Wordiezett So much average

Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

lugonian EVER SINCE EVE (Warner Brothers, 1937), directed by Lloyd Bacon, stars comedienne Marion Davies in what proved to be her final screen appearance. With her career dating back to the silent era of the 1920s, ranging from drama, historical costume epics and later occasional musicals during the sound era, many agree that Davies was at her best when it came to comedy, especially the available silent Hollywood story titled SHOW PEOPLE (MGM, 1928). Even in sentimental drama as PEG O'MY HEART (MGM, 1933), Davies could be quite appealing. Leaving her home base of MGM by 1934, she settled for Warner Brothers where she starred in four productions before EVER SINCE EVE made it her last before retirement. Whether this was intentional or not is uncertain, for that approaching the age of 40, it would be a matter of time before Davies might turn to  character parts or mother roles. Though EVER SINCE EVE is not a Biblical tale of Adam and Eve, it's only a movie title with a song number bearing that title, but no character in the story named Eve. It's a story about a pretty secretary named Marge posing as a homely girl so not to have her male bosses doing more than dictating on company time.Set in San Francisco, California, the story opens by the building of the Peace and Purity League where five pound boo volumes of "The History of Peace" are thrown out the window landing on the sidewalk to a crowd of pedestrians below. The camera soon captures Marge Winton (Marion Davies) quitting the firm after Mr. Mason (Harry Hayden) "was giving dictations but was a little too fast." Her next place of employment for Henderson, Barton and Lowell Imports finds her going through the same routine with the company presidents, Henderson (William B. Davidson), Barton (Pierre Watkin) and Mr. Lowell (John T. Murray), all wanting her to work overtime and in private. At the Johnson Employment Agency, Marge learns of a publishing company hiring only homely women to keep the male workers on their jobs and not on their pretty secretaries. Turning herself into an ugly ducking, Marge takes the position under the male figure of a woman president, Abbie Belldon (Louise Fazenda), who assigns Marge as stenographer under Freddy Matthews (Robert Montgomery), an author whose book is due for completion by May 1st. Matthews delay in meeting the deadline is caused his jealous girlfriend, Camille Lancing (Marcia Ralston), who takes up much of his time playing around. After Marge quits, he soon realizes she's the most efficient stenographer he ever had. Wanting her back in his employ, he comes to her place of residence where he meets the pretty Marge, posing as her roommate, Sadie Day (Patsy Kelly), which stirs up confusion with Sadie's plumbing boyfriend, Jake Edgall (Allen Jenkins). Afraid of losing her job, Marge becomes Sadie, followed by a relationship of love. In order to get his book finished or else face a $30,000 lawsuit, "Sadie" leaves Freddy and heads for Monterey. Unable to forget "Sadie," though ignoring his deadline, Freddy leaves for the Monterey Tavern to find Marge, who stirs up further confusion trying to be two people at the same time without arousing suspicion.Among those in the cast featured are: Barton MacLane (Al McCoy, Jake's boss); Frank McHugh (Mike McGillicuddy, employee under Miss Bellkon using the name of "Mabel DeFlaven); Frederick Clark (Alonzo, Freddy's Butler); Charley Foy (The Bellboy);  and Mary Treen (The Employment Clerk), among other. Brief song interludes include: "Shine On, Harvest Moon," "The Wreaths of Flowers," "Ever Since Eve" (by Jack Schroll and M.K. Jerome); and Spanish dance performed by uncredited couple. The pleasing title song is also underscored during title credits and story Overlooking the fact that there was an earlier film bearing the EVER SINCE EVE title for Fox Films (1934) starring George O'Brien and Mary Brian, the one thing about this EVER SINCE EVE should have been was being an exceptional comedy, but somehow became a misfire upon release. Though the casting and comedy lines are well cast and constructed, when released at the time here screwball comedies were on the rage, EVER SINCE EVE didn't seem to warm up to either movie going public or critics possibly because of Davies' unattractive presence of either looking like a comic strip character, or a pale comparison to silent screen actress Colleen Moore in horn-rim glasses and long bangs. Comedienne like Lucille Ball in later years could and would get away with becoming unglamorous types such on television, as this and accepted and adored with laughter by her viewers. It's a wonder how the public might have accepted other leading ladies as Jean Arthur, Carole Lombard or Jean Harlow in the same situation? The plot is formula material, which is no surprise here. Robert Montgomery (on loan from MGM) is quite acceptable as the author with who'd rather have his eyes on attractive women than finishing his novel; while Patsy Kelly, as usual, adds amusement getting a quota of laughs with her one-liners. Barton MacLane, usually a serious actor, is briefly shown as one to date Marge, only to run the opposite direction after seeing her new image.Never distributed to home video, EVER SINCE EVE does deserve a look, especially for it being Marion Davies' farewell performance, whenever it turns up on Turner Classic Movies cable channel. (**)

