“PRATFALLS AND A ZOOM SUPPLEMENT”

By Raymond Benson

The brilliance of Preston Sturges’ brilliant screwball comedy aside, what is striking about the new Blu-ray edition of the filmmaker’s 1941 The Lady Eve from The Criterion Collection is the supplement that is a Zoom conversation between Tom Sturges (Preston’s son), filmmakers Peter Bogdanovich, James L. Brooks, and Ron Shelton, and critics Leonard Maltin, Kenneth Turan, and Susan King. While it’s unclear if this is the first acknowledgment of the Covid-19 pandemic in the production of home video supplementary features, this reviewer found the inclusion to be revelatory. How amazing it is to see these personages in the Brady Bunch-style squares all discussing Sturges and the film, and mirroring what many of us are doing while working at home. At one point, Brooks’ internet connection fails and his image freezes. All the others comment that they’ve “lost Jim,” but he returns a few minutes later and resumes the chat. Bogdanovich’s phone rings in the middle of the presentation, yet another sign of the times and how we’re all dealing with the reality that is the spring and summer of 2020.

As for the movie itself… In the year 1940, Hollywood screenwriter Preston Sturges elevated his career to become the first writer/director double threat of the sound era. For a brief five years in the early 40s, his flame burned brightly as he churned out sophisticated screwball comedies that had great wit, intelligence, and a stock company of iconic supporting comic actors—the guys you always recognize but never know their names (actually, they are talents like William Demarest, Eric Blore, Eugene Pallette, Melville Cooper, Janet Beecher, Jimmy Conlin, and Al Bridge, to name a handful who appear in The Lady Eve).

The sub-genre known as “screwball comedy” usually pitted characters of the opposite sex who were from different social statures, and the plot revolves around the man and woman falling in and out of love, and back in again. The Lady Eve is considered one of the prime examples. It is full of charm, sophistication, and slapstick. The number of pratfalls performed by Henry Fonda—Henry Fonda!—is astonishing, and he does them so well! He plays Charles Pike, the wealthy son of an ale manufacturer (the always hilarious, frog-throated Eugene Pallette). Charles studies snakes for a living, and on the ship back to America from an African expedition, he meets Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck), a con-woman and daughter of a card shark conman (Charles Coburn). Jean sets her sights on Charles for devious purposes, but then she finds that she’s falling for him. As for Charles, he is lost at first sight.

Then, thanks to Charles’ efficient bodyguard and handler, Muggsy (William Demarest), he learns the truth about Jean and her father. There is a messy breakup before the boat reaches U.S. shores. However, Jean is determined to make Charles even more uncomfortable by pretending to be the aristocratic British society lady, Lady Eve Sedgwick, and showing up at his father’s estate. The seduction begins again, despite the obvious fact that Eve looks exactly like Jean. Revealing what happens next would spoil the fun.

And fun it is. Watching Fonda’s Charles bewilderment and shy-man routine fall victim to Stanwyck’s domination over the entire proceedings will induce much smiling and several belly laughs. The improbability of the story and how it’s delivered with confidence is part of Sturges’ genius. This is great stuff.

The Criterion Collection had previously released this title on DVD years ago, and the new high definition upgrade is worth the double-dip. It’s a new, restored 4K digital transfer with an uncompressed monaural soundtrack. Most of the original supplements are ported over—an audio commentary from 2001 by film scholar Marian Keane; a video introduction from 2001 by Peter Bogdanovich; a featurette on Edith Head’s costume designs; the Lux Radio Theatre adaptation featuring Stanwyck with Ray Milland; and the theatrical trailer. What’s new is the previously mentioned, thoroughly entertaining and informative Zoom conversation between Tom Sturges and friends; a fascinating video essay by film critic David Cairns; and an audio recording from 2013 of “Up the Amazon,” a song from an unproduced stage musical based on the film. The illustrated booklet comes with an essay by critic Geoffrey O’Brien and a 1946 profile of Sturges from Life Magazine.

Criterion always delivers a class-act product, and the new Blu-ray of The Lady Eve is no exception. In the age of Covid, a little Preston Sturges is a welcome distraction.

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