“Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night,” is one of my favorite lines in any film ever, and it’s delivered to perfection by Bette Davis as aging Broadway star Margo Channing. It’s arguably her best role among so many. Years ago, I had the good fortune to see All About Eve on the big screen with a restored print at a packed revival house in Glendale, California. While it’s typically categorized as a drama, I’d edge this film into the “comedy-drama” genre, based on the sheer number of belly-laughs it generates, particularly at the hands of Davis, Oscar-winner George Sanders, and stalwart character actress Thelma Ritter, who turns in the first of her six nominated performances for Best Supporting Actress. The humor is biting and intelligent, wickedly delicious, and always lands a bull’s-eye. But behind the wit lies a painful truth. Joseph L. Mankiewicz dipped his pen in venom when he crafted this brilliant screenplay, then stepped behind the cameras to guide his work to a record 14 Oscar nominations.

Margo’s backstage dressing room with Bette Davis, Thelma Ritter, and Celeste Holm.

All About Eve gets everything right. Aside from the outstanding writing and direction from Mankiewicz, it has the perfect cast, even if several of the actors weren’t the first or even second choice to play their roles. For me, it comes down to the masterful work of Davis and Sanders, who capture the intended tone without a falter. Both have a way of treating their golden lines and situations with genuine gravity while being in on the joke and shrugging the whole thing off as if none of it mattered, allowing the story to resonate on three levels at once—drama, comedy, and satire. I can’t imagine other actors striking three notes like that. They create an emotional whiplash, and I find myself being appalled by these people, loving them, and laughing at them, at the same time.

This ultimate-of-all-backstage-stories is an engrossing tale of ambition, obsession, betrayal, and an insatiable thirst for fame. Margo Channing and her close friends take the fledgling fan Eve Harrington under their wings after a performance one night, but all is not what it seems. Eve (the remarkable Anne Baxter) is a snake in the grass. As the plot unfolds, she transforms from convincing stage-door mouse into conniving Diva. We see glimpses of her darker side early on. Birdie (Thelma Ritter) voices her concern, but it’s the ladies’ room encounter much later, opposite Karen Richards (Celeste Holm), where Eve finally shows her true colors.

With the exception of George Sanders as theatre columnist and critic Addison DeWitt, the male performers don’t fare quite so well, however. It’s through Addison’s jaded eyes and purring voiceover narration that we are brought into this story to hear “all about Eve.” He sets the tone, establishes the rules of the game, comments on the players, and in several instances, calls the shots. By contrast, Gary Merrill as director Bill Simpson, Hugh Marlowe as playwright Lloyd Richards, and Gregory Ratoff as producer Max Fabian all give solid performances, but the impressions pale somewhat next to their female counterparts. At times, Merrill and Marlowe in particular come off a tad stilted in their line deliveries, which suits the material well in the end. No harm, no foul—and in all cases, the actors’ timing is impeccable.

Anne Baxter, Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, and George Sanders.

Deserving a most honorable mention is Marilyn Monroe in the small role of Miss Caswell, an up-and-coming starlet with her eye fixed solidly on the fastest way to get there. Monroe steals focus every time she’s on screen, which is no minor achievement in this company. She is radiant and genuinely funny as “a recent graduate of the Copacabana School of Dramatic Arts,” according to Addison.

No matter how many times I see it, I get caught up in this sinister Cinderella story and its compelling characters. I marvel at the performances, savor the dialogue, and laugh at lines I’ve heard countless times, because they never get stale to me. This movie celebrates and condemns the world of the theatre with all of its triumphs, pitfalls, intrigues, and tragedies. It’s a classic for all time and most deserving of its Best Picture win.

All About Eve