Rating: 
Summary: ABSOLUTELY AWFUL PRINT OF THIS CLASSIC COMEDY
Review: "The Lady Eve" is one of director, Preston Sturges' sinful, guilty pleasures. The plot involves a man-eater, played to perfection by Barbara Stanwyck, who sets her sights on dim-witted millionaire, Henry Fonda. After nearly wooing him into signing over his fortune, Fonda discovers the truth about "Eve" and retreats to his country home to convelesce. But Eve's scheming doesn't end there.
Criterion has redefined what is meant by their tag line on the back slip of this DVD packaging when they state "Sparkling new digital transfer". There is nothing new or sparkling about the print used in the mastering of this DVD. It is faded, worn and exhibits nearly every ravage of time, including tears, chips, scratches and water damage worthy of a complete restoration effort.
Worse, the DVD mastering is shoddy, with an excessive amount of edge enhancement, aliasing and fine detail shimmering that completely distracts one from enjoying the performances. Film and digital grain is excessive and distracting. Tiling in the background information is also glaringly obvious and present throughout. The gray scale of this disc reads more like a muddy haze of undistinguished tones in which all of the fine details get buried under and lost. The audio is mono and strident, scratchy and worn.
Extras: A Lux Radio Broadcast of the movie for those who want to turn off their television and just listen to the movie and an audio commentary that is really bare bones.
BOTTOM LINE: Criterion's penny pinching is not reflected in their price. This is a DVD you shouldn't even consider, much less buy.
Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY AWFUL PRINT OF THIS CLASSIC COMEDY
Review: "The Lady Eve" is one of director, Preston Sturges' sinful, guilty pleasures. The plot involves a man-eater, played to perfection by Barbara Stanwyck, who sets her sights on dim-witted millionaire, Henry Fonda. After nearly wooing him into signing over his fortune, Fonda discovers the truth about "Eve" and retreats to his country home to convelesce. But Eve's scheming doesn't end there.
Criterion has redefined what is meant by their tag line on the back slip of this DVD packaging when they state "Sparkling new digital transfer". There is nothing new or sparkling about the print used in the mastering of this DVD. It is faded, worn and exhibits nearly every ravage of time, including tears, chips, scratches and water damage worthy of a complete restoration effort.
Worse, the DVD mastering is shoddy, with an excessive amount of edge enhancement, aliasing and fine detail shimmering that completely distracts one from enjoying the performances. Film and digital grain is excessive and distracting. Tiling in the background information is also glaringly obvious and present throughout. The gray scale of this disc reads more like a muddy haze of undistinguished tones in which all of the fine details get buried under and lost. The audio is mono and strident, scratchy and worn.
Extras: A Lux Radio Broadcast of the movie for those who want to turn off their television and just listen to the movie and an audio commentary that is really bare bones.
BOTTOM LINE: Criterion's penny pinching is not reflected in their price. This is a DVD you shouldn't even consider, much less buy.
Rating:
Summary: ABSOLUTELY AWFUL PRINT OF THIS CLASSIC COMEDY
Review: "The Lady Eve" is one of director, Preston Sturges' sinful, guilty pleasures. The plot involves a man-eater, played to perfection by Barbara Stanwyck, who sets her sights on dim-witted millionaire, Henry Fonda. After nearly wooing him into signing over his fortune, Fonda discovers the truth about "Eve" and retreats to his country home to convelesce. But Eve's scheming doesn't end there.
Criterion has redefined what is meant by their tag line on the back slip of this DVD packaging when they state "Sparkling new digital transfer". There is nothing new or sparkling about the print used in the mastering of this DVD. It is faded, worn and exhibits nearly every ravage of time, including tears, chips, scratches and water damage worthy of a complete restoration effort.
Worse, the DVD mastering is shoddy, with an excessive amount of edge enhancement, aliasing and fine detail shimmering that completely distracts one from enjoying the performances. Film and digital grain is excessive and distracting. Tiling in the background information is also glaringly obvious and present throughout. The gray scale of this disc reads more like a muddy haze of undistinguished tones in which all of the fine details get buried under and lost. The audio is mono and strident, scratchy and worn.
