The Duality of 'All About Eve'

All About Eve (1950)

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Starring Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, Celeste Holm, George Sanders, Gerry Merrill, Marilyn Monroe

Release Date October 27th, 1950

Classic on the October 10th episode of the Everyone's a Critic Movie Review Podcast

A question that plagued me as I watched and loved All About Eve for the 100th time was what the modern story equivalent of All About Eve might be. The original finds a cunning ingénue snaking her way into the inner circle of Broadway's elite with career advancement as her sole motivation. I love Broadway, but it hasn't been as relevant recently as it was in 1950s where All About Eve occurs. The modern All About Eve would not be set on Broadway. Nor would it likely be set in Hollywood. No, the new All About Eve would center on the social media world.

Today, the Eve of All About Eve would have come up as a fan of Logan Paul's Team 10 v-loggers or a fan of Charlie D'Amelio and her family. Eve would arrive at the Tik Tok Hype House and wait outside everyday in hopes that one of Charlie D'Amelio's family will see her dedication and introduce her to her idol. She would become Charlie's assistant and help film her Tik Toks and then, when Charlie could not make it to a big Hype House brand deal meeting, Eve would take her place and dazzle the owner of Bang energy drinks with her talent for branding his awful drink.

Okay, that's not exactly a one to one comparison. It's more like what He's All That is to She's all That really. That said, I am just struggling for a way to bring the supremely witty, ingenious and utterly brilliant All About Eve into a context that might intrigue young people to watch it. It is my all consuming desire to get more people to watch and remember All About Eve so that they can experience the full breadth of the talent of Bette Davis and writer Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Together, Davis and Mankiewicz might rescue the concept of wit in the day and age of Tik Tok.

Sadly, All About Eve remains bound to its New York in the 50s aesthetic. It belongs to a time when people were devoted to the New York stage in a fashion that today people are dedicated to a vast cross-section of media. The ambition of Eve remains timeless, that type of striving will never not be in fashion, but the circle that this Eve strives to be part of will never be the same. This witty, drunken, catty and brilliant circle, revolving around superstar Margo Chandler (Bette Davis), is lost to time.

Perhaps that's the point? Perhaps the modern reflection of All About Eve is how a bad person with ambition still thrives while genuine talent, fondly remembered, recedes slowly but inexorably into time. Indeed, Bette Davis is the kind of talent who stuck around for a very long time, but well after her talent was most fondly remembered. She was the kind of actress who bravely accepted roles like Margo Chandler because her talent and smarts far outpaced any sense of vanity or perception.

Indeed, many Eve Harrington's have come and gone over the years, they've found success but without respect. They were popular and idolized but never became icons. Their ambition brought them the trappings of celebrity minus the things that make life whole like the respect of ones peers or the secure notion of self that is so rare and valuable. The Eve Harrington's of the world spend their careers forever uncertain if they have actual talent or a bit of luck that could run out.

That's perhaps the secret of Bette Davis, security. A secure sense of self. That is reflected in her performance as Margo Chandler. Margo wins in the end after briefly doubting herself by remembering that she's Margo Chandler, she has the respect of her peers, the love of the man of her dreams, and a tight circle of friends who see past her talent and what that talent can do for them. Margo needs not for ambition, people recognized her talent and she never had to ask for their attention, no seeking, no striving, a full arrival of a complete person.

Similarly, Bette Davis didn't need to strive for respect, she had it from the first moment. She didn't need the adulation that some sought, she had the respect of peers and directors who sought to work with her even if they may not have liked her. They knew and she knew that she was the best at what she did. If they didn't like her, it was because she possessed incredible talent and she knew it. They couldn't do what they did without her but she could damn well do what she does without them.

All About Eve is a story about duality, two performers as two contrasting states of being. Eve Harrington represents insecurity, a life built out of sticks and threads haphazardly strung together to create a life. Margo Chandler is self actualization, she's confidence. Margo is a life built on talent and accomplishment. It's a life built on an earned respect. And it's a life built around finding people who can similarly claim security and confidence and bolster each other's security and confidence.

Eve, on the other hand, finds that her ambition leaves her in the even less secure place of being beholden to Addison Dewitt. Eve must live with the fact that her stardom, her success, will never be her own. A good illustration of this duality between Eve and Margo comes in their relationship to Addison Dewitt. Early on in All About Eve, Dewitt, a powerful New York columnist arrives at a party at Margo Chandler's home. Margo welcomes her guest by wondering how he found himself invited to her party. Margo may not be openly cruel toward Dewitt, but it's clear that she doesn't need him and is not afraid to let him know it.

Later in the movie, as Eve is pushing forward in her first lead role in a major show, she tries to tell Dewitt to leave and he violently refuses. Where Margo is in a secure place where she can dismiss a devilish schemer like Dewitt, Eve has no such power or confidence. She needs Dewitt and he makes sure she knows it. This will be the case for the rest of her career. No matter if she's successful or beloved, she won't be respected and she will always have to wonder if she could have thrived on her own.

Think of Eve Harrington as lies you have told to get something you want. Lies can be uncovered and even if that lie works, you will always live with the anxiety of being found out. Margo Chandler is the truth. She has no concern about being found out as there is nothing to be found. Margo has the security of living truth. When you live a life dedicated to truth you don't have the anxiety of those who thrive through lies. Similarly, Eve must worry if her talent is a lie while Margo will always live with the truth that she is as talented as everyone says she is.

Perhaps this simplistic divvying up of All About Eve might be appealing to you, young reader. If you have questions about living a life built on getting what you want at all costs or a life where you live in the confidence of the truth, All About Eve can teach you something. It may not be easily reduced to a Tik Tok, but it is surely a good lesson for those forming their personalities and deciding who they will be in the future. Choose truth, choose Bette Davis/Margo Chandler.

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