310 - The Lady Eve, United States, 1941. Dir. Preston Sturges.
Charles Pike has been called Hopsie since he was six years old. Hopsie, because he was born into a brewing family fortune. Pike's Pale! The Ale that Won the Yale!
He himself, however, does not like beer. In a great line he states that he does not like beer, bock, lager, steam, pale ale, brown ale, nut brown ale, porter, or stout. He does not, however, mention Dunkel, Gose, Hefeweizen, Helles, Kolsch, Lambic, Malt Liquor, Marzen, Oktoberfest, Pilsner, Saison, Schwarzbier, or Witbier, but then who is counting?
If Hopsie does not like hops, what does Pike like?
Snakes.
Snakes?
Snakes.
He is an ophidologist.
He practices ophidology. He studies ophidians.
He has just spent the past year in the Amazon with his associate Muggsy. Really.
Muggsy is played by William Demarest, one of history's great character actors. You may know him from his seven years as Uncle Charlie on the television series My Three Sons. Or from one of about a gazillion movies in which he appeared. It is only 1941, and The Lady Eve is something like his seventieth feature film. And he has something like seventy to go. William Demarest was a workhorse.
Hopsie has not seen a woman in over a year, but Muggsy sure has. He has wasted no time entering into a relationship with one of the natives. Now they are going back, and Pike expresses his sentiments.
"If I had my way, believe me, this is the way I'd like to spend all my time--in the company of men like yourselves in the pursuit of knowledge."
He is not thinking of women. He is thinking of snakes. In fact, he is bringing one with him, Emma, a marked garter snake, coiled amiably in her box. Once a day he will be feeding her a couple flies and a sip of milk, and maybe a pigeon's egg on Sundays.
Mac adds, "And be careful of the dames. You haven't dodged any of them in a long time either."
If only Mac knew how prophetic he was being.
Dodging dames is one thing. But dodging Barbara Stanwyck, well, that just might be too much to ask of Henry Fonda.
In fact, not only will he not dodge her, but he will also trip over her. Three times in the film. The first when she sticks out her leg as he walks by her booth on board the ship.
She has just held him in the palm of her hand. Or held his image in her compact mirror, anyway. As she has just spent the last few minutes making fun of all the single ladies attempting to throw themselves at this most eligible bachelor, the fortunate heir of the beer fortune.
Pike is too busy reading his book, Are Snakes Necessary?, to fall for amateur seductresses. But he sure can fall for a professional.
After Pike picks himself up off the floor, she blames him. For breaking her heel. Then she manipulates him into walking her to her stateroom to pick out another pair for her to wear.
She is Eugenia Harrington. H-a-double r-i . . . um . . . n-g-t-o-n spells Harrington. You try to sing it. People call her Jean. She is with her father. He is a colonel. Or so he calls himself. Like Colonel Parker. Or Colonel Sanders. Not really.
They are cardsharks. Or cardsharps. Whichever. They play cards. They cheat. They take your money. Hopsie is a millionaire. They are there to play him. And cheat. And take his money.
When they saw him boarding the ship, Jean stated, "Gee, I hope he's rich." Her father responded, "Don't be vulgar, Jean. Let us be crooked but never common."
Then she dropped an apple on his head. She is Eve, after all. She will return in one of her ploys as Lady Eve.
There is just one problem with their little scheme.
Jean is human. She has a heart. She is capable of falling too.
Perhaps it starts when he kneels like Prince Charming and places her shoe on her foot like Cinderella. Or when Emma the snake helps him by scaring Jean into falling off the chaise and into his arms.
The predator is smitten with her prey.
But even if she is tempted to stop the chicanery, her father is not.
And things might just not turn out the way anyone expects them to.
Stay tuned for some twists.
In this madcap slapstick screwball comedy.
This is our third film in a few days starring Henry Fonda. In three very different performances. And our first with Barbara Stanwyck. And the first of four with Preston Sturges. Who in the early 1940s underwent a period of productivity like none other.
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