Wednesday, October 13, 2010

The Lady Eve

Henry Fonda, naive and clumsy millionaire, meets Charles Coburn and Barbara Stanwyck, father and daughter con artists, on a cruise ship. They decide to rob him of his money, but then, whaddayaknow, she falls for the big lug. Written and directed by Preston Sturges.

A screwball comedy classic, the film still holds up well. Henry Fonda was never a comedian, but is well cast for the role. His inherent decency is just moved a couple of notches to the left, into gullibility. Barbara Stanwyck is also perfect in her part, and both are surrounded by the top notch character actors that the studio system could bring. Maybe it's just fluff, but it's wellmade fluff, which is a big difference.

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