All About "All About Eve"

The Complete Behind-the-Scenes Story of the Bitchiest Film Ever Made

By: Sam Staggs

Narrated by: Donald Corren

Length: 13 hrs and 34 mins

Publisher's Summary

To millions of fans, All About Eve represents all that’s witty and wonderful in classic Hollywood movies. Its old-fashioned, larger-than-life stars - including Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Anne Baxter, George Sanders, and Celeste Holm - found their best roles in this movie, and its sophisticated dialogue has entered the lexicon.

But there’s much more to know about All About Eve. Sam Staggs has written the definitive account of the making of this fascinating movie and its enormous influence on both film and popular culture. Staggs reveals everything about the movie - from whom the famous European actress Margo Channing was based on to the hot-blooded romance on-set between Bette Davis and costar Gary Merrill, from the jump-start the movie gave Marilyn Monroe’s career to the capstone it put on director Joseph L. Mankiewicz’s.

All About “All About Eve” is not only full of rich detail about the movie, the director, and the stars, but also about the audience who loved it when it came out and adore it to this day.

©2000, 2001 Sam Staggs (P)2021 Blackstone Publishing

Entertaining but problematic

A fun read. However, the author points out sexist quotes said by people in the twentieth century, yet says a number of sexist remarks himself, seemingly without notice. Also, the author says quite a few fatphotic things. These were not quotations. So, if you’re a careful consumer, you’ll have an enjoyable read but with a few bumps.

This is reall ALLLLLLL about Eve

I would have probably given this 4 stars instead of 3 if it has concluded with the Broadway show "Applause". The story was great, but it just dragged on for wayyyyyy toooooo longgggg. The narrator was great though. His Zsa Zsa Gabor impression was wonderful.

Fascinating and Fun

Donald Cotten gives the best performance of any literary narrator I've heard (and that's a LOT of narrators). He's a brilliant voice impressionist and incorporates this to the listeners delight. A wonderfully informed and entertaining insiders account into the making of what is arguably one of American cinema's greatest films.

Needs an editor

Is the book self published? Just so awful. I loved the movie and thought I’d enjoy the book but the rambling style and almost stream of consciousness ruined the book for me. I read the reviews and thought it can’t be that bad but it was even worse than the worst review. Clearly the author includes
every factoid related not only to to the film, the writer but also to actors who could of been in the film. Do I care that someone who was considered for the part of Margo had a driver provided by the studio available 24 hours a day?

Fun book- GREAT narration!

I really enjoyed listening to this book. I especially loved Donald Corren's narration. The voices he used for the characters were extremely entertaining. Very fun to listen to!

BEST SERVED ABRIDGED!

This is second book by this author, the first being “Close Up On Sunset Boulevard”. I will just repeat much of the review I wrote about that book. Again, the author spends half of the book on minutiae and trivia. He prints every bit of his research on the subject in the book. Staggs lists every film made around the time of “All About Eve”, analyzing each as it compares to the main work. We get mini bios of each member of the cast, crew, studio executive offices, secretarial staff & ancillary staff. That’s okay but Staggs finds it necessary to also tell us about the spouses, parents, children, neighbors, household staff, etc. In doing so, Staggs loses continuity and relevance, often repeating information 2 or 3 times. Much of the problems are due to poor editing or lack thereof. Which is a shame because the intent of the book is interesting and Stagg has done an incredible amount of research. He just forgot to leave HALF of it on the “cutting room floor”.

The second problem is the narrator. Overall Donald Corran is very good, in an upbeat engaging way. It’s his failed attempts at impersonating the voices of well-known actors and actresses. Why even attempt Bette Davis and Lauren Bacall if you know you can’t nail it? There are so many people in the book that it is darn near impossible to pull it off. The book would have been so much better if Corran had just read each voice naturally. It is a big downer (and highly painful) to hear Corran repeat Bette Davis, as Margo Channing, quip her classic line “Fasten your seatbelts. It’s going to be a bumpy ride”.

If you want to avoid sticking a rusty fork in your eye for 13.5 hours, wait until Staggs releases this book in abridged version.

Hi here is the latest trend, and if not, it will be!

If you are a fan of the movie All About Eve, you must listen to this book. It’s not some boring stuffy book with boring stuffy information that no one cares about. It’s fun, it’s informative ,and the man that reads it is outrageously funny when he does all the imitations of all the actors in the movie and others. I loved it!

exceptional performance of a wonderful book

a delight from start to finish. I learned so much about a film I love, but also about social mores of the time. the reader performs wonderful impressions of the people involved so that you get a real sense of them and their meaning

A good story

I loved the movie and this book is great, narration is perfect perfect for a glimpse behind the glamour and hard work of movies and theater.

A mini vacation

So much to know for those who thought, they knew. What else is there to discover?

Meticulously researched, well written book

Clever, really entertaining account of everything about the eponymous film. Really extensive research. It does help to know and love the movie.

trashy and enjoyable old Hollywood gossip

very easy to listen to and kudos Roth narrator trying to do an impression of every actor mentioned