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All About Eve is actually all about Margo. Bette Davis stars as Margo Channing, an aging Broadway actress who takes eager young fan Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) into her home and soon finds that Eve is taking over her life, as well as using her as a rung on the ladder to stardom. Cunningly stealing Margo's role, Eve then disrupts the lives of Margo's director boyfriend (Gary Merrill) and her stable of close friends. Ah, it's gonna get down and Dirty. Catfight!

Considered a biting look at the theater world in its time (and winner of six Academy Awards, including Best Picture of 1950), by today's standards the acting is certainly on the overripe side, and the script is gloriously overwritten (people don't speak in this movie, they make speeches). But it's full of some wonderfully witty dialogue. Davis's performance may seem over-dramatic, but it is absolutely perfect, especially in the now legendary party scene, where she spouts the immortal line, "Fasten your seat belts, it's gonna be a bumpy night!" And All About Eve certainly is!

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Originally released on DVD back in 1998, that old version was so bad you wouldn't even want to give it away. Fans complained and complained, and finally Fox has listened, and thus we have this rather sparkling new remaster. Transferred from a newly-struck print and presented in its original 1.33:1 theatrical aspect ratio, it is so much better than that old crappy DVD as to be incomparable.

While it is probably true that no 50 year-old film will ever look completely pristine, a nice cleanup job like this certainly helps. Gone is all the heavy grain, dirt, scratches and other distractions that marred the previous releases. There is still a bit of grain inherent in the material, but this new print is very clean, with only a few dropouts apparent, and minor ones at that. Blacks are much, much better, with nary a sign of fading throughout, even in the darkest scenes. Contrast is also improved (and not nearly as overly bright a the previous DVD, if still a bit pumped up on the high end of the scale). Now spread across a dual-layer disc, compression artifacts are greatly reduced, and even the lack of edge enhancement is a revelation compared to the old DVD. A very nice remaster.

Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?

While not as impressive a restoration as the transfer, the new English 2.0 stereo remix included here is at least more pleasant than the previous release. There is still some slight hiss in the background, and dynamic range is hardly superior. The high end is still harsh and low end flat; however, there is a bit less distortion (important on a film as dialogue-driven as this) and no severe dropouts or anomalies. Given the talky nature of All About Eve, I'm sure a surround remix probably wouldn't have added much to the experience.

Also included are French and Spanish mono dubs, English and Spanish subtitles, and English Closed Captions.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

As part of the first wave of Fox's new Studio Classics line, if this is a sign of things to come, we're going to have a lot to look forward to. I'm sure it is a real challenge coming up with supplements for a film where the majority of the main participants are no longer with us, but Fox has a done a fine job of pulling together a mix of both new and old.

First up we have two new audio commentaries, neither screen-specific: Christopher Mankiewicz, actress Celeste Holm, and author Kenneth Geist ("Pictures Will Talk: The Life and Films of Joseph L. Mankiewicz") contribute to the first, and author Sam Staggs ("All About 'All About Eve'") goes solo on the second. What's most fun about these two tracks is that there is almost as much catfighting in them as there is in the movie. (Meow!) Geist begins his contribution by dissing Staggs, stating he only did the commentary because he hated his book so much. Often spying on his dad's big Hollywood parties from atop the stairs, Mankiewicz has plenty of insider info to share (and is wisely given the most airtime), while the squeaky-voiced Holm offers maybe three sentences at the most. The trio were all recorded separately and spliced together fairly well, with a bit of dead space from time to time. By comparison, Staggs has his work cut out for him, but does a nice job of talking for 138 minutes. I can't vouch for the accuracy of his book (Geist didn't seem to like it much) but he seems to have done his homework, offering a bit of insight on everything, from the casting to the legendary feud between Mankiewicz and Fox chief Richard Zanuck to the criticisms that the movie is too stagey. (Surprisingly, no one makes make much mention of Marilyn Monroe.) While these commentaries probably will be too dry for casual fans, you All About Eve fanatics should definitely give 'em a listen.

More fun for those who just want a quick recap of the movie's legendary history, take a look at the 24-minute AMC Backstory: All About Eve. I've always found these Backstory things a bit too cheesy (especially the narration), but there's plenty of great archival interview footage with the likes of Bette Davis, Anne Baxter and Joseph Mankiewicz, plus then-new interviews with Tom Mankiewicz, film historian Rudy Behlmer and Davis biographer Roy Moseley. Like all the video-based extras, this special is presented in full screen and mono with no optional subtitles or captions.

Up next are a bunch of fun items of the promotional variety. You'll find two hilarious but way too short (1 minute a pop) vintage promotional reels, one highlighting Bette Davis, the other Anne Baxter. Davis is classic, coming off as a total bitch with her lit cigarette and acid tongue. Priceless! Too bad there isn't more of it. We also get a nice collection of five Movietone News shorts running a little under 10 minutes: "1951: Academy Awards Honor Best Films Achievements," "1951: Hollywood Attends Gala Premiere of "All About Eve'," "Holiday Magazine Awards," "Look Magazine Awards," and the "Theatrical Trailer," which is exactly the same as the promo reel mentioned above, only with more movie clips.

Rounding out the package is a nice restoration comparison between the 1996 and 2002 film and video masters. A fairly extensive 10 pages of text notes precedes the 4 minutes of clips. Last but not least are theatrical trailers for the Fox classics How Green Was My Valley and Gentleman's Agreement (both, coincidentally, streeting on the same day as All About Eve)

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

No ROM extras have been included.

Parting Thoughts