Originally Posted by
Jim Kelly
It seems to me that ALL ABOUT EVE looks at the actress in the period when she's still popular, just not as popular as before. She has a career, but she might start to get smaller parts than what she had. It's kind of a less tragic version of A STAR IS BORN. Whereas, SUNSET BOULEVARD is about an actress who has completely been rejected and is now hidden away, living in the past and unwilling to accept her change in circumstance.
The other day, I happened to watch an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE--"The Sixteen Millimeter Shrine" starring Ida Lupino (air date: October 23, 1959)--with her as the Norma Desmond type. In Norma's case her career was way back in the silent era, twenty years before the time of the movie, whereas Lupino's charactrer (Barbara Jean Trenton) is a refugee from the 1930s talkies.
For Bette Davis, WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE (1962) is a much more tragic take on this scenario.