When you rent It Started with Eve-because after reading this review, you'll be unable to resist-you're going to consider turning it off after the first ten minutes as you reach for your hankie. Please don't turn it off! I know the beginning is very sad, but if you stay with it, it turns into an absolutely delightful romantic comedy.
Charles Laughton is Robert Cummings's ailing father, and as his doctor, Walter Catlett, has given him mere minutes to live, there's a very tearful deathbed scene. Charles begs Bob to describe his lovely fiancé and gives his dying wish to meet the young woman. Bob runs off to the hotel where she's staying, but she's left her room and he can't reach her. He's frantic and desperate, and in a mad dash to make his father happy in the seconds before he dies, he whisks a random woman, Deanna Durbin, home with him and pretends she's his intended.
Now, all that setup is the sad part of the movie. Charles reassures everyone he's had a full and happy life, but just as you're wiping up your tears, he wakes up from his sleep and declares, "I'm hungry!" Hooray! Now the fun can start. As you might guess, Bob and Deanna keep pretending they're engaged to keep Charles happy, even though Bob's real fiancé, Margaret Tallichet, is waiting impatiently in the wings.
Deanna, of course, get to show off her musical talents, playing the piano and singing some very impressive songs. Since she was primarily a singer, you might expect her to be a lousy actress, but she's pretty good. It doesn't hurt that she's working off such a wonderful pro like Charles Laughton in most of her scenes. Bob Cummings is also very good in the movie. He has great comic timing and is perfectly frazzled and inept when the part calls for it.
Charles Laughton, in one of his gentle, romantic, sweet roles, completely stole my heart. He's so adorable in It Started with Eve. I'm partial to him anyway, so you might think I'm a bit biased, but I watched this movie with my mom-who doesn't always think he's likable-and she was just as charmed as I was. Once he's no longer at death's door, Charles spends the rest of the movie up and about, sneaking cigars against his doctor's orders, requesting "a nice warm steak-y", throwing parties, and dancing the conga at a nightclub! He and Deanna have such a close chemistry in their scenes together, I kept thinking the film was a romance between them instead of between Deanna and Bob. If you can't imagine Charles Laughton being a romantic lead, rent It Started with Eve to change your mind.
