Post by klep on Jan 14, 2019 7:59:52 GMT -6
MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/14/18: All About Eve
Note: Today's essay is provided by a guest contributor
If you give even a cursory look at Hollywood history, but especially the era of classical Hollywood, you'll find that gossip columnists occupy a singularly important position. Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons in particular become recurrent, familiar names, covering, trading, or blocking news items, puff pieces, and propaganda. When we talk about the Studio System, they were an undeniable and vital aspect of it, helping to codify narratives the studios wanted. After all, nothing is truly spontaneous. If you've ever looked at an actor who has been in a lot of flops and asked yourself "why are they still trying to make them A Thing?" it's because despite the official collapse of what we knew as The Studio System, the core of its practices survived. (People like to refer to the "machinery" of Hollywood when talking about these practices, but in my opinion the slightly more biological term "system" is a more apt metaphor, if only because when part of a machine stops working the whole thing breaks down, whereas if something in Hollywood stops working the body will slow down while it looks for a fix. Either works, but the inherent difficulty in replacing a body seems more akin to the problems of fixing Hollywood)
Addison DeWitt (George Sanders) is a theatre critic, rather than a gossip columnist, and the setting is New York instead of Hollywood, but everything tracks in a similar fashion. The plot concerns Margo Channing (Bette Davis), toast of the stage worrying about her future prospects as she nears 40, meeting super-fan Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), who worships at her altar and says she only wants to be close to her to observe her craft, but it's obvious that she wants more. The story is familiar, but besides the sparkling, witty dialogue, the most fascinating thing about All About Eve is its meticulous chronicling of everything that goes into Eve's ascension. There's flattery, trickery, lies, betrayal, and conspiracy involved, Eve manipulating Margo's inner circle into getting her on that stage and making sure DeWitt is in the audience, so her performance will matter. (It isn't enough to be seen doing good work, one must be seen by the right people who can then shape the narrative) Of course, as with any system, Eve's stardom is much bigger than Eve, and she soon finds the spotlight a gilded cage, without any friends and at the mercy of some compromising information dug up by DeWitt. And then there's the appearance of Phoebe, another mysterious ingénue with a sharp, predatory eye on Eve's position.
All About Eve entered the public conversation again last year, following a nation-wide road show where it played in a double bill with Paul Verhoeven's 1995, NC-17 trash epic Showgirls. The screenings featured discussions with film critics, who drew parallels between the two films and their examination of common, evergreen themes. Even more recently, while promoting The Favourite, Rachel Weisz drew comparisons to All About Eve as well, calling it a funnier version of the Bette Davis classic. There are many films All About Eve informs and mirrors, including recent Movie of the Week entry Mean Girls, and this long-standing through-line illustrates the fundamental truth that, more than any other factors, gossip and favors are the primary force that keeps the world moving. If you can get powerful people to agree on a narrative, reality is much easier to control. The problem, of course, is that narratives always end, and there's always a new, more enticing narrative out there in the dark, ready to push the old one off stage. Or down the stairs. Or out of the country.
Fasten your seatbelts, it's always a bumpy night.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/21: Come Drink With Me
MARTIAL ARTS WEEK!
Our selection for Martial Arts Week is from where else but the Shaw Brothers Studio. A story about a woman out to rescue her young brother from bandits, Come Drink With Me is an underseen classic. Come Drink With Me is available for rent on Amazon Video, where it is free for Prime members.
Note: Today's essay is provided by a guest contributor
If you give even a cursory look at Hollywood history, but especially the era of classical Hollywood, you'll find that gossip columnists occupy a singularly important position. Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons in particular become recurrent, familiar names, covering, trading, or blocking news items, puff pieces, and propaganda. When we talk about the Studio System, they were an undeniable and vital aspect of it, helping to codify narratives the studios wanted. After all, nothing is truly spontaneous. If you've ever looked at an actor who has been in a lot of flops and asked yourself "why are they still trying to make them A Thing?" it's because despite the official collapse of what we knew as The Studio System, the core of its practices survived. (People like to refer to the "machinery" of Hollywood when talking about these practices, but in my opinion the slightly more biological term "system" is a more apt metaphor, if only because when part of a machine stops working the whole thing breaks down, whereas if something in Hollywood stops working the body will slow down while it looks for a fix. Either works, but the inherent difficulty in replacing a body seems more akin to the problems of fixing Hollywood)
Addison DeWitt (George Sanders) is a theatre critic, rather than a gossip columnist, and the setting is New York instead of Hollywood, but everything tracks in a similar fashion. The plot concerns Margo Channing (Bette Davis), toast of the stage worrying about her future prospects as she nears 40, meeting super-fan Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter), who worships at her altar and says she only wants to be close to her to observe her craft, but it's obvious that she wants more. The story is familiar, but besides the sparkling, witty dialogue, the most fascinating thing about All About Eve is its meticulous chronicling of everything that goes into Eve's ascension. There's flattery, trickery, lies, betrayal, and conspiracy involved, Eve manipulating Margo's inner circle into getting her on that stage and making sure DeWitt is in the audience, so her performance will matter. (It isn't enough to be seen doing good work, one must be seen by the right people who can then shape the narrative) Of course, as with any system, Eve's stardom is much bigger than Eve, and she soon finds the spotlight a gilded cage, without any friends and at the mercy of some compromising information dug up by DeWitt. And then there's the appearance of Phoebe, another mysterious ingénue with a sharp, predatory eye on Eve's position.
All About Eve entered the public conversation again last year, following a nation-wide road show where it played in a double bill with Paul Verhoeven's 1995, NC-17 trash epic Showgirls. The screenings featured discussions with film critics, who drew parallels between the two films and their examination of common, evergreen themes. Even more recently, while promoting The Favourite, Rachel Weisz drew comparisons to All About Eve as well, calling it a funnier version of the Bette Davis classic. There are many films All About Eve informs and mirrors, including recent Movie of the Week entry Mean Girls, and this long-standing through-line illustrates the fundamental truth that, more than any other factors, gossip and favors are the primary force that keeps the world moving. If you can get powerful people to agree on a narrative, reality is much easier to control. The problem, of course, is that narratives always end, and there's always a new, more enticing narrative out there in the dark, ready to push the old one off stage. Or down the stairs. Or out of the country.
Fasten your seatbelts, it's always a bumpy night.
OUR NEXT MOVIE OF THE WEEK for 1/21: Come Drink With Me
MARTIAL ARTS WEEK!
Our selection for Martial Arts Week is from where else but the Shaw Brothers Studio. A story about a woman out to rescue her young brother from bandits, Come Drink With Me is an underseen classic. Come Drink With Me is available for rent on Amazon Video, where it is free for Prime members.