The Lady Eve isn't my first or favorite foray into the films of Preston Sturges but it is a pretty good one. Even though the film is hardly believable -- Henry Fonda playing a clueless geek is a stretch and most of the plot twists require a giant suspension of disbelief -- it's still a lot of fun to see Barbra Stanwyck play sexy and tough. The Lady Eve is also one of the earliest and best examples of gender inversion in film. The women is the tough con-artist and the man is the sap but even that notion gets played with throughout the film. The Lady Eve features a lot more depth of both character and plot than most slapstick comedies and Sturges was in full command as both writer and director. The movies complete unbelievability does prevent it from being an all time classic but there are far worse ways to spend an hour and a half while snowed in on a Sunday.
Rating: 4
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