1941, Preston Sturges

They certainly don’t make them like this anymore. The Lady Eve is a charming little romantic comedy starring two major stars, in the form of Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, who run through a wild gambit of cons, false identities and broken hearts in their tumultuous relationship. The whole thing is very light and certainly shouldn’t be considered anything special by today’s standards, but it flies by so briskly and provides many a laugh that left me with a big smile on my face at the end. I’ve never been one for physical comedy and they do make Fonda slip and trip far too many times here, but there are also a lot of smaller, dialogue-driven jokes that had me in stitches.

William Demarest portrays the protector of Fonda’s character and he delightfully chews up the scenery whenever he’s on screen, easily my favorite part of the ensemble. Everyone manages to get their moment or two, but the whole thing works primarily thanks to the chemistry between Fonda and Stanwyck at it’s core. He is very straight-laced, naive and easy to love, she is intelligent, ferocious and cunning. They provide a nice counter point to one another that make this a very easy, enjoyable viewing all the way through.

C+

Film #71 of The 365 Film Challenge.