Where to watch All About Eve (1950)
It can also be rented or bought from AppleTV and Amazon.
A determined young fan enters the world of Broadway and becomes assistant to a celebrated, aging actress. As she pursues a chance to step into the spotlight, ambition, insecurity, and rivalry create tension among the performers, writers, directors, and critics around them.
Cast: Anne Baxter, Bette Davis, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, Thelma Ritter, Gregory Ratoff, Marilyn Monroe, Barbara Bates, Walter Hampden, Randy Stuart
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Trivia & production notes
- Mary Orr's short story 'The Wisdom of Eve' was inspired by Austrian actress Elisabeth Bergner's true account of a young Englishwoman who waited outside the Booth Theatre, was taken into Bergner's dressing room, and later attempted to control her life.
- Fox acquired the film rights to 'The Wisdom of Eve' for $5,000 just days after the story was adapted into an NBC radio episode in January 1949.
- Joseph L. Mankiewicz wrote an 82-page treatment called 'Best Performance' while simultaneously filming 'No Way Out', then spent six weeks at San Ysidro Ranch expanding it into the first draft.
- Studio head Darryl F. Zanuck suggested the specific phrasing 'All about Eve' for Addison DeWitt's voiceover narration, which became the film's title.
- Mankiewicz reduced his 223-page draft to 180 pages after receiving nine pages of notes from Zanuck detailing cuts and revisions.
- All About Eve was the first film to have its screenplay published in hardcover format when Random House published it in 1951.
- Bette Davis initially thought studio head Darryl F. Zanuck's phone call offering her the role was a prank, as they had not spoken since she resigned from the Academy.
- Mankiewicz rejected Gertrude Lawrence for the role of Margo Channing because her attorney demanded script changes including the removal of smoking and drinking scenes and the addition of a torch song.
- Marilyn Monroe was Mankiewicz's first choice for Miss Casswell and arrived one hour late on her first day of shooting, requiring 25 takes for her scene with George Sanders.
- Mankiewicz declined to cast Marlene Dietrich as Margo Channing, believing her German accent would be incompatible with the film's dialogue.
Adapted from the Wikipedia article All About Eve, available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Rewritten for StreamShack; errors are ours — tell us about them.
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