18. The Lady Eve

by Sachin Gandhi

The phrase “Love is Blind” is thrown around so much that it has become a cliche. However, in the case of Preston Sturges’ perfect comedy The Lady Eve the phrase actually sticks. In fact, the film is a literal depiction of the phrase because love causes the protagonist Charles (Henry Fonda) to blindly ignore all obvious evidence in favor of his heart; not once but twice.

One can understand Charles tripping over love’s heel in the first instance because encountering the delightful Jean (Barbara Stanwyck) after spending a year in the Amazon is not really a fair match-up, especially since Jean has planned to seduce him. Jean wouldn’t have noticed Charles but he inadvertently makes himself a target not only for her but all the other woman on a traveling ship. When Charles is able to halt a traveling ship to get on board from his private boat, he alerts everyone that he is someone important. Jean, along with her father ‘Colonel’ Harrington (Charles Coburn) and Gerald (Melville Cooper), learn that Charles is wealthy due to his family brewery business, Pike’s Ale (The Ale that Won for Yale). The trio are professional card sharks and make a living out of conning people. So, a wealthy person like Charles becomes an instant opportunity. Charles’ wealth also makes him attractive to every other woman on the ship, who try to get his attention, but he is not impressed by any of them. However, Jean trumps them by getting Charles all to herself. Of course, it does not take much effort for Jean to win over Charles. He is intoxicated by her perfume and with a few maneuvers, including getting him to kneel down to put a pair of shoes on her, she gets Charles light headed and blurry-eyed. Charles’ bodyguard Muggsy (William Demarest) suspects a trap is being laid out by Jean and the Colonel but Charles ignores Muggsy’s warning, especially since he wins $600 off the Colonel and Jean. In an expected turn of events, Jean also starts to fall for Charles and plans to settle down with him to leave her criminal past behind. She even tries to minimize Charles’ loss in the next round of cards against her father’s plans. When she leaves the card table, Charles asks the Colonel for permission to marry his daughter. The Colonel has no problems with their relationship and uses the marriage topic to con $32,000 out of Charles. For his part, Charles is not bothered at such a loss because of his family wealth which increases with each passing second: “everytime the clock ticks, 14 people swig a bottle of pike”. After acquiring the Colonel’s permission, Charles proposes to Jean on a moonlit deck and she genuinely accepts his offer. Colonel Harrington finally believes his daughter’s seriousness and asks her to wait to reveal the truth until they get off the ship in order to preserve his and Gerald’s dignity. In the meantime, Muggsy’s investigations uncover a photo where Jean, Colonel and Gerald are documented as professional card players. Charles feels betrayed and does not give Jean a chance to explain matters. She is heart broken and wants revenge as they disembark the ship and go their separate ways.

The second instance of Charles falling for Jean takes place in his own home after she comes up with a revengeful con. While Jean along with the Colonel and Gerald are busy gambling away their money at a race track, they run into Pearlie, a colleague going by the name of Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith (Eric Blore). Sir Alfred talks about his successful cons in Bridgefield which happens to be the hometown of the Pikes. His words open the door for Jean to finish matters with Charles. She queries Pearlie if she can visit as his niece and declares her vengeful intentions with one of the sharpest dialogues in the film “I need him like the axe needs the turkey”. Jean is so confident that she does not change her appearance but simply puts on a British accent and ties her hair up to transform into “The Lady Eve of Sidwich”. Off she goes to a party hosted by the Pikes and charms the hell out of Charles’ father, Horace Pike (Eugene Pallette) and all the other guests. Muggsy is convinced that Eve and Jean are the same woman but Charles is not sure. His queries to Eve don’t cause her to blink or hesitate so Charles is doubtful. Alfred senses Charles’ hesitation and concocts a story about Eve and Jean being siblings born of an illicit affair with a ‘coachman’. He asks that Charles never repeat a word of the Sidwich family secret to anyone lest their reputation gets tarnished. This story eases Charles fears and he promptly falls in love and asks Eve to marry him.

