The Lady Eve Reviews
George Orwell Time and Tide
The dialogue is so good, the direction so light and witty and the whole atmosphere so essentially farcical that one does not bother about improbabilities.
Full Review | Oct 2, 2023
Dennis Harvey 48 Hills
There's no space here to extol the individual glories...
Full Review | Jul 31, 2023
Brian Susbielles InSession Film
To go from the realism of Tom Joad to being a klutz in this charmer was remarkable...
Full Review | Mar 7, 2023
Zita Short InSession Film
This is one of the best films I have ever seen, let alone one of the best romances. Its influence on future romantic comedies is undeniable and it remains as fresh and exciting today as it was when it was first released.
Full Review | Feb 7, 2023
John Kinloch California Eagle
The sexiest comedy in many a day.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Otis Ferguson The New Republic
Some of it is slapstick; a little of it is impossible the wrong way; but in general its pleasures come from the characters as found.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Ida Belle Hicks Fort Worth Star-Telegram/DFW.com
The Lady Eve cinches Sturges as an important personality in films... It is highly entertaining movie fare -- the kind that keeps the box offices busy.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Herbert Cohn Brooklyn Daily Eagle
The Lady Eve is Preston Sturges' way of sneering at the law of averages and laying down the gauntlet to the fates... Sometimes he has got to crack, but that is not now: The Lady Eve is a honey.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Frank Morriss Winnipeg Free Press
If you want an antidote for the blues in these troubled times, there's no better picture to see than The Lady Eve.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Ruth Lewis Austin American-Statesman
The Lady Eve is Sturges' third creation and conclusively marks Sturges as a top-flight master in light, ingratiating, clever comedy.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
H. Viggo Andersen Hartford Courant
This reviewer has never enjoyed Miss Stanwyck so much as in this film. Why have they tagged her with so many dramatic roles? And it's a relief to see the personable Fonda dressed up for a change and in a light role.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Mildred Martin Philadelphia Inquirer
[The Lady Eve] is by all odds the best and breeziest thing at which Sturges has turned an impish hand and an equally impish pen.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Kate Cameron New York Daily News
A psychologist might deduce that the author-director of The Lady Eve had taken a fiendish delight in upsetting the Fonda dignity. Be that as it may, the latter goes through his assignment valiantly.
Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 29, 2022
Donald Kirkley Baltimore Sun
Mr. Sturges has turned out a beguiling mixture of farce, romance, and refined slapstick, and drawn sparkling light performances from two stars ordinarily identified with sterner stuff. He has filled an old bottle with heady new wine.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Ardis Smith Buffalo News
Possibly Preston Sturges is the U.S. Wodehouse of the screen. Certainly he has that master's tendencies to make the trivial amusing... That's how he seems at present, anyway, exhibiting his third smash hit, The Lady Eve.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Len G. Shaw Detroit Free Press
Fortunate, too, are Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda to be in such select company; for while their ability is unquestioned, the seriocomic situations with which The Lady Eve is so generously endowed are shaped into superlative smartness.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Virginia Wright Illustrated Daily News (Los Angeles)
It preaches no moral; it never heard of logic, but it is hilariously funny, consistently bright and ingenious.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Marion Aitchison Tampa Bay Times
A scintillating comedy dotted with piquant situations and clever lines and played against ultra-modish backgrounds, The Lady Eve proves a brilliant vehicle for the talents of Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Kevin Wallace San Francisco Examiner
The dialogue is sophisticated but never "superior"; the technique is tricky but never incomprehensible. You can check one off for a film that knows its business, and does it; The Lady Eve is a riot.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022
Bob Fredericks Miami Herald
If there ever was a movie that might be described as delightful, this is one. It's a picture with a lift in every sequence and a buzz in every character -- a lavish farce that sparkles with romance, excitement and riotous comedy.
Full Review | Dec 29, 2022