Sometimes an urgent telegram from 80 years ago arrives right on time. Today I found All About Eve, a film from 1941 by Preston Sturgess. What took me so long? Sturgess is arguably the first complete auteur of film, writing and directing in a way so distinct it transcended the strict moral codes of his day and the oppressive studio system. For a 10-15 year period he could do no wrong and was given a blank check to make smart, socially relevant screwball comedies that knew how to be appeal to mass audiences without ever feeling like they were pandering. He wrote this for Barbara Stanwyck and it shows. She's irresistible in every frame. And Henry Fonda fits into his role perfectly. You can see the influence of Sturgess all over the next 8 decades of film even if he had little to do with the industry after the early '50s. The Coen Brothers, for example, would not be who they are without him. The appeal of a really great film is that it moves you to want to enter the frame and affect the actions of the characters there or else join in. As a teen I had that reaction to the first Marilyn Monroe film, wanting to break the fourth wall and "save" her in a somewhat predictable way. I would have killed to live in a Marx Brothers movie and at age 18 I pined for the world of Jean-Luc Godard's films, doing my best to recreate their aura in real life. This film had me edging forward in my seat embodying aspects of every main character and beguiled by dialogue that's like a lit match. I wanted to enter its orbit and live there a good while.