Extras: A Lux Radio Broadcast of the movie for those who want to turn off their television and just listen to the movie and an audio commentary that is really bare bones.
BOTTOM LINE: Criterion's penny pinching is not reflected in their price. This is a DVD you shouldn't even consider, much less buy.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the Greatest Romantic Comedies!
Review: "The Lady Eve" is one of my favorite romantic comedies! Barbara Stanwyck is outstanding! Barbara really gets things HOT! Henry Fonda's bumbling accidents were out of Buster Keaton! Great supporting cast too!! They don't make 'em like this any more! It's a MUST see!
Rating: 
Summary: Never play cards with a card sharp
Review:
Director: Preston Sturges
Format: Black & White
Studio: Universal Studios
Video Release Date: August 4, 1998
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck ... Jean Harrington/Lady Eve Sidwich
Henry Fonda ... Charles Pike ('Hopsie')
Charles Coburn ... 'Colonel' Harrington
Eugene Pallette ... Horace Pike
William Demarest ... Muggsy (Ambrose Murgatroyd)
Eric Blore ... Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith ('Pearlie')
Melville Cooper ... Gerald
Martha O'Driscoll ... Martha
Janet Beecher ... Janet Pike
Robert Greig ... Burrows
Dora Clement ... Gertrude
Luis Alberni ... Emile, Pike's chef
Harry Depp ... Man With Glasses on Boat
Robert Dudley ... Husband on Boat
Ray Flynn ... Lawyer
Kenneth Gibson ... Party Guest
Sam Ash ... Husband on Boat
Alfred Hall ... Party Guest
Eddie Hall ... Chauffeur
John Hartley ... Young Man on Boat
Arthur Hoyt ... Lawyer at Phone in Pike's Office
Arthur Stuart Hull ... Party Guest
Jack W. Johnston ... Lawyer
Harry A. Bailey ... Lawyer Ambrose Barker ... Mac
Bertram Marburgh ... Party Guest
George Melford ... Party Guest
Torben Meyer ... Mr. Clink, Purser
Frank Moran ... Party Bartender
Joseph North ... Second Butler at Party
Wilson Benge ... First Butler at Party
Victor Potel ... Second Steward
Jack Richardson ... Father of Girl on Board
Cyril Ring ... Husband on Boat
Abdullah Abbas ... Man With Potted Palm
Harry Rosenthal ... Piano Tuner
Reginald Sheffield ... Professor Jones
Norman Ainsley ... Sir Alfred's Servant
Julius Tannen ... Lawyer
Walter Walker ... Sparky
Robert Warwick ... Passenger
Pat West ... Ship's Bartender
Gayne Whitman ... Party Guest
Al Bridge ... First Steward
Jimmy Conlin ... Third Steward
Wanda McKay ... Daughter on Boat
Esther Michelson ... Wife on Boat
Ella Neal ... Daughter on Boat
Barbara Pepper ... Lady Wrestler Type
Jean Phillips ... Sweetie
Wilda Bennett ... Party Guest
Evelyn Beresford ... Party Guest
Frances Raymond ... Old Lady on Boat
Marcelle Christopher ... Daughter on Boat
Georgie Cooper ... Party Guest
Nell Craig ... Boat Passenger at Railing
Eva Dennison ... Mother on Boat
Helen Dickson ... Mother on Boat
Pauline Drake ... Social Secretary
Betty Farrington ... Mother on Boat
Bess Flowers ... Party Guest
Almeda Fowler ... Mother on Boat A trio of card sharps on a cruise ship tries to take a rich man's son, Charles Pike (Henry Fonda) at cards. Unfortunately for both of them, Pike falls for Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck), and she him. Also unfortunately, her background as a card cheat comes out and puts the kibosh on the romance. The story develops from there. This is a good story, ccompetently acted and directed, and very entertaining. Joseph (Joe) Pierre
author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books
Rating:
Summary: The Right Stuff
Review: A Flawless script be Preston Sturges. A Great Cast including Bill Demarest, Charles Coburn and Melville Cooper..will remind viewers exactly what wonders of a Preston Sturges comedy was all about.
Stanwyck was never better..and the double entendre script was made to order. For those who just "dont get it" , I suggest they continue watching that junk that serves as comedy nowadays.
