Cinema Tuesdays {The Lady Eve}

Reasons for you to watch this movie:

1. Preston Sturges wrote it

2. Barbara Stanwyck and her fabulous early Forties wardrobe

3. Preston Sturges directed it

4. Henry Fonda has excellent comedic timing

5. Did I mention that it's a Preston Sturges film

Henry Fonda plays Charles. Charles is the heir to Pike's pale ale and is thus very, very, very, very rich. Charles hates beer and is into snakes, which is why he's returning to civilization after a year up the Amazon.

Everyone on the ship gathers to watch him board, particularly if they have unmarried daughters.

Barbara Stanwyck plays Jean and Charles Coburn is her father, Harry. They're con artists and card sharps.

Don't you hate it when you're reading a book, minding your own business and you look up to find everyone around you acting out one of the ads for your family's business? I know I do.

I love that bow necklace. The mirror scene is the perfect example of why Barbara Stanwyck was so brilliant on the screen.

How to trap an eligible millionaire: Trip him in such a way as to break your heel and will have to escort you home to change.

I love the half sweater and full skirt combination that was popular during the war. Why didn't this look stick around?

The best scene in the picture!

The problem that Jean faces is that Charles is in love with her, but Harry still wants to fleece him. What makes it worse is that Jean is in love with him too.

So, all she has to do is to keep Charles away from her father until he proposes. Which he does.

The only problem is that someone shows Charles a photograph from the file labeled Known Card Sharps.

Poor Jean. Crying in such a nice casual outfit.

In this scene where Jean swears to take revenge, you can see bits of the old Pre-Code Barbara Stanwyck come out.

If I ever get to go to the Ascot, I want to wear that outfit.

At the races, Jean runs into Eric Blore who's playing a con man who's decided to park himself among the rich in Connecticut for the duration of the war under the name Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith. Guess who his neighbours are?

So, she becomes his niece, the Lady Eve Sidwich.

"Positively the same dame"

Charles, however, thinks the look too much alike to be the same and he falls for her all over again.

So, what's Jean's plan? Well, about two weeks from now, they'll be riding in the woods and they'll stop to gaze at the sunset. All alone, just Eve, Charles and Horse. Then he'll propose, which the exact same line that he gave to Jean.

Boy that's a great snood. I want a snood.

Anyway, what's Jean's plan and who's Angus?

Oh, and while your watching the film, look out for all of the references to the war (released in 1941 before the Americans decided to join in) that Preston Sturges makes without directly mentioning the war.