As a whole, this film was pretty good. Fine performances from Anne Baxter as Eve, the brilliantly phony schemer, George Sanders as the caustic critic Addison de Witt, (His opening voiceover monologue is hilarious), Thelma Ritter as the cynical maid, Hugh Marlowe and Celeste Holm as the playwright and his wife, and, in an early small role, Marilyn Monroe as a wannabe starlet. The script has great moments of biting humor and all that, yes, and Joseph Mancewicz's direction is pretty good, too. But there are plenty of moments when the film simply dissolves into talkiness, and it gets a little slow and boring. The film is at its best when Bette Davis, giving no doubt her best performance as fading star Margo Channing, really lets loose and lets her costars have it, as in the scene where she fights with Marlowe in the theater. She is also good when being vulnerable and revealing in some of the quieter scenes, but the talkiness factor does override her a little bit. Not quite as scathing and cynical as "Sunset Boulevard," but close.
Review of All About Eve