The premise of Charles falling for the same woman twice defies belief if viewed through conventional reason. However, the magical spell of love is blinding and requires suspension of belief. Preston Sturges smartly lets this ‘love is blind’ depiction take center stage by allowing the actors performances and dialogues generate witty humor. In order to pull off such a perfect comedic film, the acting and timing of everyone has to be perfectly in sync. All the cast deserve credit but Barbara Stanwyck steals the show with her mesmerizing performance. Her character oozes confidence in each frame and is completely in control when seducing Charles and gently nodding him to fall in love with her. Even in moments of weakness and anger, her character maintains composure and is sure of herself. When she is hurt by Charles, she doesn’t sulk for too long and starts to immediately think of revenge. Yet, at no point in the film does her character appear cunning but instead always maintains a sweet side underneath her confident yet calculative exterior. In fact, her character also desires a bit of romance. On the ship, Charles proposes to her on the ship’s moonlit deck which Jean refers to as a “woman’s business office”. In the second instance, Jean purposely leads Charles on a horse ride that ends with both of them observing the sunset. Even though she was expecting to get a proposal, she appears to relish getting attention in such a traditional romantic setting. A few smart gags are also tightly woven into the film to enhance the humor and emphasize a character’s state of mind. For example, Charles gets nervous and clumsy only in the presence of Jean. It is not shocking to see him trip up when around her although Jean does her part in forcing him to fall over in two instances. But in a memorable scene, Charles trips over a family sofa that has been in the same spot for 15 years as noted by Horace. Muggsy is a running humor track on his own. He is suspicious of everyone and in his quest to prove the guilt of Eve, he stumbles his way through the elaborate party hosted by the Pike family causing havoc and embarrassment for Charles.

The Lady Eve is not short on symbolism with the most obvious reference being the Garden of Eden. The opening credits show a happy snake licking his tongue while observing some apples before proceeding to place three apples with the film’s title on the screen. Charles’ career involves dealing with snakes so it is not surprising that he is seen reading a book titled “Are Snakes Necessary?” in the ship’s dining area. Of course, as he is reading the book, the room is full of women waiting to pounce and devour him. An apple also subtly makes an appearance in the film as Jean throws her partly bitten apple on Charles’ head as he is trying to board the ship. The Adam-Eve connection is also referred to in a dialogue by Muggsy after Charles tells him he believes that Jean & Eve are not the same woman. Muggsy responds with “You trying to tell me this ain’t the same rib was on the boat” [sic], a reference to the fact that Eve was fashioned out of Adam’s rib. Another humorous usage of symbolism comes during Charles & Eve’s wedding night. As the two are traveling via a train, Eve decides to narrate stories about her past affairs with multiple men causing Charles anguish. Predictably, the weather outside gets stormy mimicking the internal storm that is ripping Charles apart. Stories of her past affairs are too much for him to handle and he stops the train to jump off. Naturally, as he jumps off he slips into mud indicating the state of his reputation if he were to stay married to Eve.

Overall, Preston Sturges has crafted a perfectly balanced film that contains the right mixture of gags, jokes and dialogues to generate humor. Nothing in the film is over the top and the tone is consistent from start to finish. In fact, it won’t be a stretch to compare this film with a finely crafted beer because of the few beer references in the film. When Jean asks Charles what the difference is between a beer and an ale he responds “My father would burst a blood vessel if he heard you say that.” He tries to explain the difference but then admits that he doesn’t like beer and goes on to list a few different styles. “I don’t like beer. Bock beer, lager beer or steam beer. And I don’t like pale ale, brown ale, nut brown ale, porter or stout.” It is remarkable that in almost seven decades since The Lady Eve, very few films have ever mentioned different beer styles. Of course, there have been very few films like The Lady Eve! Just like a finely crafted beer, Preston Sturges’ film is unique, packed with great characteristics and pleasurable till the end.

How The Lady Eve made the Top 100:

#6 Tony D’Ambra

#11 Dennis Polifroni

#12 Dean Treadway

#13 John Greco

#14 Bobby McCartney

#16 Steven Mullen

#19 Mark Smith

#20 Allan Fish

#23 Brandie Ashe

#24 Sachin Gandhi

#25 Sam Juliano

#28 Ed Howard

#31 Jon Warner

#32 Pat Perry

#37 Peter M

#41 Pierre De Plume

#52 J.D. La France