The Lady Eve

The Director of The Lady Eve, Preston Sturges', own life is almost as unlikely as the plot of The Lady Eve, which is a highly enjoyable screwball comedy with Peter Fonda and an absolute cracker of a performance from Barbara Stanwick. Sturges (pictured above with the stars of The Lady Eve) was born into a wealthy family and at various stages of his career he was an inventor (he invented a kissproof lipstick, Red-Red Rouge, in 1920), a stage-hand, a US Army signal officer, a screen writer (although he died in 1959 one of his works was filmed as recently as 1984 – Unfaithfully Yours, with Dudley Moore and Nasstasja Kinski) and, of course, a director. Stanwick plays a beautiful card sharp, at first intent on fleecing the boyishly naïve, Peter Fonda, but then falling in love with him. It has all the twists and turns of the inspired screwball and some well timed slapstick.