The Lady Eve

Snakes are the passion of the gracefully daft millionaire. ‘Snakes are my life’, he proclaims faithfully and reads a meaningful book on board the luxury liner: Are Snakes Necessary? Since deceit is part of the essence of comedy, an answer follows immediately - in human form. The snake Barbara Stanwyck is beautiful, dangerous, vengeful, seductive. And vulnerable. And absolutely necessary for the stiff, gentle goof Henry Fonda, even if she comes from circles other than his own. As in Vertigo, she appears in the form of two women who are one and both times not identical to what they appear to be. In order to understand this doom as necessary, the hero has to endure the degree of blissful humiliation that is enough to make the evil star of his writer-director Preston Sturges sparkle in the sky of American film comedy. (Harry Tomicek)

Photo: Austrian Film Museum