It's no secret that the Bette Davis character of Margo Channing in "All About Eve" was a take-off on the ego-centric Tallulah Bankhead, "the Alabama Foghorn" who threatened "to rip every hair out of her mustache" when she saw Davis's alleged interpretation of her. While the real life Tallulah was certainly far more eccentric than Davis's subtle interpretation of Margo, on-screen here she's faced with a challenge; Playing opposite Anne Baxter, the rising young leading lady who would go onto screen immortality playing the opportunistic Eve. It's fair to say that the still somewhat green Baxter could easily have been swallowed alive by the campy Bankhead, but she more or less holds her own against Bankhead in several confrontation scenes in this costume drama which is more fantasy than Russian history even if it is the reign of Catherine the Great which this comic burlesque surrounds.
"You rode three days and three nights?" the incredulous Bankhead keeps asking Lieutant William Eythe, the devoted officer reporting possible treason to her majesty. His devotion to her continued efforts as "Mother Russia" (a phrase she openly despises) brings out both her thanks and her lust as she looks on the much younger Eythe, making him captain of the guard in her palace, unaware that he's engaged to the 22 year old Baxter, the somewhat meek young lady-in-waiting whose most challenging job is picking out the right wardrobe for "her highness" to wear to the next elaborate ball. Manipulation by Catherine's "right-hand man" (a delightful Charles Coburn) keeps Baxter from revealing the truth to Bankhead, but eventually, after some champagne, glass smashing and smooching with the Empress, Eythe reveals all, resulting in him discovering just what his newest paramour is all about. A threat of revolution breaks out, and Eythe is at risk of being hung for being a traitor. And still the ambassador from Louis XIV's court awaits, giving poor Vincent Price nothing to do but look rather uncomfortable and silly in wigs.
Coming the year after Mae West got laughs for just calling "Enter!" on Broadway in "Catherine Was Great", Bankhead's performance is equally as bombastic and certainly as much of a burlesque. Sort of ironic considering that West was famous for the line, "I used to be snow white, but I drifted", and Bankhead quipped, "I'm as pure as the driven slush." At times, Bankhead highly resembles Dietrich ("The Scarlet Empress") and at other times, she reminds me of the type of roles which Judith Anderson might have played on stage, although much more seriously. In fact, their voices were quite similar, although Anderson did not have the obvious Southern drawl. Another piece of irony is the fact that the following year, Bankhead had a huge flop on Broadway in a costume epic called "The Eagle Has Two Heads" (to which she famously changed from eagle to turkey in her usual droll way in interviews) which was also about an extravagant Queen facing rebellion. Bankhead isn't the only one whose American presence defies their casting as Russian nobility; Grady Sutton has an even stronger drawl as another member of Bankhead's court.
Elaborate and luscious to look at, this suffers from a lack of outdoors scenes, making its stage origins all the more obvious. Tallulah seems to be having a grand old time, however, and if she did as rumor would have it try to upstage Baxter, it doesn't show. She did credit Coburn with being a more than welcome addition to the cast because as she said, "He'll steal every scene right out of my nose", but Coburn plays it subtle. Eythe seems at first a bit too much of a novice to compete with either of his leading ladies, but he really stands out in comical scenes whether beating up another former captain of the guard, destroying the room where a traitorous general awaits, or finally, breaking into Bankhead's room in the middle of the night as traitorous members of her military approach the palace to depose her. This might have been a bigger hit if made before the onslaught of World War II, but it stands the test of time and gives today's audiences a chance to see one of the all time queen of camp at work, and she is far from looped!
"You rode three days and three nights?" the incredulous Bankhead keeps asking Lieutant William Eythe, the devoted officer reporting possible treason to her majesty. His devotion to her continued efforts as "Mother Russia" (a phrase she openly despises) brings out both her thanks and her lust as she looks on the much younger Eythe, making him captain of the guard in her palace, unaware that he's engaged to the 22 year old Baxter, the somewhat meek young lady-in-waiting whose most challenging job is picking out the right wardrobe for "her highness" to wear to the next elaborate ball. Manipulation by Catherine's "right-hand man" (a delightful Charles Coburn) keeps Baxter from revealing the truth to Bankhead, but eventually, after some champagne, glass smashing and smooching with the Empress, Eythe reveals all, resulting in him discovering just what his newest paramour is all about. A threat of revolution breaks out, and Eythe is at risk of being hung for being a traitor. And still the ambassador from Louis XIV's court awaits, giving poor Vincent Price nothing to do but look rather uncomfortable and silly in wigs.
Coming the year after Mae West got laughs for just calling "Enter!" on Broadway in "Catherine Was Great", Bankhead's performance is equally as bombastic and certainly as much of a burlesque. Sort of ironic considering that West was famous for the line, "I used to be snow white, but I drifted", and Bankhead quipped, "I'm as pure as the driven slush." At times, Bankhead highly resembles Dietrich ("The Scarlet Empress") and at other times, she reminds me of the type of roles which Judith Anderson might have played on stage, although much more seriously. In fact, their voices were quite similar, although Anderson did not have the obvious Southern drawl. Another piece of irony is the fact that the following year, Bankhead had a huge flop on Broadway in a costume epic called "The Eagle Has Two Heads" (to which she famously changed from eagle to turkey in her usual droll way in interviews) which was also about an extravagant Queen facing rebellion. Bankhead isn't the only one whose American presence defies their casting as Russian nobility; Grady Sutton has an even stronger drawl as another member of Bankhead's court.
Elaborate and luscious to look at, this suffers from a lack of outdoors scenes, making its stage origins all the more obvious. Tallulah seems to be having a grand old time, however, and if she did as rumor would have it try to upstage Baxter, it doesn't show. She did credit Coburn with being a more than welcome addition to the cast because as she said, "He'll steal every scene right out of my nose", but Coburn plays it subtle. Eythe seems at first a bit too much of a novice to compete with either of his leading ladies, but he really stands out in comical scenes whether beating up another former captain of the guard, destroying the room where a traitorous general awaits, or finally, breaking into Bankhead's room in the middle of the night as traitorous members of her military approach the palace to depose her. This might have been a bigger hit if made before the onslaught of World War II, but it stands the test of time and gives today's audiences a chance to see one of the all time queen of camp at work, and she is far from looped!