For a movie regarded as the best ever made about the theater, the surprise is how little of Joseph L. Mankiewicz's 1950 classic All About Eve takes place onstage. It's always hard for movies to convey the greatness of stage performers, because the intimacy of film clashes with the larger scale of theatrical acting. But All About Eve isn't just a great movie about the theater, it's a great movie about talent . It used to be, in old musicals, the snooty star would break her foot, and the sweet, plucky understudy would be vaulted to stardom. She may not be good, but she's good at what she does.
Ability beats virtue any day.
Which is why Mankiewicz can't bring himself to punish Bette Davis ' glorious Margo for her ego, her temper, and her insecurity. Nashville Scene .