It Started with Eve (1941)

Boy, Hollywood in the '40s and '50s sure had a thing for "Eve." There's All About Eve, The Three Faces of Eve, The Lady Eve...and you might count Adam's Rib. ISwE has the least justification, as no one in it is named Eve (or Adam) and the main woman is neither especially wicked nor most responsible for setting things in motion. The studio just settled on a generic battle-of-the-sexes evocation that, true to the era, favored men. No wonder I had trouble recalling the title afterward. But you shouldn't judge the film itself on that basis.

Johnny Reynolds (Robert Cummings) expects aristocratic dad Jonathan (Charles Laughton) to die in bed any minute. Sensing too little time to introduce his dad to new fiancée Gloria (Margaret Tallichet), he hires random stranger Anne (Deanna Durbin) to pose as her briefly. The plot thickens when Jonathan makes a gradual unforeseen recovery and wishes to see more of "Gloria." Since the truth might shock him to death, Anne is persuaded to sustain the act a bit longer, while Johnny must juggle two "fiancées."

This DVD is part of a Durbin collection and also includes Can't Help Singing, which I could help watching. I hadn't even heard of her before, but she shows enough talent to explain the existence of the collection. In particular, she does a great job singing operatically and playing a piano for real. (It is important for a romantic lead to offer more than looks for a modicum of depth to the romance.) This figures into the story when Jonathan's connection to Leopold Stokowski gives Anne an incentive to continue the masquerade when Johnny wants to call it off. I'm afraid there aren't many songs, so the "musical" classification is a tad misleading, but Durbin's performance is still a highlight.

Nevertheless, Laughton is probably the best element, as usual. His Jonathan has something of a Citizen Kane-like reputation, with insensitive news organizations eager to note the moment he kicks the bucket. I'd say they're the least fortunate characters in the movie, except for his doctor (Walter Catlett), who gets increasingly stressed out over disregarded orders. Yet Jonathan doesn't come across as wretched in the presence of Johnny or Anne. He's enough of a family man after all.

Is it as predictable as it sounds? Not quite. Johnny doesn't wait all that long to tell the real Gloria what's going on, and she expresses more understanding and less jealousy than I had expected. Despite some cracks, her attendant mother isn't half the nuisance I've seen in other fictitious mothers of brides. There's barely a climax or a resolution, with Johnny and Anne still apparently sorting out how to feel about each other, albeit close enough to satisfy Jonathan.

Indeed, I'd say the makers pulled back from a lot of comic exaggeration. The result borders on high credibility for the genre. I haven't decided whether that's a worthy trade-off.

One thing's for sure: It's fluff. See it when you want something old-school that doesn't challenge the heart or the mind.