Verdict:
Barbara Stanwyck plays an interesting strong character, unlike the paper-thin ladies in distress seen in so many other films of the time. Playing a con artist requires an intelligent player, but she adds a certain cynical charm to that intelligence that only she could. Charles Coburn plays a father and partner in crime to Barbara’s character, and he is charming and has chemistry with the girl.
It’s a goofy movie that reminds me of a Saturday Night Live sketch.
It is unfortunately Henry Fonda, the biggest of the names, who is kind of boring at best and annoying at worst. He is given a role of a naive doofus, and he plays that role a little too well, calling into question the believability of his given profession as well any chemistry between him and the intelligent lady. It feels from some of the initial dialogue that the original plan may have been for him to appear as a smart bookworm who is simply awkward with women, but instead he just comes off as dumb. Lady Eve is not really a comedy where being dumb is more forgivable, so this is just not a very interesting character to put in the lead role.
And this flaw is my problem with the story. It starts strong, but fizzles out, both in terms of interest and excitement. The plot becomes increasingly ridiculous, depending on the stupidity of James Fonda’s character for its continuation. Then, towards the end of the film, the two main characters argue (this cliché seems to be as old as the concept of a romantic comedy) and the point of contention between them is based on a cultural norm for women that no longer exists, and in fact, was already not realistic at the time this movie was made.
The dialogue can be quite witty. You have to be fast enough to catch the good parts. However, eventually it gets romantic or sentimental and that is when the movie becomes a cheap romance novel with lines like “You believe me, don’t you?” spoken from behind sad puppy eyes.
The cinematography is OK, but there is nothing inventive or of particular interest. It is a surprisingly sexual film for the 40’s, with a good amount of skin from the main lady, though not enough to make it interesting that way either.
The makers do something interesting with the music in the later part of the movie to incorporate it into the film, but in all other cases, it is the usual sappy 40s romantic tunes.
Lady Eve is all about its main female character. To a lesser degree it is about the funny supporting characters. However, the story disappoints, and the main male character is a drag.