The Lady Eve

This is a charmer of a movie with a gorgeous Henry Fonda and a beautiful Barbara Stanwyck, directed by the famous Preston Sturges. Charles Coburn and William Demarest have important supporting roles.

If you never saw Fonda and Stanwyck when they were young and in a Sturges comedy, you're in for a surprise and a treat. Henry Fonda is absolutely adorable in the role of a naive snake specialist. Stanwyck is sunny as the snake charmer. (Eve - get it? Well, her character's name isn't Eve in the movie, but she pretends to be Lady Eve to swindle Henry.)

Fonda plays Charles Pike, heir to a beer fortune, and Stanwyck plays Jean Harrington, a con artist on a cruise ship with her con man father (Coburn). Their goal is to land and fleece a sheep. Of course, Stanwyck makes the mistake of falling for her mark, so things go horribly right after many pratfalls and lies.

Preston Sturges wrote the script, and he was at his top in "The Lady Eve." The studio system was at its best as well, calling up a marvelous cast of character actors in the background. There's all the boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl standard action, but Sturges had a brain, and he was said to have written the script in Reno while getting a divorce - so he had some bite in the script, too. Everyone has perfect timing, all the marks are hit, there are no false notes, and even the horse is perfect. It's a fantastic screwball comedy.

If your memories of Fonda and Stanwyck are from their roles in the 50s, 60s, and later, you're in for a real treat seeing them in this comedy.