THE LADY EVE

DIRECTOR: Preston Sturges
WRITER: Preston Sturges
STARS: Barbara Stanwyck, Charles Coburn, Henry Fonda
SUPPORTING PLAYERS: Eugene Pallette, William Demarest, Eric Blore, Melville Cooper, Robert Grieg, Luis Alberni, Jimmy Conlin
1941, 94m

"If I were asked to name the single scene in all of romantic comedy that was sexiest and funniest at the same time, I would advise beginning at six seconds past the 20-minute mark in Preston Sturges' The Lady Eve and watching as Barbara Stanwyck toys with Henry Fonda's hair in an unbroken shot that lasts three minutes and 51 seconds. A movie like The Lady Eve is so hard to make that you can't make it at all unless you find a way to make it seem effortless. Preston Sturges does a kind of breathless balancing act here, involving romance, deception and physical comedy." -- Roger Ebert

“A more charming and distinguished gem of nonsense has not occurred since It Happened One Night.” – New York Times

"No other female star of [Stanwyck's] magnitude and pulchritude would have been expected to work so tirelessly to hook their mates. The Dunnes, the Lombards, the Arthurs, the Loys, the Russells, the Colberts, deflected male thrusts of desire with a repertoire of expert parrying maneuvers. But Stanwyck was the kind of dame who put all her cards on the table from the outset. Still, when the big hunks somehow stumbled past her emotional defenses, she became as lyrically starry-eyed as any of her sisters in enchantment." -- Andrew Sarris.

SHOWTIMES: TUE/WED 3:05, 7:00
THU 1:10, 5:05
CO-FEATURE: BALL OF FIRE