All About Eve vs. Sunset Boulevard

[ClassyCo]

ALL ABOUT EVE and SUNSET BOULEVARD are two award-winning motion pictures from 1950, each serving as exposes of Hollywood and the behind-the-scenes processes that made things tick.

ALL ABOUT EVE was a 20th Century-Fox film that was originally supposed to star Claudette Colbert and Jeanne Crain in the female leads. Colbert had to bail out because of a back injury, and Crain was eventually taken out of the running by Darryl F. Zanuck because he felt she lacked the vindictive qualities needed for the part. Zanuck would swallow his pride and phoned Bette Davis, and asked her to play Margo Channing, a great, but aging stage star that has reached the critical age of 40. Anne Baxter was then brought in to play Eve Harrington, a stage-struck young woman who charms her way into Margo's professional and personal lives. The film offers good performances from several other actors and actresses, such as George Sanders, Celeste Holm, Gary Merrill, Hugh Marlowe, and newcomers Marilyn Monroe and Barbara Bates.

Like many legendary films, SUNSET BOULEVARD went through a lengthy production. At different times, names such as Mae West and Mary Pickford were suggested to play silent screen has-been Norma Desmond before silent screen veteran Gloria Swanson was pulled out of retirement to play the part. For the part of screenwriter Joe Gillis, such men as Montgomery Clift and Marlon Brando were considered before the decision was made to cast William Holden.

Both ALL ABOUT EVE and SUNSET BOULEVARD were big box office hits. Both Davis and Swanson were nominated for Oscars, with each actress expecting that she'd win. Theories abound that their popularity divided the voters, and resulted in Judy Holliday winning the Oscar in 1951 for her performance as a gangster's moll reformed in BORN YESTERDAY.

Which movie do you like better: ALL ABOUT EVE or SUNSET BOULEVARD?​

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Well, you've got two Sun in Aries/Scorpio Rising divas in their career-defining roles, so they would have split the Oscar vote straight away, Bette's chances further damaged by Anne Baxter playing Eve for real by having her nomination submitted in the lead actress category (30-plus years before Aaron Spelling cheekily hired Baxter to replace Bette for HOTEL),

Which is better? They're two of my favorite movies ever, so it's impossible for me too choose, really. SUNSET BLVD is gothic and delicious, while ALL ABOUT EVE is one of the greatest dialogue films ever made. And they're perhaps Billy Wilder's and Joe Mankiewicz' best work, too.

I shall not choose. And I can not choose. And you can not make me!!

 

[Crimson]

They are two of the greatest films ever made, and rank very high among my all-time favorites. They have some core similarities, being biting portraits of show biz centered on aged divas. Otherwise, they are quite different. EVE is smooth, sophisticated and witty. SUNSET is noir-gothic melodrama.

I am, however, a decisive person so I voted for SUNSET BLVD. EVE has better dialogue and, overall, better acting, but I find the story of SUNSET more compelling. Whereas EVE ends with a happy ending for Margo and a mild comeuppance for Eve, SUNSET goes for the jugular in showing the destructive lunacy of fame. If Norma had grabbed a hatchet instead of a gun, we'd have gotten the hagsploitation genre a decade earlier.

While I will happily argue that Bette was cheated of an Oscar for THE LITTLE FOXES, it was Gloria who should have won in 1950.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[ClassyCo]

I haven't said which film that I prefer in the comments yet....

ALL ABOUT EVE is easily one of my favorite Old Hollywood movies. I absolutely adore Bette Davis as Margo Channing, and I cannot imagine anyone else in the part. All the other names I've heard tossed around as possible candidates, just leave me thinking: "Nah, just let Bette do it." This movie really made me pay attention to talents like Anne Baxter and Celeste Holm, two solid actresses of the '40s and '50s, and George Sanders as Addison DeWitt has simply got to be one of the best on-screen characters I've ever seen.

And that's not to mention that EVE has one of the best screenplays ever written. The dialogue and wit is so rich, which only serves to elevate the performances. Of course, I like seeing a very young Marilyn Monroe show up as Miss Caswell, an apparently not-so-talented actress. The part comes dangerously close to self-parody for Monroe, who was an up-and-coming actress at the time surrounding herself with influential men that could advance her career. Huge Marlowe and Gary Merrill give us strong performances as Lloyd Richards and Bill Sampson, respectively, the men of the inner circle.

What I really like about EVE is how it all flows and moves along rather effortlessly. The way the story is told in flashback and you hear frequent narrations is clever, and helps fill in any gaps. Everyone falls into their roles and wears them like gloves, therefore making you feel like you actually sitting at a party with Margo and her theatre buddies. The atmosphere is set and the mood is spiced with delicious one-liners.

It's hard to beat this movie.

I am less familiar with SUNSET BOULEVARD overall. That doesn't speak anything about the quality of the film, however, but just my lack of familiarity with the actors playing the leads. To date, this is the only film I've ever seen with Gloria Swanson, and I'd have to think hard if I've seen William Holden in anything else (well, I know I've seen him on I LOVE LUCY, and maybe... just maybe... I watched THE COUNTRY GIRL many moons ago).

SUNSET BOULEVARD leans more to the noir side of things, and I'm fine with that. It's an expose on Hollywood, and how the town disregards legends and squanders young writers into voiding themselves of originality in an effort to make it in the mainstream. It's a beautifully photographed film, and it appears as if Billy Wilder and his team were presenting the film as "the way film noir should go" for the forthcoming decade.

