All About Eve released 50 years ago today

All About Eve Released: October 13, 1950 Studio: 20th Century Fox Genre: drama Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 0.30 Worldwide: ? Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: 155.60 Worldwide: ?

Directing: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Screenwriting: Joseph L. Mankiewicz Starring: Bette Davis, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Thelma Ritter, Gary Merrill Review: This “brilliantly sophisticated (and cynical) look at life in and around the theater” LM has become “an all-time classic.” VD “Wit and sarcasm reign supreme” FS in “Hollywood’s definitive backstage drama” TV via memorable lines such as “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy night!” Based on Mary Orr’s short story “The Wisdom of Eve,” “Mankiewicz’s biting script of ambition and betrayal in the New York theatre” A07 “says trunkloads about show business, human behavior and the direct correlation between talent and utter viciousness.” TV In “the high point of Bette Davis’s long career,” TV she plays Broadway veteran Margo Channing, an “aging, bitchy accomplished star.” FS She takes an adoring fan – the ambitious, young starlet Eve Harrington (Baxter) – under her wing. As the story unfolds, we see the supposedly naïve protégé “insinuating herself into the life of her idol, and scheming to steal her theatrical roles and her lover Bill (Merrill). By ruthlessly exploiting the older woman’s kindness and hospitality, she manages to achieve her present success while almost destroying the veteran star in the process.” FS “George Sanders is perfect as Addison De Witt – a cynical, egotistical columnist/critic.” FS The film also features “the young Marilyn Monroe as a budding talent” RS in a bit part and “the most literate catfight ever filmed.” TV in this “razor sharp satire on the theater world.” VD “This nearly flawless film was nominated for an astounding 14 Oscars, a feat not duplicated until 47 years later with James Cameron’s Titanic.” MSN Sources: A07 American Film Institute (2007). “AFI’s 100 Years…100 Movies – 10th Anniversary Edition” FS Filmsite.org “100 Greatest Films” LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” MSN MSN Entertainment (7/19/2018). “100 Best Movies” by Shahnaz Mahmud RS Rolling Stone (12/30/1999). “100 Maverick Movies of the Last 100 Years” TV TV Guide (August 8-14, 1998 issue). “50 Greatest Movies on TV and Video” VD Video Detective (1997). “Top 100 Films of All Time”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 6 – Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Sanders), Best B/W Costume Design, Best Sound Nominations: 14 – including Best Actress (Baxter), Best Actress (Davis), Best Supporting Actress (Holm), Best Supporting Actress (Ritter) Other Lists/Honors: Critics’ Picks: Roger Ebert Leonard Maltin First posted 8/24/2019; last updated 6/3/2023.

50 years ago: Rashômon, the first major postwar Japanese film, released

Rashômon

Rashômon Released: August 25, 1950 Studio: Daiei Film Genre: foreign/suspense Box Office (numbers in millions): Domestic: 0.14 Worldwide: 0.18 Adjusted for Inflation: Domestic: -- Worldwide: --

Directing: Akira Kurosawa Screenwriting: Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto Starring: Toshirô Mifune, Machiko Kyô, Masayuki Mori, Takashi Shimura Review: This was the “first huge international success” LM for Japanese director/screenwriter Akira Kurosawa and the “first major postwar Japanese film to be released stateside.” PM It is one of his “most inventive and sustained achievements.” T95 “Its virtues are…plentiful: Kurosawa’s visual style at its most muscular, rhythmically nuanced editing, and excellent performances.” T95 “The film’s very title has become part of our language.” LM “The main part of the film, set in 12th century Kyoto, offers four mutually contradictory versions of an ambush, rape and murder, each through the eyes of one of those involved.” T95 “The police interrogate witnesses, only to find in each retelling of the event that there is no one true version.” PM “The view of human weaknesses and vices is notably astringent, although the sheer animal vigor of Mifune’s bandit is perhaps a celebration of a sort.” T95 “Rashomon emerged as the definitive cinematic treatment of point of view.” PM Sources: LM Leonard Maltin “100 Must-See Films of the 20th Century” PM Premiere Magazine (Oct. 1998). “100 Most Daring Movies Ever Made” T95 Time Out (1995). “Centenary Top One Hundred Films”

Awards/Honors/Lists: Dave’s Movie Database Lists: Awards: Oscars: Wins: 1 – Most Outstanding Foreign Film (Honorary Award) Nominations: 1 – Best B/W Art/Set Direction Lists: Experts’ Picks: Genre Lists: First posted 6/12/2023.