I think it’s safe to say The Lady Eve is one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time. On my Letterboxd profile, it’s currently sitting pretty at #3. It’s certainly my favorite of all the old screwball comedies, which I inherently find more romantic than most contemporary RomComs. The Lady Eve laid the foundation for every romantic comedy from When Harry Met Sally (1989) to No Hard Feelings (2023).
In 1994 the film was inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally and historically relevant.”
Henry Fonda plays Charles Pike, a shy, naive rich boy who’s obsessed with snakes, and is the heir to the Pike’s Ale fortune (“the Ale that won for Yale”). Pike boards an ocean liner en route to New York after spending a year in the Amazon jungle researching snake life.
Barbara Stanwyck plays Jean Harrington, a beautiful con artist who scams the wealthy ship passengers along with her father, the card shark “Colonel” Harrington (Charles Coburn) and his partner Gerald (Melville Cooper). The three cons are sneaky with cards and know how to deal a crooked deck.
The chemistry between Fonda and Stanwyck is great. He’s so awkward and weird, and she’s so funny and confident. It’s textbook RomCom energy that’s been replicated a thousand times since. Charles Pike’s mind is literally only on snakes. He even reads a book entitled “Are Snakes Necessary?” (a parody of a book entitled “Is Sex Necessary?” which was very popular at the time.) At first, Jean just tries to play him for a sucker, but is very quickly amused by Charles’ dweeby earnestness.
There’s one scene between the two in Jean’s cabin that is so steamy, even though nothing salacious really happens. It’s very tame by today’s standards, but I’m over here, pulling my shirt collar to let the steam escape every time I watch it. They’re both lying down on a couch, Jean is playing with Charles’ hair, and whispering one liners into his ear. It’s all flirting energy. It’s horny without being vulgar. To quote Colonel Harrington; “Let us be crooked, but never common.”
Charles is so dorky he has a “minder” named Muggsy (played by William Demerest, one of my favorite character actors from this period) who constantly hovers over him, making sure nobody kidnaps him. He saved his life once as a kid, so he must be doing something right. Charles is also super gullible, knows sleight of hand magic, and carries thousands of dollars with him. He’s the perfect sap for cons like the Harringtons.
Barbara has an incredible wardrobe in this movie. Shout out to the legendary costume designer Edith Head for giving her top notch ‘fits’. My personal favorite is this “where’s Waldo” hat she’s wearing with this sporty look in one scene on deck.
The two quickly fall for each other, but when Muggsy tells Charles the truth that the Harringtons are card sharks who intended to take advantage of him, he gives Jean the cold shoulder and tells her he doesn’t want to see her anymore. When the ship docks in Manhattan, Jean and Charles part ways, both hurt.
A few months later, the Harringtons are at a racetrack and run into a fellow con, Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith, RFD, aka Pearly (played by Eric Blore, whose perhaps most famous for being the voice of Mr. Toad of Disney’s The Wind and the Willows fame.) Pearly tells them he’s recently been living in Ridgefield, CT fleecing the wealthy locals. Jean remembers that the Pikes live in Ridgefield and decides to play a trick on Charles by pretending to be Sir Alfred’s niece, Lady Eve Sidwich, a posh English socialite.
The Lady Eve attends a party the Pikes are throwing in their mansion and charms the hell out of everyone. One of my favorite jokes in a comedy is when a crowd gathers around one person telling a story and they all laugh uproariously. It’s so funny to watch an entire party being charmed by someone who is lying the entire time. Charles can’t shake the feeling he’s met Eve somewhere before, but he’s not quite sure where. Muggsy insists “it’s the same dame from the boat” but Charles waves him off. Charles spends the evening falling down and getting food spilled on his tuxedo.
Eve and Charles eventually get married, but Eve continues to torment Charles with phony stories of past romantic escapades until finally Charles gets so fed up he divorces Eve.
Eventually Jean and Charles reunite on the boat where they met and sparks immediately start flying again like last time, proving once and for all that toxic relationships can be fun and addictive.
From start to finish, this film is a joy.
The Lady Eve was written and directed by Preston Sturges, who’s definitely my favorite comedy director of the 40’s. His other big hits were Sullivan’s Travels (1941), The Palm Beach Story (1942), The Great McGinty (1940) and Hail, The Conquering Hero (1944).
The film was nominated for an oscar for best original story at the 14th Academy Awards, but lost to Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).
You can currently watch The Lady Eve on the Criterion Channel until it leaves the platform in February, or you can be a dork like me and get the blu-ray.