The Lady Eve features Stanwyck as con-artist Jean Harrington, who with her card sharp father and their faithful assistant Gerald roam trans-continental cruise ships relieving wealthy travels of some of their riches. On this particular cruise their mark is wealthy ale hair, Charles "Hopsy" Pike, an ophiologist who has been up the amazon for a year studying snakes. Hopsy is as naive as they come and easily falls under Jean's spell. What Jean doesn't account for, is her own development of feelings for Hopsy. When he proposes she decides to reform and saves him from being another one of her father's victims. Unfortunately, he discovers her former occupation and cruelly dumps her, devastating Jean and leaving her wanting revenge. In a bold act of anger and defiance she takes on a new identity as The Lady Eve Sidwitch and walks right back into Hopsy's life and dares him to call her bluff. Hijinks ensue.
What makes Sturges' style different from Lubitch, is that he embraces pratfalls wholeheartedly. In some of his other films this is often to the film's detriment; however, in The Lady Eve, Sturges manages to balance the physical comedy with romance. The biggest asset this film has going for it is the performance of Barbara Stanwyck. As usual, Stanwyck's character is the smartest person in the room, but in addition to this she manages to imbue this character, who for all intensive purposes is an out-and-out predator, with a remarkable amount of sympathy and heart. As she starts falling for Hopsy, we see her tough-as-nails/world-weary demeanor melt away and the result is quite touching, making the character of Jean so compelling. Stanwyck is able to convey her surprise and joy at finding love with Hopsey with an all so subtle change in the cadence of her voice and a look that infects the viewer with warmth; making it easy to get on Jean's revenge bandwagon when Hopsy breaks her heart. A lesser actress would not be able to handle such heavy lifting. I also have to give a shout out to Henry Fonda, as the terminally clumsy and naive Hopsy, for falling over (and into) a barrage of pratfalls that would make Charlie Chaplin proud. The supporting cast including Charles Coburn as Jean's father Colonel Harrington and William Demarest is similarly wonderful.
I honestly cannot say enough positive things about this phenomenal film. If you only watch one of the films from this series, this one would get my vote. To further sway you, I give you the scene that has been described by many as being one of the sexiest of all time...
