Five for Fonda Film Series: The Lady Eve

The Lady Eve (Preston Sturges, 1941, 35mm, 94 mins)

New print! A savvy swindler (Barbara Stanwyck) sets her sights on a naïve brewery heir (Henry Fonda) in this “frivolous masterpiece” (Pauline Kael) set on an ocean liner and in the mansions of Connecticut. (Watch for local brew Pike’s Pale, “the ale that won for Yale”.) Stanwyck is “the sexiest con woman ever captured on film” (Joe Morgenstern) while Fonda surprises as “the funniest deadpan comedian since Buster Keaton” (Andrew Sarris). 35mm print from the Yale Film Archive, special thanks to Universal Studios.

The “Five for Fonda” series features a selection of films starring or about actor Henry Fonda.