The Lady Eve [DVD] [1941]

undefined

Romantic comedy starring Henry Fonda as Charles Pike, the heir to the Pike Ale empire. Following a year spent looking for rare snakes, Charles is heading for New York aboard the S.S. Southern Queen. But with everyone on board the ship aware of his inheritance, he is hounded by a group of single women looking for a suitable, eligible bachelor. Also after his inheritance are Colonel Harry Harrington (Charles Coburn) and his partner, a pair of conmen and card sharks with a secret weapon - the Colonel's daughter, Jean. From .co.uk ----------- In 1941, Barbara Stanwyck ( /gp/search?search-alias=dvd&field-keywords=Barbara%20Stanwyck+-ntsc ) was offered two screwball roles equally suited to her tart intelligence, deft comic timing, and undeniable sex appeal, and it's a photo finish as to which was funnier--showgirl-on-the-lam Sugarpuss O'Shea, the title character in Howard Hawks's Ball of Fire, or con artist Jean Harrington a.k.a. Lady Eve Sidwich, the delirious fulcrum for this classic Preston Sturges comedy. Under Sturges's typically antic micro, the collision between the gold-digging Harrington and the very rich, very hess brewery-heir-turned-herpetologist Charles Pike (a wonderfully callow, guileless Henry Fonda ( /gp/search?search-alias=dvd&field-keywords=Henry%20Fonda+-ntsc )) yields ample rtunity for the writer-director to skewer issues of class and sex; as always, Sturges is bold in pushing the censors' envelope, capturing a palpable erotic heat between the canny Jean and the literally feverish Charlie, who, after a year up the , is instantly smitten by the mere of her shapely ankles (in hind, a precursor to her subsequent effect in Double Indemnity). To give away the plot machinations driving the farce would spoil the fun, beyond confirming impersonations, mixed signals, and misunderstandings as the turns in a consistently rollicking ride that makes good use of Charles Coburn and screwball character veterans Eugene Pallette, William Demarest, and Eric Blore. --Sam Sutherland P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); Synopsis -------- Directed by Preston Sturges, The Lady Eve stars Barbara Stanwyck as Jean Herrington, a sly con artist aboard a transatlantic ocean liner who happens to run across Charles Pike (Henry Fonda), a snake expert returning from a year in the jungle. Since Pike is the wealthy and shy heir to a fortune, he seems like the perfect target for one of Jean's cons, but as she deceives him she finds herself falling in love. One of Sturges's most hilarious comedies, The Lady Eve is a romantic comedy masterpiece with two of Hollywood's stars at the top of their form. See more ( javascript:void(0) )