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—— A Green Story
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—— After Earth May 31
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89% The East May 31

The Lady Eve (1941)

tomatometer

100

Average Rating: 8.6/10
Reviews Counted: 28
Fresh: 28 | Rotten: 0

A career highlight for Preston Sturges, The Lady Eve benefits from Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda's sparkling chemistry, and from a script that has inspired countless battle-of-the-sexes comedies.

100

Average Rating: 8.3/10
Critic Reviews: 5
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 0

A career highlight for Preston Sturges, The Lady Eve benefits from Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda's sparkling chemistry, and from a script that has inspired countless battle-of-the-sexes comedies.

audience

86

liked it
Average Rating: 4.1/5
User Ratings: 6,994

My Rating

Movie Info

(Preston Sturges) wrote and directed this classic romantic comedy starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck, who are involved in a scintillating battle of the sexes, as Sturges points up the terrors of sexual passion and the unattainability of the romantic ideal. Henry Fonda plays Charles Pike, the heir to the Pike Ale fortune ("The Ale That Won for Yale"). An ophiologist (a snake expert), he just spent a year "up the Amazon" looking for rare snakes with his cynical and protective guardian/valet

Unrated,

Romance, Classics, Comedy

Monckton Hoffe, Preston Sturges

Oct 16, 2001

MCA Universal Home Video

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Cast

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All Critics (31) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (31) | Rotten (0) | DVD (16)

Third writer-director effort of Preston Sturges [from a story by Monckton Hoffe] is laugh entertainment of top proportions with its combo of slick situations, spontaneous dialog and a few slapstick falls tossed in for good measure.

November 13, 2007 Full Review Source: Variety
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Preston Sturges extended his range beyond the crazy farces that had made his reputation with this romantic 1941 comedy, and his hand proved just as sure.

November 13, 2007 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader
Chicago Reader
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A beguilingly ribald sex comedy, spattered with characteristic Sturges slapstick.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out
Time Out
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Now there's no question about it: Preston Sturges is definitely and distinctly the most refreshing new force to hit the American motion pictures in the past five years.

May 20, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times
New York Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

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.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Fonda's gullibility is endearing, as is Stanwyck's inner turmoil over her chosen path vs. a womanly desire for stability.

February 20, 2010 Full Review Source: Film and Felt
Film and Felt

Top of the line Preston Sturges with wonderful Barbara Stanwyck and surprisingly funny Henry Fonda.

February 22, 2008
Video-Reviewmaster.com

One of those movies whose battle-of-the-sexes themes are still relevant more than 50 years on.

November 13, 2007 Full Review Source: Film4
Film4

It's a masterclass in performance and directing %u2013 and shows how romantic comedy is not for amateurs

October 21, 2007 Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile
Urban Cinefile

Preston Sturges' most brilliant film deftly combines deftly witty dialogue and slapstick comedy, splendidly acted not only by Stanwyck and Fonda but by every single member of the ensemble.

June 26, 2007 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com
EmanuelLevy.Com

...as powerful a feminist statement as it is a smart comedy, and all the more so for hardly seeming to break a sweat in the process.

January 16, 2007 Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com
Filmcritic.com

A wonderful picture set in a world of silly heirs and sharp-eyed dolls as remote from reality and yet wholly credible as that of P. G. Wodehouse.

May 11, 2005 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine
Empire Magazine

As usual with Sturges, you wonder how he was able to get away with so much innuendo during Hollywood's Hayes Code period.

March 7, 2005 Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid
Combustible Celluloid

It's just not simply an hilarious and witty battle of the sexes farce but amazingly has a tender romantic side.

February 14, 2005 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Audience Reviews for The Lady Eve

Barbara Stanwyck exudes enough sexuality to spark a fence post. I don't think I've ever seen a film with such perfect casting. Hilarious and brilliant.
January 21, 2009
flixsterman
Randy Tippy

Super Reviewer

An unusual romantic comedy, it's really funny, and has a good cast. Really worth watching.
September 5, 2010
ajv2688

Super Reviewer

    1. Jean Harrington: I need him like the axe needs the turkey.
    – Submitted by Chris P (2 years ago)

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Foreign Titles

  • The Lady Eve (1941) (DE)
  • The Lady Eve (1941) (UK)
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