The Lady Eve

"You certainly are a funny girl for anybody to meet who's just been up the Amazon for a year." So states "sucker sapien" Henry Fonda to card shark Barbara Stanwyck in what is arguably Preston Sturges' funniest (and sexiest) romantic comedy of love, deception and hilarious payback. Fonda stars as "backward boy" Charles Pike, a snake-fancying heir to the family brewing fortune, who literally falls for Stanwyck's Jean, a card shark "as pretty as a pack of aces" (who is also a partner in crime with her father). Pegging Pike for an easy mark, all bets are off when Jean falls in love with him, Charles learns her true identity, and Jean later gets even for his mistrust by re-entering his life posing as aristocratic Lady Eve Sidwich. Sturges populated this classic screwball comedy with a gallery of peerless character actors, including William Demarest as Mugsy, Charles's suspicious right-hand man determined to get the goods on Lady Eve; Eric Blore as con man Pearlie, currently posing as Sir Alfred McGlennan-Keith; and gravel-voiced Eugene Pallette as Charles' father. Special kudos to a scene-stealing horse who nuzzles his way into a tender scene between the unwitting Charles and Lady Eve. Among this impeccable DVD's special features are an introduction by Peter Bogdanovich, scholarly commentary by Marian Keane, and a 1942 Lux Radio Theater adaptation performed by Stanwyck and Ray Milland. This movie has the same effect on me that Jean's perfume has on the hapless Charles. "Like it?" he swoons, "I'm cockeyed on it." Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. (K. Lee Benson)