All About Eve (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Finally, "ALL ABOUT EVE," the cinematic masterpiece admired the world over as possibly the greatest of all time, has received a BLU-RAY production fully commensurate for home viewing as it was in the movie houses. It is shown here in an exquisite 4K digital restoration, in flawless condition, that is absolutely stunning within the film's original parameters that make the actors and the famous Mankiewicz dialogue come alive as never before. With the help of an included second disc, there is considerable commentary by biographer Ken Geist, actress Celeste Holm, son Christopher Mankiewicz, not to mention author Sam Staggs, and a feature-length documentary of the director, remarks by Bette Davis and an essay by critic Terrence Rafferty.In conclusion, if by some chance you are among the few who have never seen this film at all, or one of the many millions who have, this issue of ALL ABOUT EVE should be in your collection, for it is of library quality and a glorious example to keep of American Cinema at its finest.

The Criterion Collection of "All About Eve" was very well done, including excerpt interviews with Bette Davis and the other members of the cast taken from various TV talk shows like Dick Cavett. There are also short films on Joseph Mankiewicz who wrote and directed the film, and also about the costume design, showing the differences in the wardrobes used for Eve (Anne Baxter) and Margo (Bette Davis). Also included is the "Hollywood Backstories" short on the making of "All About Eve".Also included is a booklet that includes the article "Upstage, Downstage" about the movie, as well as the original short story the movie is based on, "The Wisdom of Eve". (There is a short documentary on "The Wisdom of Eve" included in the DVD set.)There is a lot of obvious care that went into producing this DVD set. If you enjoy classic movies and learning about backstage production and casting (Claudette Colbert was originally cast as Margo Channing and Anne Baxter was partially chosen for her features, similar to Colbert's), this is a great addition to your movie library.

Bette Davis playing Margo Channing is still the reigning champion of the Bon mot over 70 years later!With scathing rapid wit, humor, cynicism, and betrayal this classic dominated the Oscars against its main competition that year, the equally excellent 'Sunset Boulevard". There are so many daggers plunged between the shoulder blades of almost all the characters in this movie you might need a flowchart to keep track. Most who watch this will never think of the theater world and Broadway in quite the same way again. This film essentially rescued and resurrected the flagging career of Davis and is overwhelming thought of as her finest film role. She dominates her scenes with energy and intelligence.In addition, George Sanders almost steals the movie as the vicious yet suave, cynical theatre critic Addison DeWitt. His razor-sharp narrations during the film and his brutal take down of Eve at the backend of the movie are just simply amazing. We even get a few quick scenes of a young before her fame Marilyn Monroe as actress Miss Casswell showing some flickers of her great comedic timing and of course stunning beauty as DeWitt's empty headed arm candy at Margo's infamous party. So many great roles. So many great lines of dialog. The movie sweeps along to a howlingly ironic final scene of yet another generation of "Eve".As usual, the Criterion Blu-ray package checks all the boxes. Using a 4K scan remastering of an original camera negative the picture has nice detail with well rendered grain, solid gray scale, good blacks and no noticeable film damage or noise. There is some originally filmed softness here and there but thankfully no DNR or edge enhancement to try to compensate. Audio is a solid mono PCM that gives a clear precise rendering to the all-important dialog. No distortion or thinness is present to the music. Supplements include commentaries, interesting interviews and documentaries. I especially enjoyed "The Real Eve" a look at the real-life inspirations for the movie characters. Definitely not very nice people! The included thick booklet has a great essay as well as a copy of "The Wisdom of Eve" a short story of which the movie is based. For any self-respecting classic movie lover this 2-disc set is a must own. I'll bet you'll give it several watches to catch all those Bon mots ricocheting all over the place!

This is an awesome set for All About Eve. The quality of the movie is excellent and there are so many extras about the background. One thing I love is the set included the short story "The Wisdom of Eve" which was the inspiration for the movie. I've always wanted to read it so that was a wonderful bonus. If you love the movie, you will be so pleased with this collection which will make you appreciate it all the more.

I'm sure this is a fine quality set, I was very excited to receive it. However, I cannot watch it because neither my Sony nor my Panasonic "all region" DVD players will play it. This is not the fault of the seller of this DVD but rather the incompatibility of DVD players with dumb TVs. I cannot upgrade my firmware because my TV is not connected to the internet. In my experience, Blu-Ray players are a waste of money. I wish this movie was available on regular DVD.

perfect

The case, the packaging, all of it very fancy. Comes with a great booklet with beautiful photos. All this aside, as a blue ray collector I would have preferred a regular blue ray case so it would fit on a shelf with the rest of my collection without standing out. I may in fact put the blue rays in a regular case, but the packaging is lovely. This was the best priced blue ray of the movie and that is why I picked it. Goes without saying the movie itself is excellent also.

The Criterion Collection discs, (2 Bluray in this item), are up to the usual high standards. However, even though Criterion has issued other discs with paper packaging, this is the first one that has a sticky rubber button to hold the discs. These are a difficult obstacle in the removal of the discs from the package. Very frustrating and I hope that Criterion Collection will never use this type of packaging again!