For those who've never actually seen a Bette Davis movie, "ALL ABOUT EVE" is the one to start with!  Davis plays Margo Channing, a Broadway star, who has given in to the the accolades of fan "Eve" Harrington and taken her on as a personal assistant.  Eve's sad life-story and charm not only endears her to Margo, but to her fiance' and playwright as well.  Soon enough, it becomes apparent that Eve has a dark agenda in mind.  In many ways the script by writer/director Joseph Manckiewicz is melodramatic, and the film much like a soap opera, but in his capable hands, it never ceases to lose its grip on the viewer.  Everyone knows the types of people on screen, because we've seen them copied on every soap opera ever since. "ALL ABOUT EVE" clearly demonstrates that as impressive as some copies are, they're never as good as the original!

Another thing making "ALL ABOUT EVE" so grand, is its timelessness!  When our granddaughters, cheerleaders, saw it they loved it and said it had similarities to the ruthlessness in that sport!  Apparently, the backstabbing associated with anything competitive will always live on, and it's not chauvinistic to realize that women can be as much if not more sinister than men when pitted against one another, as is the case in "ALL ABOUT EVE."

FOX has provided a flawless transfer for this release!  The restoration process for this film is really stunning to see, and a huge improvement over the previous dvd release.  There's incredible detail here.  While the previous dvd release was fine, the resolution for this newer release offers much deeper blacks and grays. It's just beautiful!

A Dolby Digital Stereo mix is offered, and while it doesn't really offer enough distinct separation to be considered "true" stereo, it's excellent and better than the previous release.  There is virtually no hiss or crackle, and sounds clean throughout. Dialogue is always intelligible and free from distortion. 

There are some great extras here!  A commentary with the writer/director's son, Christopher Mankiewicz, Celeste Holm and biographer Kenneth Geist is offered.  While the commentary gets dry at times, there's still loads of production information, and some of it is quite entertaining. Another commentary is offered with Sam Staggs, the writer of "ALL ABOUT EVE."  His commentary is the better of the two, offering much more depth into the film's multi-layers.

The best supplement is the "AMC BACKSTORY: ALL ABOUT EVE" featurette.  This documentary, originally aired on AMC, offers enough behind-the-scenes info for everyone, including die-hard fans. 

There are other extras as well, including a demonstration of the "restoration" process for this release.  "ALL ABOUT EVE" should be in every filmlover's dvd collection!