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The Lady Eve

Director: Preston Sturges
Year: 1941
Run-time: 1 hr 34 min

- Sturges was one of the masters of the screwball, and in this early film of his, we already see an inversion of the classic roles. In this one, it's the blank-faced (but excellent) Henry Fonda who's the out-of-touch rich socialite, while Barbara Stanwyck is the fast-talking working-class go-getter (as a con woman, but still). I don't think Stanwyck is quite as good as Hepburn was in Bringing up Baby, but she's close, and Sturges gives her some excellent lines. (In fact, Sturges was one of the first prominent director/screenwriters.)
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