Swanson looses herself inside Norma Desmond, but in the way that it blurred the public perception of her. Swanson, a silent star herself, played a has-been silent star waiting desperately for her career to be turned around and the public fall at her feet. For audiences in the '50s, they saw this as the real Gloria Swanson. To future generations, Swanson's image has been dwarfed into this one picture, which, I guess isn't necessarily a bad thing when that one movie is SUNSET BOULEVARD.

I'd give EVE the edge over BOULEVARD. I find the story more interesting (I've always liked old movies about the theatre), and I find Bette Davis a more compelling leading lady over Gloria Swanson. Second, I'd argue that EVE has the more interesting secondary cast and characters, whereas BOULEVARD practically brings all the focus to Norma, Joe, and Max (which isn't bad).

In saying that, I don't take anything away from BOULEVARD or its legacy. I find it to be an exceptional film and it's definitely one I need to revisit more often. Perhaps if I had already given the film more watches like I've done with EVE, my opinion just might be a little different than it is now.​

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[Jock Ewing Fan]

Both were great. I would give a slight edge to AAE, because of the great George Sanders
Trivia - George Sanders was the first live action Mr Freeze on the Batman TV Series, and still the best

 

[cijimccashin]

Love both! But I’m a Bette Davis Stan, she does no wrong.

 

[ginnyfan]

Really impossible to choose. Both are among best ever and among my all time favorites. It's just a shame both came out in the same year so they sort of hurt each other at the Oscars, with Eve of course taking more awards.

 

[ClassyCo]

It's just a shame both came out in the same year so they sort of hurt each other at the Oscars, with Eve of course taking more awards.

With both EVE and BOULEVARD coming out in 1950, it made it very difficult for voters, I'm sure. Even so, EVE had a total of 14 nominations, but the biggest debacle was surrounding the winner of Best Actress that year. Davis and Swanson both thought they had it in the bag, and Davis went to her grave feeling she had been robbed -- she partially blamed her co-star Anne Baxter for her unwillingness to be nominated as Best Supporting Actress. In all fairness, however, Baxter was the title character in EVE, and had anyone been nominated in the supporting category, it should've really been Davis (but that wasn't going to happen).​

 

[Crimson]

Every so often, it pops up that Glenn Close's film version of the musical SUNSET BLVD. is getting closer to production. Have these people ever seen SUNSET BLVD? Norma is supposed to be a woman of around 50; Glenn is going to be pushing 80 by the time this movie made.

This ship should have sailed 20 years ago.

 

[ClassyCo]

This ship should have sailed 20 years ago.

Yeah, that ship should've been gone.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

@Wiilie Oleson is unimpressed with SUNSET BLVD, and says:

"For a former silent-movie icon retreating in her decaying, Hollywood-Gothic mansion I think she's making a lot of noise - and rather monotonously theatrical at that.

On the other hand there's William Holden's character that tries to give this Hollywood-insider a cynical touch but to me it comes across as an unconvincingly naive woe-is-me story.

Surely even back then they must have realised that some people make it in the business while others don't, and that that could be a matter of talent, looks, nepotism or sheer randomness.

I do like the story itself and I think it would be a great read, but the relentless narration feels like someone reading the story out loud while showing pictures, or showing pictures and then describe what's in it (I'm not sure what's worse).

Ironically, it also makes the story look like second-hand information as opposed to the firsthand information as promised in the opening scene.

To create a satirical freakshow that's also meant to be a suspenseful drama was probably a little bit too ambitious even with all the talent involved.

Perhaps the character of Norma Desmond should never have been materialized on film; living in the shadows of her former glory the only exposure it requires is the sinister secret between the author and the reader which would increase the psychological mystery of "who's-using-who".

From a technical point of view I think the film looks very well made and it goes without saying that I love the interior of Norma's grotesque mansion (high ceilings always do the trick) except for the tacky tiled floor in the hallway.
I don't think I could call it a bad film, but personally I have experienced it as an overly exhibitionist drag that plods along towards its inevitable and not too exciting conclusion.

Having said that, I did kinda like Holden's narration in the final scene. "Funny how gentle people get with you once you're dead" probably being my favourite line of the entire movie.

My favourite image isn't that of the iconic "ready for my close-up", but the moment she descends the stairs. Since the other characters on that very staircase are seemingly frozen in time it almost looks like a motion picture within a photograph."

Rating: 4/10

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I sometimes wonder what BOULVARD might have been like had a young Barbara Bel Geddes had the Nancy Olson role (since some recommended Nancy for the part of Miss Ellie when BBG was pushed out of DALLAS in 1984). But Nancy's fine here.

What's so funny is how fey and goofy Jack Webb is in this, just minutes away from his uptight, homo-defensive, self-cast and produced role in TV's iconic DRAGNET.

 

[Oh!Carol Christmasson]

@Wiilie Oleson is unimpressed with SUNSET BLVD, and says

Well sharpen the pitchforks! I should have known I wasn't going to get away with it

I sometimes wonder what BOULVARD might have been like had a young Barbara Bel Geddes had the Nancy Olson role

Isn't Nancy the spitting image of Molly Hagan a.ka. Early Years Miss Ellie?

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

Isn't Nancy the spitting image of Molly Hagan a.ka. Early Years Miss Ellie?

Molly Hagan was perfectly cast as a young Miss Ellie (if only they'd trained her to exaggerate her BBG-esque inflection more than they did).

The casting for young Jock was all wrong, however.

 

[Snarky Oracle!]

 

[ClassyCo]

An ode to Gloria Swanson since today is her birthday:

 

[ClassyCo]

"All right, Mr. DeMille, I'm ready for my close-up."