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Passes the Bechdel test

All About Eve

1950. Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, written by Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Mary Orr.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    16 women characters. 8 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 13 scenes out of 55.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3.

Poster for All About Eve

The film

Eve Harrington (Anne Baxter) is waiting backstage to meet her idol, talented but aging Broadway star Margo Channing (Bette Davis). It seems innocent enough as Eve explains that she has seen Margo in EVERY performance of her current play. Margo and her friends take Eve under their wing but only theatre critic Addison DeWitt (George Sanders) sees through Eve's evil plan, which is to take Margo's parts and her fiancé, Bill Simpson (Gary Merrill) too.

Released
27 Oct 1950
Genres
Drama
Rated
Approved
IMDb
8.2 / 10
Metascore
98 / 100
Awards
Won 6 Oscars. 27 wins & 22 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Margo 341 lines, woman
  2. Eve 265 lines, woman
  3. Karen 203 lines, woman
  4. Addison 171 lines, man
  5. Bill 170 lines, man
  6. Lloyd 114 lines, man
  7. Birdie 47 lines, woman
  8. Max 33 lines, man
  9. Girl 25 lines, woman
  10. Miss Caswell 15 lines, woman
Full cast, 47 people
  • Bette Davis as Margo Channing
  • Anne Baxter as Eve Harrington
  • George Sanders as Addison DeWitt
  • Celeste Holm as Karen Richards
  • Gary Merrill as Bill Sampson
  • Hugh Marlowe as Lloyd Richards
  • Thelma Ritter as Birdie Coonan
  • Gregory Ratoff as Max Fabian
  • Marilyn Monroe as Miss Caswell
  • Barbara Bates as Phoebe
  • Walter Hampden as Aged Actor
  • Randy Stuart as Girl
  • Craig Hill as Leading Man
  • Leland Harris as Doorman
  • Barbara White as Autograph Seeker
  • Eddie Fisher as Stage Manager
  • William Pullen as Clerk
  • Claude Stroud as Pianist
  • Eugene Borden as Frenchman
  • Helen Mowery as Reporter
  • Steven Geray as Captain of Waiters
  • Gertrude Astor as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Frank Baker as Waiter (uncredited)
  • Ralph Brooks as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Jack Chefe as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Sayre Dearing as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Jack Deery as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Franklyn Farnum as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Bess Flowers as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Colin Kenny as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Ethelreda Leopold as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Carl M. Leviness as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Leota Lorraine as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • William Marion as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Thomas Martin as Waiter (uncredited)
  • Mathew McCue as Waiter (uncredited)
  • Harold Miller as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • William H. O'Brien as Waiter at Margo's Party (uncredited)
  • Stanley Orr as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Foster H. Phinney as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Marion Pierce as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Paul Power as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Suzanne Ridgway as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Ann Robinson as Girl in a Lobby of the 21 Club (uncredited)
  • Cosmo Sardo as Waiter (uncredited)
  • Larry Steers as Sarah Siddons Awards Guest (uncredited)
  • Robert Whitney as Actor in "Hearts of Oak" (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 55

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 2221
3 to 4240
5 to 630
7 to 813748
9 to 101412
11 to 1264
13 to 14100
15 to 16220
17 to 185518
19 to 20350
21 to 223736
23 to 24130
25 to 265535
27 to 284036
29 to 301919
31 to 327458
33 to 345410
35 to 3604
37 to 383234
39 to 401812
41 to 424047
43 to 448124
45 to 4630
47 to 481913
49 to 504041
51 to 522723
53 to 5400
55 to 55427

The evidence

  • Straight from the script
  • Counted from the script and the credits

Tap an exhibit to open it.

Exhibit A: the passing scenes

The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
KAREN: You wait a minute... ... now don't run away- MARGO: "Honey chile," I said, "if the South had won the war, you could write the same plays about the North!"
KAREN: Hi. Hello, darling- MARGO: Hi. "Well, now Mis' Channin', ah don't think you can rightly say we lost the wah, we was mo' stahved out, you might say - an' that's what ah…
KAREN: Loud. BIRDIE: Lemme fix you a drink. KAREN: No thanks, Birdie.
MARGO: Relax, kid. It's only me and my big mouth... KAREN: It's just that you get me so mad sometimes... of all the women in the world with nothing to complain about- MARGO: Ain't it the truth? KAREN: Yes, it is! You're talented, famous, wealthy - people waiting around night after night just to see you, even in the wind and rain...
EVE: I'd like anything Miss Channing played... MARGO: Would you, really? How sweet-

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 64 are women's.

902 lines from women, 502 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

16 women and 28 men in the cast. 8 women and 8 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 15 of 1,410. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 14 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 62% of the words (11,879), men 38% (7,320). Women have 64% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.

Exhibit E: the test the other way

Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.

Conversations between two named characters

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 7 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (man)
Written by
Joseph L. Mankiewicz (man)
Produced by
Darryl F. Zanuck (man)
Shot by
Milton Krasner (man)
Edited by
Barbara McLean (woman)
Music by
Alfred Newman (man)
Costumes by
Edith Head (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Art

    0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 4 men, 1 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    1 women, 2 men

  • Directing

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Production

    0 women, 2 men, 1 not listed

  • Writing

    1 women, 1 men

  • Editing

    1 women, 0 men

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 33 on average. Men: 43 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Marilyn Monroe 24, Barbara Bates 25, Anne Baxter 27, Celeste Holm 33, Bette Davis 42, Thelma Ritter 48

Men

Gary Merrill 35, Hugh Marlowe 39, George Sanders 44, Gregory Ratoff 53

Exhibit H: the money

It made 6.0 times what it cost.

Budget
$1.4 million
Box office
$8.4 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 55 scenes and 1,410 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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