A wealthy man (Charles Laughton) is dying, and his last request is to meet his son's (Robert Cummings) fiancée. Unable to comply with this wish, Cummings asks hat check girl (Deanna Durbin) to accompany him and pose as his fiancée for the last hours of his father's life.Doesn't sound very much like a good plot for a romantic comedy, does it? Without giving too much away, an unexpected turn of events leads to the necessity of continuing the charade, and the two lead characters falling in love. "It Started With Eve" is a rare treat in that it mixes comedy, romance, and truly moving drama into a single film that is nothing but a joy to experience.So what is it exactly that makes this film so special? In my opinion, one of the major flaws of most romantic comedies both then and now is the over-reliance on stock characters. One goes into these types of films expecting the same sorts of people: the boy and the girl who either hate or love each other from the outset, and the interfering ex-girlfriend or parent intent on keeping them apart. In this film, these stereotypes are turned on their heads. The two leads neither hate nor love each other, but are simply thrown together and their relationship develops from there. The typical unwilling parent is replaced by a father who admires Durbin's character so much that he works to bring her and his son together.The style in which this film is directed also sets it apart. While most movies of this type usually veer towards either broad farce or melodrama, the feeling here is something in between, which results in that the acting is more realistic and makes the film more believable. The stellar casting is only enhanced by the great performances and genuine chemistry between the three leads (Cummings, Durbin, and Laughton). Laughton and Durbin especially seem to get along so well that in the scene where they burst out in uncontrollable laughter, you can't help but join in with them.While this film is not as well known now as it was in its day (it just had its premiere on TCM this December), it is one that should be better known, simply for the fact that it is truly a cinematic gem.

Although this was a Deanna Durbin movie and she does sing a few songs in the film, It Started With Eve is completely stolen by Charles Laughton playing Robert Cummings's father. Laughton is in the kind of role normally reserved for someone like Charles Coburn, but Laughton does make the most of it.It Started With Eve does start out solemn enough, Laughton is on his deathbed and his last wish is to see the girl whom his son Robert Cummings has been engaged to. Cummings being a dutiful son endeavors to get his fiancé Margaret Tallichet to Laughton's deathbed for the old man's last request. But a mixup leaves Cummings without meeting Tallichet and with time running out, he offers a hatcheck girl Deanna Durbin $50.00 to come home and pretend to be his fiancé. What girl couldn't use an honest $50.00 so Deanna agrees.But she so captivates Laughton upon meeting him that the old guy gets a new lease on life. I think you can figure the rest of this situation out and how the film ends.Of course Deanna is an aspiring singer, that's a given in her early films. She does do a few numbers, but I have a feeling she may have had more in It Started With Eve, but the people at Universal Studios saw that Laughton was stealing the film and may have cut a few of her songs. Of course she stayed with top billing because until Abbott&Costello arrived on the scene with Buck Privates, Durbin was their chief money making star at Universal Pictures.It Started With Eve was Laughton's first comedy since Ruggles Of Red Gap and in his scenes he steals all, but the furniture. His facial expressions are priceless. What a foxy scheming old man he was, determined to see Cummings marry Durbin or have Durbin in the family one way or another. I do believe if it came to it, he'd have married Durbin himself.All in all like Richard Bennett in If I Had A Million, Laughton plays another millionaire who starts the film on his deathbed, but by the end of it has plenty of reason to live. The reports of his death are greatly exaggerated, but the laughs in It Started With Eve are not.

IT STARTED WITH EVE (Universal, 1941), directed by Henry Koster, stars popular singer Deanna Durbin in one of her finest movie roles. Not quite a Biblical tale about Adam and Eve and the apple as the title might imply, nor is there any character in the story named Eve, but actually a comedy of errors in the screwball comedy tradition providing Durbin, still in her late teenage years, an opportunity in a more adult performance, with fine support by the diverse Charles Laughton in a character role that's both funny and touching, and Robert Cummings as a young man caught in the middle of a series of situations and having a difficult time coming up with a suitable explanations.The scenario revolves around Jonathan Reynolds (Charles Laughton) a middle-aged millionaire on his death bed whose final request is to meet the young lady engaged to his son, Johnny (Robert Cummings). To make his father's last days on Earth a pleasant one, Johnny rushes out into the rain to get his fiancé only to learn from the desk clerk that she and her mother are not available. Not wanting to waste any more valuable time, Johnny encounters a hat check girl (Deanna Durbin) and offers her $50 to return home with him and pose as his fiancée for about an hour. Explaining the circumstances at hand, she agrees. Masquerading as "Gloria Pennington," the girl, Anne Terry, meets the ailing Mr. Reynolds, who takes an immediate liking to her. After their union, the old man finds his son to be in good hands, and can now die in peace. The following morning, Jonathan miraculously recovers from his illness, gets out of bed demanding a large breakfast from his servants and for Johnny to bring "Gloria" back to visit with him. Complications ensue when Johnny not only has to locate Anne, who's about to take the next train back home to Shelbyville, Ohio, but to explain to the real Gloria (Margaret Tallichet) and her mother (Catherine Doucet), having returned from their trip, the situation that has occurred. Things become even more complex when Johnny tries to prevent his father from learning Anne not to be his fiancée, and keeping Anne from attending his father's dinner function where she wants to audition for his theatrical agent friends in hope to land a singing career.A highly enjoyable comedy with an original premise done at a leisurely pace with a couple of classical songs thrown in for good measure making use of Deanna Durbin's singing talent, including Peter Tchaikowsky's "The Tchaikowsky Waltz" and Antonin Dvorak's "Going Home." Supporting players consist of Guy Kibbee as Bishop Maxwell; Walter Catlett as Dr. Harvey, the nervous family physician; Dorothea Kent as Jackie Donovan, Anne's roommate; Clara Blandick as The Nurse; and comedian Mantan Moreland adding humor as the harassed train station baggage man.Obviously a high point in Durbin's career that did very well at box office, it's interesting to note that a fun movie such as this is not relatively better known. Durbin and Cummings do well in the roles that might have been tailer-made for Irene Dunne and Cary Grant for example. However, the characters of Anne Terry and Johnny Reynolds were obviously written for much younger performers as enacted by Durbin and Cummings.IT STARTED WITH EVE did play for a while on American Movie Classics (1992-93) about the same time it was distributed on video cassette by MCA Home Video. The Hans Kraly story was redone by Universal as I'D RATHER BE RICH (1964) featuring Sandra Dee, Robert Goulet and Maurice Chevalier, with a few alterations, but like the original, has been lost to cinema history, known mostly by film scholars and historians. Even with the original currently available on DVD and latter cable broadcast on Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: December 30, 3013) might offer IT STARTED WITH EVE some new life to a new generation of movie lovers looking for something amusing, nostalgic as well as lighthearted entertainment by its three principal actors. (***1/2).

This is an absolutely delicious film! Laughton steals the show as always, in a role similar to the one Walter Connolly played in "It Happened One Night". If you love 40's films and mistaken identity plots, you won't be disappointed. Deanna Durbin was perfectly cast and has a lovely rapport with Laughton. She is radiant when singing, and her voice is natural and beautiful. At the age of 27, she walked away from stardom to have a secluded life. We can at least be thankful for the films she made.A real gem from start to finish!