Strong and Moving!

There is just so much movie here. For some it may be too much. But in the same secretly sarcastic way most telemarketers say the phrase, the title of this one is particularly apt.

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda in what is considered one of the best comedy "farces" of all time. It creeps up on the viewer slowly after Jean Harrington (Barbara) trips Charlie Pike (Fonda) in the grand dinning room of a cruise ship, just to get his attention. She is a card shark and intends to take him for every penny he is worth, but Jean falls head-over-heels in love with him. Her dad, the Colonel, (Charles Coburn) cheats Charlie out of $32,000 with a check he never cashes. Charlie is the heir to the family brewing fortune and prefers to capture snakes in the Amazon, so he brings a small one on shipboard. Jean breaks her shoe (on purpose) and lures him back to her stateroom, and thus the romance begins begins. A colorful cast includes gravel-voiced Eugene Paulette as "Charlie's dad" and William Frawley as "Muggsy", a family "retainer". In the last 40 minutes of the film, Director Sturges pulls out all the stops as Charlie is plagued by a barrage of pratfalls and stains several dinner jackets, the best one being the "gravy and prime rib spill". Jean passes herself off as "Lady Eve Sidwich" and Charlie is captivated once again, this time into marriage. Impossible, one would think, with fake credentials, but go with it. On their honeymoon trip on the train, she invents a "casting call" of "dozens" of willing Englishmen, starting at age 16, that she has amorous adventures with. Charlie leaves the train in anger and disgust. Jean is unable to go through with the final deception of a lucrative divorce settlement, much to the disapproval of her father. She meets him again in the same shipboard scenario. This time, when she trips him, he chases her back to her stateroom post-haste. "I'm married" he confesses. "So am I" she replies. Everyone failed to realize that Jean and Eve were the exact same person, as her fake British accent starts to slip toward the end of the film. Only Muggsy gets it right: "It's the same dame". Of course she is!

Directed by Preston Sturges, the whole cast is terrific and includes (many from Sturges' other great films): Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Coburn, Eugene Palette, William Demarest, Eric Blore, and Al Bridge (uncredited). The script was Oscar nominated. Added to the National Film Registry in 1994. #55 on AFI's 100 Funniest Movies list. #26 on AFI's 100 Greatest Love Stories list.Fonda is a wealthy, naive ophiologist (snake expert) that runs into father and daughter con artists (Coburn and Stanwyck) on a cruise ship while returning from an expedition. However, Stanwyck falls for Fonda and tells Coburn to lay off him. Demarest plays a servant, protector of Fonda. When Fonda learns what she really is, he is disillusioned and breaks his relationship with Stanwyck.Later, back in Fonda's high society world, he is surprised to see someone looking very much like Stanwyck (it is her, with a new identity) at a party at his home. She's with Blore, another con artist. Fonda tries to figure out who she is, and must wrestle with his affections and his trust.

The Lady Eve is a magnificent screwball-comedy. I came across this gem of a film when browsing through the earlier half of Henry Fonda's filmography one Sunday morning - and yes, the date and time in which I discovered this film is relevant to my liking of it. It is sweet, charming, hilarious, and offers to legendary stars at their zeniths of attractiveness and acting genius. And yes, again, this film features some of Fonda's and Stanwyck's greatest performances in the genre of comedy - that is undeniable.The scene in which Barbara Stanwyck's character strokes Henry Fonda's character's hair while holding him is one that will end my very existence. Aside from the aesthetically yummy scenes of the movie, including a scene where Henry dons a very handsome white suit, Henry Fonda gives a strong performance. He displays unbelievable charm in his gullible and oh-so-innocent attitude that it's rather hard not to admire and root for Fonda in this film. Especially when one has seen some of his other films, where he portrays less-than-kind Western psychopaths. Barbara Stanwyck also gives an incredible performance - seeing this film, one couldn't possibly think that Stanwyck can ever do wrong.I definitely recommend the viewing of this film - even if it's nothing more than to see Fonda and Stanwyck share phenomenal chemistry.

This is a tale of love and trickery. About coning and redemption . a man who studies snakes on the amazon fall for a beautiful woman on ship back home. She is a hustler who targets him. but even she cannot help who she falls in love with. love is a funny thing it can change people some times for good other times no so much . But in this case it was for good. They bonded instantly as couples do in these old films. Its kind of corny yet charming because thats how things were back then . I was a simpler time.I always like the stereotypical old movie dynamic a guy a love interest something happens that makes the couple break up. There is a break up period and at the end of the film they find their way back to each other . Its Not all realistic but hey its the movies thats why people pay money to go and see them for a little break from reality . This film gives that to the audience.