Rating:
Summary: Embarrassment Of Riches
Review: As a lifelong Preston Sturges fan, I find the problem with submitting reviews of his films to be twofold. The first is where to begin; the second how to stop. A third problem (growing out of the first two) manifests itself immediately upon watching a flawless jewel like THE LADY EVE: why even bother to praise it? No matter how accurate or elegant a rave you write, they'd still be merely words, and words can't do Sturges justice...not after hearing and seeing his own words spinning like a thousand plates over the 90-odd minutes this film is utterly captivating you. Unlike many black-and-white products of the studio era, which generate condescension or apathy in the current version of the Pepsi generation, the Sturges cult grows with every passing year. Young audiences fall under his spell, drawn initially to his work for the still-startling energy of the stream of raspberries he blew at the Production Code. (In this sense, EVE marks a high point; it's all about sexual gamesmanship, and its tone, both matter-of-fact and dizzyingly playful at the same time, is a decided departure from the typical 1940s studio approach.) But hopefully, they're coming for the sizzle and staying for the steak. Like all Sturges' Paramount films, EVE is an embarrassment of riches - a boudoir farce, a slapstick clinic, a cynical dialogue comedy AND a love story of great, soulful heart. It's especially recommended to anyone beset by misery and tribulation as a guaranteed restorative and all-around black cloud lifter. When a movie from any era can so completely and pleasurably take you out of yourself without resorting to any cheapjack plot-gimmicks or trite manipulation of an audience's emotions, all you can do is be grateful. Though the unfailingly superb Sturges Players are on hand, in fine form (including of course his human rabbit's foot, Wm Demarest) EVE features a number of actors making their first and only appearances in a Sturges-directed film: Stanwyck, Fonda, Chas Coburn, Eric Blore, Melville Cooper and perennial Fonda cohort Eugene Pallette. All of them take to the material like catnip, making one long for an alternate reality in which Preston Sturges could have remained unmolested at Paramount for 20 years and a dozen more films than he actually made - not just to see this cast reunited, but to discover what might have resulted from any number of actors new to Sturges being exposed to the hothouse atmosphere of his screenplays. That it never worked out that way is one more reason to treasure what he DID leave us, foremost among them THE LADY EVE.
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece of Comedy
Review: As the masterpiece of comedy, people always remember Bringing Up Baby, but The Lady Eve follows the style. Preston Sturges is now involved with the high comedy, people from the upper class look stupid in front of Sturges' eyes. He's is the master of the comedy
Rating:
Summary: Charming Romantic Comedy
Review: Barbara Stanwyck is at her comedic best in "The Lady Eve," playing a vamp who tries to con a gullible heir, played by Henry Fonda. Her plans hit a snag, though, when she finds herself falling for him, which leads to some madcap fun. Directed and co-written by the peerless Preston Sturges ("Sullivan's Travels"), "The Lady Eve" is among the finest of Hollywood 1940's romantic comedies. The script is quite brilliant (the movie received only one Oscar nomination, for its screenplay, which it lost to "Here Comes Mr. Jordan") and delivers some genuine laughs. In addition, the tinge of bitterness and cynicism that characterizes Sturges' work is here -- this movie isn't a sickly sweet romance. Sturges also manages to create a wacky screen couple and then make them seem believable; a formidable task. Finally, Fonda has never been better; his all-American looks and blank visage are put to perfect use to convey the innocence required for the role. Overall, a highly recommended film.
Rating:
Summary: VINTAGE COMEDY CLASSIC.
Review: Barbara Stanwyck is terrific as a lady card shark who first teases then falls in love with a professor of snakes (!) played by Henry Fonda. Stanwyck plays her role in a refreshingly modern way; her Jean is alternately cynical, tender, vulnerable, seductive and always believable.Charles Coburn is great as her con-artist Dad (he says to Jean: "Let us be crooked but never common" and when she falls for Fonda, Coburn laments "Children don't respect their parents anymore". The New York Times chose "The Lady Eve" as the best picture of 1941. This film proves that Stanwyck was more versatile than is generally remembered (she's better known for her hard-boiled characterizations).
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