Margo Channing is the darling of Broadway, although she is past her 40th birthday. Her friend Karen introduces her to Eve Harrington, a young fan who goes to every one of Margo’s plays. Margo takes on Eve as an assistant, and for a while everything is fine. But it soon becomes evident to Margo that Eve is more than she appears. She has somehow managed to take Margo’s friends, her fame, and now her role in the play (after Karen plotted to keep Margo from the theater one night). Things blow up when Eve tries to take Margo’s love, Bill, and when critic Addison DeWitt quotes Eve’s derogatory comments about Margo).

Bill’s loyalty helps Margo keep things in perspective. Karen tells Eve to get lost, but Eve threatens to reveal Karen’s part in keeping Margo from the performance. In exchange, Eve wants a part in the next play written by Karen’s husband, Lloyd. Eve’s plotting continues, and she tries to get Lloyd away from Karen. Addison will have none of it and reveals to Eve that he has discovered her real background as a scheming poor girl who lied to everyone about her past.

Still, Eve is a raging success in Lloyd’s play. She wins the top award, but none of her previous friends will have anything to do with her. She returns to her hotel room to find Phoebe, a young girl who claims to want to write a school paper on Eve, but is really just another Eve scheming her way into the industry.

Pretty interesting, although not my favorite type of film. I find Betty Davis repulsive, and don’t know enough to appreciate her for her acting talent alone. Anne Baxter was good as Eve and, I understand, was something of a schemer in real life.