MovieChat Forums > The Lady Eve (1941) Discussion > Funny, Sexy and Heart Warming

Funny, Sexy and Heart Warming

posted 17 years ago by Dentrassi
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I have the 'Written and Directed By Preston Sturges' 7 Disc Box Set, and have had for a while, but only watched 'Sullivans Travels' as of yet. Today though I had a flip through the ones I hadn't watched and popped in 'The Lady Eve' and was very glad I did. Henry Fonda was funny in the slapstick and indeed sexual frustration scenes but deary me if Barbara Stanwyck was any hotter I would have had to have a cold shower. We see enough flesh and underwear and endless pretty blond teens in movies nowadays in glorious technicolour with explosions and gore aplenty, but they should all have a look at Sturges' work and see how its done. I am off to watch the other 5 films in the collection and give American Pie and the like a miss for the moment. They are fine films in their own right but just not in the same league as these films, and all done within the Second World War. Marvellous. Gee maybe I am not a normal male these days, but that is okay as after I have watched them I will read a novel! Radical I know but Hey Ho.

Alright sir, you take the blonde, I'll take the one with the turban.

[–] csu16387 17 years ago

Agreed. The Lady Eve is a perfect blend of slapstick and tenderness. I don't think Barbara Stanwyck was better (or sexier) than she is in The Lady Eve. It's also surprising that Henry Fonda never did anymore screwball comedies in his career. He's quite good here, and his pratfalls are perfect.

Also getting some love from me is great character actor William Demarest. He was nearly in all of Preston Sturges' films, and he never disappointed. Check him out in The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (which I don't believe is in the Sturges box set). He does pratfalls that are really hysterical (and I'm sure he had some ice when the scenes were done).

The Lady Eve is perhaps Sturges' masterpiece, and it was among a string of superb hits he made during the early 1940s.

"Dry your eyes baby, it's out of character."