Michael_Elliott Ever Since Eve (1937) ** (out of 4) This politically incorrect but mildly entertaining film turned out to be Marion Davies final movie as she would retire at the age of forty. Warner threw her an excellent supporting cast and a nice director but none of it would really matter in the end as the film really fails to live up to what it should have been. Davies plays a beautiful secretary who is getting tired of her bosses hitting on her so she makes herself "homely" in order to get a real job without being harassed. Her latest boss (Robert Montgomery) has a deadline on a novel he must finish so the ugly Davies has to keep him working, although the beautiful one is falling for him. While watching the film I couldn't help but think of TOOTSIE but this one here is certainly far from a classic. The movie remains entertaining from start to finish but for a comedy there are very few laughs to be had here, which is a shame because there's a great cast here. Not only do we have Davies and Montgomery but we have Warner contract players like Frank McHugh, Patsy Kelly and Allen Jenkins. The three supporting players end up getting more laughs than the two leads with Jenkins stealing the film playing the usual dumb character we've all come to love. Davies is a tad bit too old for her role even though she's still very easy on the eyes. You do have to give her credit because there have been all kinds of famous people to do the ugly duckling roles but not really turn themselves very unattractive. Davies at least goes all out and transforms herself to the point where you can't recognize her. Some might be unhappy that Davies spends most of the film as the ugly character but I think she deserves credit for it. Bacon's direction never really comes alive as the movie never contains enough energy or laughs to keep moving. Fans of the cast will certainly want to check this out but others should stay clear.

Shane Crilly Many screwball comedies of the 30's and 40's are regular fixtures on the TV movie circuit, so, that you might know movies like It Happened One Night or Bringing Up Baby almost by heart they've been on so often. I've seen Ever Since Eve a couple of times on TCM, but that is about the only place you'll run into it. Too bad! But at least it does keep the story somewhat fresh, as much of it works with an element of surprise. Still this is a well-made gem that deserves to be seen more often.Short plot summary: Marge Winton is caught between eating 3 squares a day and preserving her virtue. She's a very good secretary who happens also to be very good-looking. Every time she lands a job the boss tries to land on her after hours and she has to quit. She happens upon a publishing company that insists that all their secretaries be unattractive and decides to disguise herself and take a job there. She ends up working for a playboy author who is not doing any work largely because of girlfriend Camille (Ralston) The publisher sets Marge to the task of making him write.The cast is filled with veterans who provide predictable laughs and display well-honed comic chops. Patsy Kelly and Alan Jenkins are great fun as Marge's roommate and her loutish boy-friend. They keep the action moving and push the screwball accelerator down a notch when the story threatens to get too soppy. Likewise, Marcia Ralston with her jealous girlfriend sets a tempestuous tone that keeps us from thinking too hard and would explain Freddy Matthews' (Robert Montgomery) inability to get his life in gear. Anyone who's dated a psycho can relate. Montegomery, as usual, is smooth and bubbly as the boy hero. He played that role so often, he could no doubt play it in his sleep.While most of the story can be seen coming there is a real surprise when Davies pulls off the transformation.In contemporary movies, we've had several stars try this trick. It's almost a Hollywood stereotype. Most notably we've had Julia Robert's trying to convince us that she was the ugly duckling sister; Sandra Bulluck as an unattractive(?) cop; Gwyneth Paltrow donning a fat suit and Renee Zellweger actually gaining weight for the part. No one could possibly believe the first two examples, because gosh darn it they were just too good looking. The Bullock example is stunning, because she is in the top .001 percentile of attractive women on camera. The studios have never made her look unattractive. The last two succeeded sort of. Zellweger took on the frumpy role just as De Niro took on the weight in Raging Bull, she wasn't made-up she was. Paltrow is wearing a fat suit and carry's off the ploy, but this is a triumph of extreme make-up.Davies pulls this off stunningly. Although it is but a wig, glasses and a change of clothes, it is thoroughly convincing. In fact, it is her acting chops that really pull this off, because she really takes on the manners and attitude of the plain girl and can just as easily switch back to the babe. When she tests it out for the first time on us and plumber Al, who is expecting the babe, we are already expecting her plain Jane disguise, but she exceeds our expectations. She could have easily slipped on to another movie set and played the frumpy secretary. Later on she even shows us the transformation from one to the other but it is still believable. She has brought the dual role to life much as Hoffman in Tootsie made us accept the dualism in his drag role. Really, the only thing that is hard to believe in this story is that Montegomery could actually write. Though, we can believe that Davies could get him to do it.All in all this movie is unrelenting fun and a fine time waster.

Dr. Ed-2 Very underrated comedy stars Marion Davies (in her final film) as a woman who frumps herself up to land a secretarial job. Because the frump is efficient, the boss (Robert Montgomery) continues to chase women: a conniving shrew (Marcia Ralston) and a blonde beauty (Davies!) who he meets at a nightclub. Role-reversal comedy is fun from the start with Davies at her comic peak as the dour frump. She's not afraid to look really bad. Excellent supporting cast includes Patsy Kelly, Allen Jenkins, Frank McHugh, Louise Fazenda, and Mary Treen. Once again Davies proves she had acting talent (given the right roles) and that was was a total delight. Her best comedy performances stand up against those of Carole Lombard, Myrna Loy, Jean Arthur or Irene Dunne. Catch this one.