Watch It Started with Eve For Free

Overrated and overhyped

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

While "It Started With Eve" is not a perfect film, it is an extremely enjoyable one--thanks mostly to characters played by Charles Laughton and Deanna Durbin.The film begins with Johnny Reynolds (Bob Cummings) rushing to see his dying father, Jonathan Sr. (Charles Laughton). However, Johnny's fiancé isn't available but the old man demands to meet her before he dies. So, Johnny quickly concocts a plan--to get some woman pretend to be his fiancé. The woman picked for this is Anne Terry (Deanna Durbin) and she turns out to be extremely sweet. In fact, the old man is so taken with her that he suddenly recovers! This, of course, is a serious problem as now either Anne and Johnny need to tell him the truth OR they need to really get married. In a funny twist, the manipulative old guy learns of the ruse and continues to pretend that Anne is his future daughter- in-law. Why? Well, he likes her and thinks she'd make a dandy member of the family. What's next, while very funny and charming, does defy logic just a bit. After all, Johnny is a bit of a yutz and his falling for Anne at the end really wasn't written as well as it should have been. BUT, the stuff leading up to it was so sweet and well done that I was more than willing to cut the film slack. Clearly this is one of Miss Durbin's best films and it holds up great today.

Let's see - you're a classically trained singer with a gorgeous voice, you're pretty, a good actress, highly paid...and all you want is to get out of show business.That's Deanna Durbin's story, and thank goodness, she didn't get her wish until she made films like "It Started with Eve," also starring Charles Laughton and Robert Cummings.Durbin plays Anne Terry, a hat check girl trying to make it as a classical singer. One night, she is drafted by Johnny Reynolds Jr. (Cummings) who believes his father (Laughton) is dying. His father has insisted on meeting his fiancée, but when Johnny returns to the hotel to find her, she and her mother (Margaret Tallichet and Catherine Doucet) aren't in their room. Desperate, he offers Anne money if she will pose as his fiancée. Anne wants to return home to her family, so the money will come in handy. She accompanies him to his father's deathbed.Well, Jonathan Reynolds Sr. rallies! He's not going to die, and his son may well -- he now has two fiancées. Jonathan Sr. plans a party for all his high falutin' friends, including people like Leopold Stokowski, to meet Anne and to have her sing for them.Johnny Jr. is in a pickle and tells Anne that he will say that they broke up and then introduce his father to his real fiancée, whom Reynolds Sr.'s doctor will bring to the house. But Anne wants to sing at the party, so after he announces the big breakup, Anne rushes in and begs forgiveness.Robert Cummings, a huge star in television, was usually second tier in films. He always excelled in comedy, and he does a great job here. Laughton, playing a man who's supposedly dying, looks quite gaunt and is, of course, marvelous as a man who has a great relationship with Anne and grows fond of her.Deanna Durbin herself acts and sings like a dream and looks beautiful. Her warm personality shines through. She sings "Clavelitos," "Goin' Home," "When I Sing," and "Ahi, viene la conga" impressively."It Started with Eve," is a fast-moving, fun, highly entertaining film with moments of poignancy. This film marked the end of Deanna Durbin's work with producer Joe Pasternak and director Henry Koster; Pasternak went to MGM, and Deanna went on suspension for turning down a script. In the end, she was given approval of her directors, stories and songs.Hard to believe this songbird, now 90, retired at the age of 26 and never looked back. It's a tribute to her that 64 years post-retirement, Deanna Durbin still has plenty of fans.

1941, an old man, once living the high-life, is now dying. His son returns home for what may be his last visit to his dear old father. When father and son once again meet, your eyes will likely start to swell as they talk softly and tenderly. Their nostalgic talk turns to the present with the father asking to meet his son's bride-to-be. With the old man's dying request fresh in our memories, the son rushes to the hotel to get his wife at the hotel. Unable to find his wife, he talks the coat-check girl at the hotel into accompanying him home as the woman his father had not yet met. The deception, well intended and light-hearted, becomes the story and evolves beautifully to the benefit of everyone – especially the viewer.What at first starts out to appear as a serious drama, quickly becomes a great comedy. This is a believable, human story with emotion, music and love that can make nostalgia appear not so nostalgic while even causing one to hope for a remake of this movie. Every main character earns its own level of adoration so easily, it takes no effort to relate.Charles Laughton plays a comical, aging, old fart who is brought back to life because of his admiration for the woman he believes to be his future daughter-in-law. Always known as a great actor, he appeared to be having a lot of fun while giving us his all. He is easily the most comical character and, just as easily, the most loved.Robert Cummings was truly at his best as well. While I cannot say I know a lot about his movies, I have seen some of his other movies and some reruns of his TV shows. I remember enjoying what he did. He effortlessly switches from the saddened son to the man in the middle, frustrated with a plot gone wrong.Now for the reason I even looked at this movie – Deanna Durbin. She has one of the best voices, ever! Yes, singing styles have changed, but her clarity and tone win her a place in my heart forever(despite our age differences). Back to the movie, her character was simply fun, quirky, adorable and desirable. While being used to make Cummings' character and his father happy, she eventually becomes the one to save. While her situation with loneliness and doubt looms, her music and charm so pleases the old man, he has to do something to help her while not letting her know that he knows she is not really who she at first pretended to be. Her emotional moments are her best. Singing a song the old man requests, her tears nearly tore me up and then in the next scene, her fits of hysterical laughter just as easily rip at the soul.I do encourage anyone who likes 40's style movies to see this. I have seen a few of Durbin's movies but, so far, this was the best in style, story and quality. This movie gets a 10 from me. Excuse me while I dry my tears.

This is a sweet movie. Far better than remakes that followed. Durbin and Laughton seemed to really enjoy their scenes together (The Conga is unforgettable). Her singing is beautiful-"Going Home" brings a lump to the throat. This is my all time favorite movie set of the interior of the mansion. They don't (can't afford to) build sets like that anymore. Great escape.