Emory Cinematheque: The Lady Eve

Emory Cinematheque: The Lady Eve Directed by Preston Sturges, 1941 | 94 min. With The Lady Eve, the brilliant writer-director Preston Sturges created the Hollywood screwball comedy to top them all. It’s full of impossible situations, clever, double-entendre dialogue (necessary in the era of the Production Code) and plentiful pratfalls. When con artist Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck) seduces and then falls for an out-of-his-depth snake-studying heir Charles Pike (Henry Fonda) on an ocean liner, she gets more than she bargained for and resolves to set things right. Boasting a cast of Sturges comic regulars, as well as the always delightful Charles Coburn as Jean’s deceitful father “Colonel” Harrington, The Lady Eve was written expressly for Stanwyck and she goes to town in this “woman on top” romp. Meanwhile Fonda demonstrates his comic chops to the fullest. Who knew? Free event and open to public