WRITER-DIRECTOR JOSEPH L. MANKIEWICZ WAS A PRINCE OF PROSE. HE CAME FROM A FAMILY OF WRITERS (HIS BROTHER HERMAN PENNED CITIZEN KANE) AND WON BACK-TO-BACK OSCARS FOR A LETTER TO THREE WIVES (1949) AND ALL ABOUT EVE (1950).
A devastatingly witty account of backstage life in the New York theatre world, All About Eve tells of ageing Broadway star Margo Channing (Bette Davis), who takes in ardent fan Eve (Anne Baxter) only to discover she’s an aspiring actress with designs on Margo’s stardom, roles, friends and life. Dissecting theatrical bitchiness with a Wildean wit, Mankiewicz sets the tone through the voice-over commentary read by cynical theatre critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders). But it is Davis who dominates the film in what proved to be her greatest role. Drinking too much, disillusioned by Eve’s betrayal, depressed by her fortieth birthday, she says admitting her age makes her feel ‘as if I’ve taken all my clothes off.’ It might seem to show her defeated by the wiles of a younger actress, but in fact marks a victory: the triumph of personality over the superficial power of beauty.