Genre: Screwball ComedyAbout: This script has the rare distinction of being the only Sturges film adapted by the work of someone else, a 19 page story by Monckton Hoffe called "Two Bad Hats". The film took a while due to arguments during development between Sturges and the head of Paramount over the creativity within the first two thirds. Sturges held strong, however, and the script was filmed much as Sturges originally wrote it.
Premise: A beautiful female con artist, along with her partner, is out to swindle the heir to an Ale fortune, who also happens to be a snake handler returning from the Amazon. She falls hard for the heir, however, but when the truth is discovered she is quickly dumped. She torments the heir, and strangely the heir's father promotes their marriage. Soon, the heir doesn't know what to make of anything, and falls in love with the female con.
Writer: Preston Sturges (his third film)
This film is classy screwball on a whole new level punctuated by Stanwyck's brilliant performance. What Sturges manages to do is inject meaning into the comedy and make it a multi-layered masterpiece. Stanwyck is both a crook and someone to be trusted. A seductress, but no pushover for romance. A gold digger, who wants nothing. And the heir is the logic, non-screwball center around which the story revolves. He is vulnerable and sincere. So in screwball fashion, boy meets girl then loses her, boy wins what he thinks is another girl who is really the first girl in disguise. And for all you physical comedy lover,s there's plenty of falling and tripping over objects.
Even nowadays, many films try replicate the "comedy with meaning" structure as seen in "The Lady Eve" and fail miserably which makes the film's success all the more meaningful because it came out in the 1940's. Even more impressive, Sturges seems to do it without appearing to exert much effort. This film is every bit as good as Some Like It Hot or even Tootsie.
Scooby Doo (Complete Crap)
Atilla (Poor, Few Redeeming Qualities)
Wedding Crashers (Mediocre)
Hot Rod (Good)
[X] Definitely Maybe (Pretty Darn Good)
Daily Tip: I could point to 20 lessons in this script, but I'll go with the age old adage. Screwball comedy works around who knows what. In the script it's given more weight. It actually informs entire relationships.
Isla Lead: Recasting "The Lady Eve" would be as disrespectful as recasting Gone with the Wind so I won't. But I will say that Isla has already demonstrated a strong lead for heist/screwball comedies as evidenced by The Wannabes.
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