But Have You Seen It High?

All About Eve

All About Eve

Alright well since we’re all quarantined now is a good time for me to get back into watching movies and writing these…well back into writing these, the watching of movies never really slows down.

I love old classic films, by which I mean black and white films from the 30s-60s. I imagine now, as it is 2020, that many films from the 80s/90s could be considered classics. I love films from that era as well. But the films from the beginning of Hollywood, from the old studio system are essential viewing for cinephiles. The thing that always brings me back to these old black and white films is the dedication to story. Before there was fancy, new fangled cinematography you kids have now, you had to tell a good story to keep your audience engaged. There are a lot of films that are visually and audibly beautiful, but lack story. In fact, storytelling is so important, many classic films can seem dull or boring if you don’t closely follow the plot. Directors were creative with how they told story, how they structured and told their stories, paying particular attention to crafting dialogue that was keen and sharp. Do they talk as most people talk? I don’t know, maybe? I wasn’t alive back then. But I would like to believe that people talked in platitudes such as when Margo Channing says to her younger boyfriend to stay away from the actress trying to to take over her career, “As it happens, there are particular aspects and of my life to which I would like to maintain sole rights and privileges.”, as Bette Davis says in her Oscar winning performance* in All About Eve.

Two years past the age of forty, making her ancient in the acting world’s view, All About Eve follows the story of an Margo Channing, an established but aging actress, and an innocent and unsophisticated young actress, Eve Harrington, who insinuates herself into the life of Margo Channing and her circle of theatre friends with the intention of taking over Margo’s career.

This film is about transitions and how we deal with adapting to them. The central conflict of the film lies between Margo and Eve, whose youth and helplessness threatens Margo, who is coming to terms with the fact that her career is ending and the applause and adoration she receives from audiences is no longer filling her heart. Margo’s boyfriend is Bill Sampson, a theatre director who has been asked to move into the field of cinema. This leads us to a discussion of the equity (no pun intended) of film and theatre. In theatre, you have the live audience watching a live performance, the shared reaction to that live performance shared by a group of people in one room. It was something many theatre folks were hesitant to accept as a valid form of storytelling. Bill’s question, “Is theatre just limited to a few square blocks in New York City?” moves us to consider the art form’s evolution. Art changes and adapts, art pushes the boundaries. Circle in The Square is an off-Broadway (maybe now Broadway?) theatre that once put on a production that was just an actor reading an entire book. Did Cats not work as a film because the absurdity of experiencing it in a live theatre cannot translate to film? There is something so magical about live theatre, but tickets are $500, and Netflix plans start at $8.99.

Margot is a muse to playwright Lloyd Richards who is attempting to write a new play better suited to Margo’s age and life experience. His wife, Karen, is Margo’s best friend, although Margo does not have any truly good friends. Karen mentions in the movie that no one knows or understands Margo or why she acts that way. It’s actually pretty clear what is bothering Margo, though it is a multi-layered and complex array of issues.

I adore Bette Davis, and I think I love her most in the roles she played in her comeback stage, when age had hardened her and made her a cunning and eloquent bitch.** Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, All About Eve, Dead Ringers (a superb psychological thriller), and Burnt Offerings (ugh, just a magnificent horror film where Bette plays the aging aunt) are all films that showcase how I think Bette Davis was truly when the cameras were off. Hollywood legend has it on the set of All About Eve, when Bette encountered her cast mate Celeste Holm, who plays Karen Richards, was greeted with “Good morning.” responded “Oh shit. Good manners.” Even if you are someone who despises small talk, “Good Morning” is not that bad. I mean you can nod back, slightly say good morning under your breath, say it and then look at your phone as if you are in the middle of responding to a very important work e-mail. But Queen Bette Davis, doesn’t even have the time or patience to waste on something as trivial as “good morning”. You almost have to stan.
What makes Bette Davis’ performance in this movie so astounding is how relatable her character is. Back then, when a woman turned 40, they were essentially written out of Hollywood. Things have changed since then**. Margo Channing is an actress who is now 40, and she’s unmarried. And the part she is playing is written as 24 years old, and she’s tired of it and wants something new. I love this scene where she is talking about being FORTY… FOOORTEY, and still unmarried.

