1950, TSPDT Rank #70
The following text is taken (with a little editing) from some writing I did for a group I belong to called the Internet Film Club. Information on this group, and how to join it, can be found on my earlier post about The Killing of a Chinese Bookie. From now on, all posts I take from my writing in that group will be denoted with this: "Contains text from an Internet Film Club post." Thanks for reading.
Just finished watching All About Eve, and it is definitely an all-time classic, not the masterpiece Sleuth, one of Mankiewicz's later films, is maybe, but a great film all the same. Basically all elements are done well here, which makes it hard for me to comment on any particular one. I did think that the narration was done extremely well, better than The Barefoot Contessa (another Mankiewicz film) in the way that it was organized and executed - each narration blends seamlessly into the dialogue (actually, the entire script is amazing - one of the all time greats), and sometimes a scene with only narration accompanies silent footage, creating a brief "silent film" sensation. The story is a tour-de-force about ambition, jealousy, deception, love, and age - and it seems to be a film that's holding up extremely well with time, probably why it's one of the most popular classics in the US.
(Rating: 9/10)
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