Fasten your seatbelts – it’s going to be a bumpy night. Bette Davis, in arguably her greatest role, is Margo Channing, first lady of the theatre whose life is changed forever when the seemingly star-struck Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) knocks on the dressing-room door. It’s all about Eve – the two-faced, fame-obsessed, back-stabbing bitch that is Eve – ably abetted by poisonous critic Addison de Witt, played by George Sanders in one of those one of those negative images of the gay man so dear to 50s Hollywood. Mankiewicz’s scripting and direction display a finesse and a sensitivity to the frailities of human nature that is still breath-taking and often very touching.
An ageing Davis returned from oblivion to create one of cinema’s greatest characters. Depicting Margo’s fierce courage, savage wit, underlying fraility and above all her love for her man, Davis is simply supreme. If you haven’t seen All About Eve on the big screen, you’ve suffered long enough! We are proud to present one of cinemas greatest – and gayest –achievements.