The 4th Annual Sex! (now that I have your attention) Blogathon – The Lady Eve (1941)

This is the 2nd of three posts for The 4th Annual Sex! (now that I have your attention) Blogathon being hosted by Steve of the Movie Movie Blog Blog.

Tnx for letting me participate!

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“You see, Hopsi, you don’t know very much about girls. The best ones aren’t as good as you probably think they are and the bad ones aren’t as bad. Not nearly as bad.” – Jean

Number of Times Seen – 1 (13 Jun 2018)

Brief Synopsis – The heir of a beer company becomes the target of a gang of card sharks onboard a ship traveling from South America to the US, but the woman on the con team never expected to fall in love with him.

My Take on it – I am shocked that I never had even heard of this film before finding it on a list of the best Screwball comedies ever made.

Love dthe way that the story plays out and they get it right in so many aspects along the way.

The cast is superbly chosen with Henry Fonda, Barbara Stanwyck and Charles Coburn all giving excellent performances in this film.

The sexual tension between Fonda and Stanwyck works so well here and the story does a superb job stretching it out for as long as it can with the characters just missing one another each time they try.

This helps raise the level of tension and suspense in the plot and makes for a very entertaining ride.

The dialogue is superbly written and is filled with so much wit and double entrants that make it so enjoyable and funny to watch unfold.

Love dthe card tricks shown in the film because they add to such an already entertaining storyline.

Fonda was never know for his comic talents, but he is able to deliver so much physical and verbal comedy on spot that it makes me wonder if they should have tried to give him more comic roles over the years.

Bottom Line – Superb film that gets so much right. The sexual tension between Fonda and Stanwyck is apparent throughout but the story keeps them apart for as long as possible in order to keep raising the tension. The dialogue is superbly written and is extremely witty as it is filled with double entrants. Fonda was never really know for being a comic actor but he gets it completely right here in both the physical and verbal aspects of comedy. Highly Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Despite the story credit to Monckton Hoffe, a legend persists to the effect that Preston Sturges got the idea for this film when he ran into one of his ex-wives and didn’t recognize her. (From IMDB)

Rating – Oscar Worthy (9/10)

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