Movie. Lady Eve, 1941. (HIx: 2)
In an interesting article about three 20th century Montgomery, Alabama women (Sara Mencken, Zelda Fitzgerald, and Tallulah Bankhead), Gail Jarvis explains one attribute of the Southern Belle: “the ability to manage men without seeming to do so.”
Without being Southern, that is what this movie is about. It is a romance of the Battle of the Sexes on the old model.
Perky Barbara Stanwyck and her father Charles Coburn are con artists. Young Henry Fonda bumbles onto the scene: he is perfect for them: naïve and rich. But he falls for Stanwyck, and that makes Stanwyck fall for him (the other side of the coin). But how can they extract themselves from the roles that brought them together?
This movie is full of slapstick, wry commentary, witty dialogue, and hysterical situations. I’m starting to like this Preston Sturges guy. (But see also reference in discussion of nudity.)