"You know you shouldn't draw to an inside straight."
— Colonel Harrington to his broken-hearted daughter
The Lady Eve is a 1941 film written and directed by Preston Sturges. One of the most iconic Screwball Comedy films from the genre's golden age, it stars Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda, along with a supporting cast including Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, William Demarest, Martha O'Driscoll, and Eric Blore.
On a cruise ship full of wealthy tourists, the conning Mr. Harrington (Coburn) and his equally devious daughter Jean (Stanwyck) look around for potential guests to trick with their poker games. When the ship stops at a port, a wealthy Ophidiologistnote named Charles Pike (Fonda) boards after spending a year researching in the Amazon. Jean and her father choose him as their next target and Jean flirts her way into winning him over, which works almost instantly until Charles finds out through his assistant Jean's true intentions. Furious and heartbroken, Jean refuses to let Charlie go and, with the power of identity theft and cultural ignorance, disguises herself as Lady Eve Sidwich, the niece of the supposed Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith (Blore).
This film provides examples of:
- Animated Credits Opening: A rather dashing snake wearing a top hat slithers out of an apple tree, hangs up giant apples that read the title, and then slithers down the tree trunk, all the while shaking a maraca with his tail.
- Card Sharp: The Harrington's main line of work is fleecing passengers on ships.
- Crash-Into Hello: Charles first meets Jean when she trips him — deliberately.
- Divorce in Reno: Suggested to Charles by divorce lawyers to get out of his marriage to "Eve". Eve says she'll even go to Reno and get the divorce all by herself, if only Charles will talk to her in person.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Jean is rather frightened of Charles' ... snake.
- Doppelgänger Replacement Love Interest: Jean becomes her own replacement as Charles's love interest after adopting the Lady Eve alias.
- Fake Aristocrat: Jean as the Lady Eve Sidwich. During a party-planning montage we see the kitchen staff struggling to render the complicated Sidwich coat of arms in frosting on a cake.
- Fake Brit: In-universe, as Jean, an American, makes herself out to be the Lady Eve Sidwich. The characters mention that boats have stopped going between America and England— so not only is Eve's presence extra remarkable, but there's few Brits around to point out any flaws in her act.
- Fake Twin Gambit: Jean is supposedly Lady Eve's illegitimate half-sister.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Charles is quick on his decision. He proposes to Jean after a couple of dates on the boat. Later he proposes to Eve after seeing her for a couple of weeks.
- Funny Background Event: While Charles is earnestly pouring his heart out to "Eve" during a country ride, his horse keeps nudging him in the head.
- Genius Ditz: Charles, a snake expert, is surprisingly clueless enough to fall for Jean's terrible disguise.
- Hidden in Plain Sight: Jean's gambit as "Lady Eve." Muggsy immediately pegs her as the same person, but Charles overthinks it and decides that Jean would at least dye her hair, and certainly wouldn't agree when he said she looked familiar.
- In-Series Nickname: "Hopsie" for Charles, referring to the ale hops that made his family fortune. Someone attached it to him as a kid, and as soon as he mentions it to Jean, she's so charmed it becomes her go-to name for him.
- Insistent Terminology: It's ale, not beer.
- The Klutz: Charles. He has five pratfalls over the course of the movie (two at the same party).
- Ladykiller in Love: Gender-Inverted. Jean used her sex appeal to lure rich men into the gambling trap. But then she falls In Love with the Mark.
- Names to Trust Immediately: Pearlie's alias, Sir Alfred McGlennan-Keith, R.F.D., as he explains to the Colonel:Colonel: But how do you meet them?Pearlie: The chumps? Oh, my dear fellow, with a name like Sir Alfred McGlennan-Keith, one doesn't have to meet them — one fights them off with sticks.
- Nouveau Riche: The Pike family. Horace Pike retains his blue-collar tastes even after making a fortune in brewing. "Sir Alfred" seems to have found a whole neighborhood of new money, all of them eager for a glimpse of British aristocracy.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Harry as "Colonel Harrington" and Jean gasp in awe when Charles demonstrates a card trick and "teaches" them how to palm things.
- Once an Episode: This was Sturges' third film as director, and like The Great McGinty and Christmas in July, it ends with William Demarest delivering the punchline.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Even Jean calls her father "Harry."
- Parents as People: Harry is an unrepentant con man who refuses to leave Charles alone even when Jean begs him to, but he cares about her a great deal and comforts her after Charles dumps her.
- Refuge in Audacity: Charles explains to Muggsy that if Jean were pretending to be Eve, then she would put on a blonde wig, or change her eyebrows. Jean's audacity lets her carry off the disguise.
- Second-Act Breakup: During the Internal Reveal, Charles learns of Jean's true nature and breaks up with her.
- Silent Treatment: After finding out that Jean is a card sharp, Charles spends much of the ensuing conversation saying nothing at all as she tries to explain herself.
- Something Else Also Rises: The elevator-floor indicator on the boat is used for Henry Fonda.
- Wildlife Commentary Spoof: Jean does a running commentary on smitten women trying to get Charles' attention at the ship's nightclub suite as she watches them through her mirror.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Jean freaks out when Charles shows her his snake Emma.
- You Have to Believe Me!: Jean tells Charles that she was going to tell him the truth: She was only waiting till they were ashore to protect her father and their partner in crime.
