'Lady Eve' Continues Fonda Series

Join Barrington librarian and film enthusiast Doug Swiszcz for the second film in his five-movie series, Fond of Fonda: A Movie Lecture Series Saluting Henry Fonda.

“The Lady Eve” will air Wednesday, March 13, at 2 pm in the Barrington Public Library auditorium. The matinee series runs for four more weeks.

Swiszcz describes the film as “a delightful screwball comedy directed by Preston Sturges, it casts Fonda as Charles Pike, the gullible heir to his family’s ale brewing fortune who falls—literally—for card sharp Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck).”

“Her plan is to bilk him out of his money by seducing him, but she ends up falling in love with him,” he said. “The plot takes a labyrinthine turn when Pike learns of Jean’s ruse, and rejects her.

“Humiliated, she determines to make him fall for her again, this time by posing as a British noblewoman.” 

The supporting cast includes Charles Coburn, Eugene Pallette, and William Demarest. The black &and white film runs for 94 minutes and is unrated.

Swiszcz offers commentary before the start of each film. The showing is free and open to all, he said. 

Here’s the rest of the lineup:

March 20: My Darling Clementine (1946) – Director John Ford’s imaginative take on lawman Wyatt Earp (Fonda) and the shootout at the O.K. Corral. (Black & white, 97 min.) 

March 27: 12 Angry Men (1957) –  Fonda is the lone dissenting juror in the trial of a young man accused of killing his father. (Black & white, 96 min.)

April 3: Clarence Darrow (1974) – Fonda’s videotaped-for-television as the famed lawyer is a one-man tour-de-force. (Color, 81 min.)