Ms. Stanwyck Take Two

Last night I took another shot at Barbara and watched "The Lady Eve" with Henry Fonda.

Barb is a card shark con-lady and she has her eye on beer ale heir Charlie Pike. He is obsessed with snakes and they meet on a boat trip back from South America. She starts to fall for him before she remembers she is supposed to take him for his dough. 

Charlie boy is a bit of a dork and acts like one as he looses all his money playing cards with Barb and her pa. He asks her to marry him but soon finds out she is crooked and dumps her before they hit port. Barb is mad because she really does love him and decides to con him again for revenge. 

She puts on a fancy gown and shows up at his pad as another woman, English mind you, although she has no accent. Charlie, being a dork, can't decide if she is the same broad from the ship or not, but eventually falls for her and asks her to marry him (again). They do, and on the honeymoon train ride, Barb goes for her revenge and makes up some lies and tells Charlie about all her bedpost notches and he gets mad and gets off the train. She doesn't want a trip to Reno and decides she wants him for real, but Charlie wants nothing to do with her. He finally stumbles across her thinking she is the con-lady again, and they reunite.

The rest is history...although it seems there is a lot of explaining to do!

Edith Head does the gowns for this picture, and they are divine. There are a couple fun scenes in this film. One when Charlie shows Barb his pet snake, Emma, and Barb wigs out. Another when Charlie has some moments of clumsiness and gets a pot roast dumped in his lap. This was a great screwball comedy and Barbara Stanwyck is growing on me!