The Asheville Film Society returns to Deanna Durbin—who proved very popular with AFS viewers when her film First Love (1939) was run a while back. This time it’s It Started with Eve (1941), a somewhat more mature comedy of a kind that doesn’t get made any more (probably due to a lack of actors who can pull off this sort of thing). Deanna plays a young woman who’s tired of trying to get anyone in New York to notice her singing talent, and is all set to go back home. Before she can, however, she gets roped into posing as Bob Cummings’ fiancee for the benefit of his supposedly dying father (Charles Laughton). This comes about because his real fiancee (Margaret Tallichet) can’t be found in time to be at the death bed. Of course, it turns out that dad doesn’t die at all and the masquerade has to continue. There are no prizes for guessing how this works out, but the pleasure comes from the cast and the clever screenplay. African-American comedian Mantan Moreland has an unbilled bit (two scenes) as a railway porter, which is very funny—especially the obvious ad lib about the color of one of Deanna’s bags. Not rated
It Started with Eve
Movie Information
The Asheville Film Society will screen It Started with Eve Tuesday, July 26, at 8 p.m. in the Cinema Lounge of The Carolina Asheville and will be hosted by Xpress movie critics Ken Hanke and Justin Souther. Hanke is the artistic director of the A.F.S.
| Score: | |
| Genre: | Romantic Comedy |
| Director: | Henry Koster |
| Starring: | Deanna Durbin, Charles Laughton, Robert Cummings, Guy Kibbee, Walter Catlett |
| Rated: | NR |
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