ihn zu schröpfen. Dumm nur, dass sich Jean alsbald in den Tolpatsch verliebt. Doch als er ihr einen Heiratsantrag macht, wie soll sie ihm ihre wahre Identität eröffnen? Er kriegt sie ohne sie heraus und wendet sich zutiefst entrüstet und enttäuscht von ihr ab. Wie sie ihn schließlich zurückgewinnt, macht die Geschichte des Films aus. Sturges, Stanwyck und Fonda machen daraus eine Screwball- und Slapstickkomödie, die ihresgleichen sucht. Fonda kehrt einen Komödianten heraus, den man diesem Meister ernster Rollen nicht zugetraut hätte. Die Dialoge sprühen von Witz und man kommt aus dem Lachen nicht heraus. Ganz nebenbei erstrahlt die Stanwyck auf dem Gipfel ihrer Schönheit und Attraktivität. Aus der zweiten Reihe erkennt man einige Gesichter, die schon manchen Film zu einem sehenswerten Kunstwerk gestaltet haben. So auch diesen!

Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck are outstanding in this excellent movie. Criterion quality version was excellent. Would highly recommend this movie.

Henry Fonda incarne un fils à papa assez ignorant des choses de la vie, très érudit mais également très naïf en relations humaines. Sur le bateau qui ramène ce spécialiste des serpents d'Amazonie vers les Etats-Unis, il rencontre jeune femme qui vit de jeu truqués et d'escroqueries, flanquée de son père, vieux briscard et escroc de haut vol. Leur romance s'arrête net quand le jeune homme découvre la véritable nature de ses activités. Dès lors, elle va tout faire pour le reconquérir, mettant dans sa poche le père du héros,un roi de la bière qui prend d'ailleurs son fils pour un raté. Assez immoral,ce film du genre screwball comedy, typiquement américain, est sorti en 1941. J'adore Preston Sturges,le réalisateur des"Voyages de Sullivan" Il y a eu des tentatives pour le réhabiliter, mais dès que c'est une comédie et que c'est 100 % américain, ça n'est peut-être pas digne d'intérêt...Peut-être que la Paramount n'était pas un studio assez prestigieux aux yeux des critiques,allez savoir... Il y a dans ses films un côté Frank Capra en moins sentimental et avec un rythme plus moderne. La critique est plus subtilement amenée mais il se situe bien dans cette lignée. C'est un de mes films préférés, je suis très contente de remettre la main sur cette édition sortie il y a quelques années. J'ai manqué l'occasion de l'acheter à l'époque et je ne pensais plus le trouver. Quand j'ai eu l'occasion de remettre la main dessus j'ai foncé. Barbara Stanwyck formidable comme toujours et pas assez reconnue, Henry Fonda craquant, seconds rôles savoureux,indispensables au cinéma : le fameux Piggie des"Hommes préfèrent les blondes" et Eric Blore habitué des films du duo Astaire-Rogers.Uniquement en VO sous-titrée. Le titre français, "Un coeur pris au piège", reflète l'ambiance du film mais le titre anglais ne peut être expliqué sans en dévoiler la deuxième partie. Un de mes films préférés