Saturday, May 17, 2008

Grudge Match: Eve Harrington vs. Veda Pierce

Maybe somebody's done something like this already, but: a fight between two evil young women from Oscar-winning movies who are out to destroy and supplant the middle-aged divas who love them: Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) from All About Eve vs. Veda Pierce (Ann Blyth) from Mildred Pierce. Who wins this battle of the anti-ingénues?

Advantages for Eve: She's smarter than Veda, better able to manipulate people to get what she wants, better at strategy. Advantages for Veda: She's more evil, more violent, and hotter (I don't know how that will help her in a fight, exactly, but it can't hurt).

(This is confined to the movie versions, so Veda from the original novel doesn't apply here.)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I give the edge to Veda because she has the innocent factor AND she's hotter.

PLus, I've actually seen Mildred Pierce

Caftan Woman said...

I've got to hand it to Veda. I think she has the stamina for the long haul. Poor Eve. By the time Phoebe comes along, Miss Harrington has lost her zip and is ready for the taking.

Michael Guillen said...

Jaime, thanks for the tip of the hat. Your idea is a fun one. Recently, San Francisco's Castro Theatre ran a series entitled "Dueling Divas" which were exactly double bills of actresses set up against each other.

Anonymous said...

I'm going to have to vote for Ms. Harrington. Veda kills the first person who crosses her and ends up in jail. (Full disclosure: My mom used to call me "Veda" when I was a teenager.) She was a callous, petulant child. Eve Harrington, on the other hand, was a master manipulator who managed to get pretty much everything she wanted. There's no doubt in my mind she would have somehow disengaged from Addison DeWitt.