When you are used to scrolling through movies on streaming services, you find that you can look at a thumbnail and know exactly what you are in for with a given title. Unless you are well-versed in classic cinema, perusing older movies can be trickier. In God’s eyes, eighty years or so makes little difference, but culture and sensibilities have changed since then, making story arcs a little harder to predict. This holds true for me to a certain degree even with my education and studying of the subject. No matter the challenges, occasionally the craziness gets to me and I want to watch a film from a bygone era. After a few minutes of obligatory scanning, I finally landed on The Lady Eve (1941). And if you already notice some Biblical parallels, then stand by.

One could compare the opening setting of The Lady Eve to the Garden of Eden. Yet, as Charles Poncefort Pike (Henry Fonda) will repeat many times later, the Amazon River is where someone like him goes to collect rare snake species. His time in the rain forest complete, he departs with his latest specimen and makes his way to a waiting ocean liner that will return him to the United States. Watching his arrival is “Colonel” Harrington (Charles Coburn) and his daughter, Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck). The reason for the quotes around the rank is that they are a pair of con artists, and the ultra-wealthy, thick-headed Charles is their next mark. As soon as Charles is aboard, most eyes are on him, particularly the women. He is heir to a brewing fortune, and they all know that he is an eligible bachelor. Watching him through a mirror in her hand, Jean witnesses a string of females parade by his table, but he notices few of them, preferring to keep his nose in his book. She gets his attention by tripping him, causing her to break the heel of her shoe. This is an excuse to lure him down to her cabin for a new pair, and her charms have him glued to her. After this, it is back upstairs to play cards, where Colonel Harrington and Jean pretend to lose a few hundred dollars. The idea is that Charles will invite them for another round of gambling, at which they would take him for much more. However, in the intervening hours, Charles and Jean spend enough time together to cause her to actually fall in love with him. As such, the next time they are at the gambling table, she prevents Colonel Harrington from swindling Charles out of a much larger sum. To be fair, Colonel Harrington does feel some remorse since Charles has asked the older man for his daughter’s hand in marriage. As such, when Jean temporarily leaves the men alone for a moment, Colonel Harrington cheats Charles out of thousands, only to crumble and toss away the check as soon as it is written. There are two problems with the budding romance. The first is the obvious: that the Harringtons are misleading Charles no matter how little they have actually stolen. The other is Ambrose “Muggsy” Murgatroyd (William Demarest), Charles’ valet. The servant is suspicious of the Harringtons, especially after having played cards with their butler. Over Charles’ protest, Muggsy investigates the Harringtons, eventually obtaining from the ship’s crew pictures of the Harringtons that have been distributed by the authorities as known criminals. These are promptly shown to Charles, who is visibly shaken. Jean finds him in this state, and despite her pleas to explain herself and demonstrate her true feelings, they are not speaking when the ship gets to New York. Once there, the Harringtons are greeted by Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith (Eric Blore), an off-and-on accomplice of theirs. They attend the horse track together where another acquaintance of theirs stops at their booth to tell them about the time he has been having in Connecticut society with the Pikes. In this moment, Jean comes up with a plan to get revenge on Charles for jilting her. Asking Sir Alfred to pose as her uncle, she adopts the title identity and they get invited to a dinner at the Pike estate. Jean charms all of the society luminaries present, including Horace Pike (Eugene Pallette). When Charles sees her, he is shocked. Though Muggsy is not fooled, Charles remains unwilling to believe that it is Jean. She keeps the façade going, even after they begin to interact with one another. She is thus ready for him when he delivers a familiar line that leads to him proposing. While Sir Alfred and Colonel Harrington are shocked that she would accept him again, she goes through with the wedding. As they depart for their honeymoon, Jean begins weaving a tale about a string of former lovers. Initially, Charles forgives her for withholding the first one, but after a number of them, he gathers his things and gets off at the next stop. At this point, she feels like she has gone too far. Thus, when terms for divorce are offered, she says she wants nothing, only to see him one more time. He refuses, deciding to return to the Amazon and his snakes. Seeing this as her only chance, she books passage and trips him as she had done the night they first met. He recognizes her as Jean and they are soon embracing as if nothing happened. We close with them returning to his cabin with them reminding one another that they are married.

The final exchange between Charles and Jean in The Lady Eve is meant to be cute. After all, he still does not believe the title character and Jean are the same person. As such, before things go too far, he tells her that he is married to someone else, and she replies in kind. It is inferred he is about to have the situation explained to him when the end credits roll. One of the things I appreciate about classic cinema, even if such themes masked what people were actually doing behind closed cabin doors, is that they have subtle reminders like this that adultery is bad. This is a function of the Christian, and specifically Catholic, influence on early movies. At the same time, while I did enjoy the film, I had a difficult time believing Jean’s feelings are genuine. It may not be the most Christian thing of me to say, but Charles struck me as being dimwitted. On the other hand, she is as bright as they come. This is not to say that such people are doomed to fail as a couple, being so mismatched. God has a person in mind for you, if marriage is the vocation to which you are called, and He knows best as to the qualities that hypothetical person should possess. Still, it is a tricky proposition to discern. Typically, God does not explicitly say this person or another. Instead, He has ways of nudging us in one direction or another that can also be difficult to spot, but are best discovered by keeping your heart open to Him. I cannot say any of this is going on in the movie. As I discussed in the introduction, some of my inability to recognize a real romance might be attributed to not being a part of that generation. According to cinema, back then all two people needed were the butterflies in their stomachs in order to agree to marry one another. God asks us to take a little more time in finding out God’s will on these matters.

Nonetheless, I would be willing to watch The Lady Eve again. The romance might not have made a lot of sense to me, but the performances are worthy of a second viewing. I also recommend it as a first viewing if you have not seen it.