What are old movies made of? There's different stuff in them that's missing now for the most part - and it becomes apparent when you watch films from the studio era - the so-called Golden Age of cinema. They're not all gems of course but when you find a classic like All About Eve, it jumps off the screen even now, years later, and cuts through decades of context and nostalgia and inventions and technology. First, there's the writing - sharp as daggers and willing to go anyplace to it needs. This is especially true of the film-noir era and the time during and right after the Second World War when America's gung-ho idealism had been dented. Before the technicolor glow that infused everything until the 1970s. Characters are sharp and cynical and world weary but show a vulnerable side if you scratch the surface. Bettie Davis' character in All About Eve is like that. Iconic. As a stage actress teetering on the edge of middle age she lashes out in every direction - mostly at her husband who looks at her with patient exasperation. Then Eve arrives. One of the best villains who ever drew breath on screen. A snake dressed up as an innocent. The gradual reveal of her intentions is one of the best unfolding narratives I've ever seen in movies. The slow transformation of the characters around her as they realize what they're dealing with is masterfully handled by writer/director Jospeh L Mankiewicz. The tension simmers slowly then boils...One gesture in particular stood out for me as a testament to him but also to Bette Davis. Frustrated by Anne Baxter's obsequiousness, playing Eve as a naive small-town girl who worships the older actress and is waiting on her hand and foot, Davis is increasingly annoyed at this interloper but has no outlet to express herself. So she smiles through gritted teeth and then it slips out as she extinguishes her cigarette in the bedside ashtray with just a little bit too much force, her finger pressing down harder than needed. It's a subtle but unmistakable inflection point in the film...soon we're off to he races and she'll utter her infamous line  - "it's going to be a bumpy ride." Brilliant.

The films in this era were made in near-slave like conditions on grueling schedules for directors, crew, actors, and writers. Does this account for how sharply they come out? It stands to reason that if you are forced to pump out a certain amount of product a week you'll get better at it. This is how the Beatles worked in the early days. 9 to 5 every day with an hour for lunch whether they felt up to it or not. Judy Garland describes the brutality of having to perform as child actress. The writers would be shut up in a room and told to produce a certain amount per day or they'd go hungry This seems to have produced a lot of mediocrity of course but also a lot of very tightly choreographed gems. As a former journalist I know that pressure can produce unexpected results. Do this often enough in an environment where all the creative elements are pushing each other and you can achieve some fantastic things. Of course there was no shortage of nervous breakdowns. But from what Bette Davis has said everything on this film ran like clockwork and Mankiewicz was a joy to work with. The second half maybe slackens a little as it hinges on a questionable decision by a main character, but for that first hour it comes on like a force of Nature. Inevitable