The Lady Eve (1941)

The Lady Eve (dir. Preston Sturgess) is structured like a re-marriage screwball comedy but I didn't find it particularly amusing. There are a couple of good scenes, but in general, this film did not speak to me at all. The dame is shrewd and the guy is naive and filthy rich. The dame plays cards and the guy makes a fool of himself all the time. The dame falls for the guy even if the plan is to fleece him. But ok - the dialogue is quite funny at times and maybe I would appreciate the film were I to read more books by Stanley Cavell. Who knows. In defense of the film, one could say that at the same time that we have many gender stereotypes here, it is rare to see female desire portrayed as the driving force of the film, which is the case here. It is the woman that drives the story, and she is the active party, who cheats, falls in loves, fixes it, cheats some more, makes arrangements and so on. Barbara Stanwyck, who played the con woman, is a tough one.