There’s the famous party scene, with THAT dress, and her iconic line “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy night!”*** Margo is upset when she learns from her assistant that her boyfriend is already at the party, but is downstairs talking to Eve. This is when Margo expresses to Bill that “there are particular aspects of my life, to which I would like to maintain sole and exclusive rights and privileges.” And thus, Margo’s fuck-it all-I’m-getting-drunk bumpy night begins. Halfway through the party, Margo insists the musicians at her party play “Lieberstaum”, a German song that translates roughly to Dreams of Love. It is not…upbeat. When asked to play it, again, the piano player exclaims that it was the fourth time he’s played and Margo responds “Well then, this will be the fifth.”

I know I have been there, and I am sure others have as well. A night that has so much anticipatory excitement, a night you expect to be full of fun memories, a night you have put together to make others happy, ends with you feeling betrayed and unhappy. Perhaps betrayed is a dramatic word, but that is how you feel in that moment. You realize how ridiculous it is to play Liebestraum five times in a row at a party, but your heart hurts and in the moment you don’t care. And also in the moment you realize how dramatic and ridiculous you are being. This is where you really feel for Margo.

There’s a scene where Margo sits in a car that has run out of gas with Karen while Karen’s husband runs out to get more gas. Karen has fiddled with the gas tank on purpose so the car would break down, ruining Margo’s chances at arriving to perform in Connecticut, thus allowing Eve to perform her role as understudy. Karen is tired of Margo’s shenanigans and wants her to get a nice kick in the butt. This is said way more eloquently in the movie.

So as they sit in the car waiting for Lloyd to return with the gas, Margo reflects on her recent behavior and attitude, particularly towards Miss Eve Harrington. In this monologue, she admits she has been overly sensitive about Eve, to the fact she is so young, so feminine, so many things that she wishes she was to Bill. “Funny thing about a woman’s career…the things you drop on your way up the ladder so you can move faster. You forget you’ll need them again when you get back to being a woman.” Margo is realizing that applause and adoring audiences are not fulfilling her the way a marriage to Bill would. But perhaps she has missed that chance, not only with Bill, but somewhere along the way of becoming one of the theatre world’s most respected artists. She mentions that she feels Bill is in love with Margo Channing, the star, not Margo Channing the woman/person.

Margo’s monologue touches on something that still agonizes so many people: Are we good enough without a relationship? For Margo, being a single career woman means lacking something fundamental to be whole. “Nothing is any good unless you can look up just before dinner, or turn around in bed, and there he is. Without that, you’re not a woman.” What will Margo’s life represent if she is not married, if she does not have that person to look up to just before dinner?

It’s a sad sentiment, to think that a woman is not a woman without a romantic relationship. The feminist in me is enraged thinking of how society was back then, that a woman’s greatest measure of success and happiness was a relationship, rather than her incredible career as an actress. But there’s a part of me that longs for human connection, and despite being a strong, independent woman, there have been many nights where I’ve had to fasten my seat belts for a bumpy night, where I’ve felt an overwhelming sense of forlorn and played Lieberstaum over and over. Except my Lieberstraum is Ani Difranco’s “Swan Dive”. And there’s a part of me that felt I was failing at life for not being in a serious relationship until I was 37… THIRTY. THIIIRTY -seven. It’s okay to feel that way, to feel longing, to feel a need for connection. It’s okay to admit that even though you are a career-focused independent person, you can still want for someone to share all of that with, outside of your social media followers who fulfill our lonesome hearts with the likes and retweets.

Okay and I’ll leave with this. What the fuck do I know Gary Merrill from? He looks so familiar, but I think he looks like another actor that I had recently thought was this person (James Mason?) and found out that was Gary Merrill. But of course now I can’t remember what film that was. I guess this is what starts happening when you are almost FORTY.. FOOORTY.

Highly recommend this film to watch, it’s one of my favorites.

* Bette Davis did not win, but she should have. In a very Eve Harrington move, Anne Baxter campaigned to be nominat ed as Best Actress, rather than Best Supporting Actress. You know who else was nominated that year? Gloria Swanson in Sunset Boulevard. You know who won? Judy Holliday for her performance in Born Yesterday. “Who is that? What is that?” you ask. Exactly.

**This is truly a compliment.

*** The seatbelt Margo is referring to are the belts on airplane seats, as cars at the time this movie was made were not yet equipped with seatbelts. *The More You Know* *rainbow*
 
 **** This in fact has not really changed all that much.