The Lady Eve

February 14, 2010 - Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda team up in this 1941 romantic comedy from director Preston Sturges. Charles Coburn also stars along with William Demarest (My Three Sons).

Coburn and Stanwyck play Colonel and Jean Harrington, a father/daughter team of card sharps. They're on a cruise ship bound from South America to New York, and they have their sights set on Charles Pike (Fonda), a wealthy man just back from a year spent "up the Amazon."

It doesn't take Jean long to get Pike to fall under her spell. She falls for him, too, and can't bring herself to carry out the con. But, before she can come clean, Pike learns about her conning ways and dumps her. Sometime later, Jean sees a chance for revenge and reinvents herself as Lady Eve.

Overall review: *** The top-notch cast makes the most of a witty script. Stanwyck holds her own as she banters with the boys and Fonda shows off his skills at physical comedy. Anytime The Lady Eve is on, you can deal me in.