Book review – “All about ‘All About Eve’” by Sam Staggs

Enjoyable account behind the making of the famous film, gossipy but well researched. Because All About Eve was made when the studio system was still trundling along (albeit at the beginning of its decline), production was relatively painless. Joe Mankeiwicz was coming off A Letter from Three Wives so it’s not as though he had heaps of hassles getting financing. Even Bette Davis was relatively stress-free, recognising the quality of the role and also falling for her co-star Gary Merrill.

This is quite a long book, enabling Staggs to do a very thorough job – with one eye on the gay readership, he devotes chapters to the book’s gay following, the influence (or not) of Tallulah Bankhead, the production of the musical Applause (which sounds a lot more tortuous than making the movie), etc. His big triumph was tracking down the career of the original “Eve” – the stalker of Elisabeth Bergner who inspired the short story which led to the film. This is a great achievement and could probably inspire a movie on its own, or at least a play (the woman is a bit of a nutter). It’s a shame he couldn’t have devoted a bit more time to, say, a more thorough study of Mankeiwicz’s career (there is some, just felt it could use a bit more), or George Sanders. It would also have been great to have attached a copy of the short story or script (when the multimedia revolution finally kicks in, these sort of books should always be accompanied if possible by a DVD of the film). Staggs struggles to come up with much to say about Hugh Marlowe’s performance – but he’s no orphan on that score!

NB My own opinion on All About Eve – I was a bit disappointed when I first saw it, to be honest, but I was only young and as the years have gone on I appreciate it more and more, especially as I learned more about theatre (for instance, I love the way Eve can’t score the director – but the writer will sleep with her!). Some things about my opinion haven’t changed though – namely, while Bette Davis, Thelma Ritter and George Sanders were all magnificent and Gary Merrill and Celeste Holm extremely good, Hugh Marlowe is bland (and even though the character is bland the movie would have benefited from a better actor), and Anne Baxter, while a good actor giving a good performance, isn’t remotely believable as someone who could steal the stage from Davis. I believe Baxter as a crawler, a wannabe – but not a genuine star; that’s what’s stopped me from regarding this as really top rank.