Preston Sturges is at it again. The ingenious writer-director spins out a sinfully romantic comedy in The Lady Eve, and the lady of the title is Barbara Stanwyck. She s a calculating card shark who fleeces passengers on transatlantic ocean liners. When she discovers that an ingenious young millionaire (Henry Fonda) is on board, the scheming Stanwyck figures he ll be a pushover if she plays her cards right. Sure enough, he does fall for her, but surprise-she also falls for him. When he s tipped off that true romance is not in the cards because she s giving him a fast shuffle, Fonda s fondness fades. Now Stanwyck realizes that if she wants to win him back, she s got to stop her double-dealing, and she does but not before she turns up a few tricks of her own.

Preston Sturges is at it again. The ingenious writer-director spins out a sinfully romantic comedy in The Lady Eve, and the lady of the title is Barbara Stanwyck. She s a calculating card shark who fleeces passengers on transatlantic ocean liners. When she discovers that an ingenious young millionaire (Henry Fonda) is on board, the scheming Stanwyck figures he ll be a pushover if she plays her cards right. Sure enough, he does fall for her, but surprise-she also falls for him. When he s tipped off that true romance is not in the cards because she s giving him a fast shuffle, Fonda s fondness fades. Now Stanwyck realizes that if she wants to win him back, she s got to stop her double-dealing, and she does but not before she turns up a few tricks of her own.

He was the MGM's longest-serving leading man, she was one of Hollywood's finest actresses and the ultimate film noir icon in 'Double Indemnity'. Together they were dynamic.

Reporter Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is fired from her job by an unscrupulous newspaper tycoon and retaliates by printing a fake suicide note

Reporter Ann Mitchell (Barbara Stanwyck) is fired from her job by an unscrupulous newspaper tycoon and retaliates by printing a fake suicide note

Ball of Fire is a delightful retelling (by Billy Wilder and Charles Brackett) of the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs legend -- though strictly for grownups. Gary Cooper is the youngest of eight bookish professors authoring an encyclopedia. They find a perfect research associate in the curvaceous form of stripteaser Barbara Stanwyck, who (chastely) hides on the professors' domicile to escape her gangster boyfriend (Dana Andrews). As Stanwyck interprets various slang expression, she and the professors grow quite fond of one another; she brings out their sentimental sides, while they revive her essential decency. Naturally, Cooper is the one most smitten, though he hides his true feelings until the inevitable clinch. When gangster Andrews and his torpedo Dan Duryea show up to claim Stanwyck (Andrews wants to marry her so she can't testify against him), the professors save the day and it is Cooper who ends up with the beautiful Stanwyck. For the record, two of the ancient professors are Richard Haydn and O.Z. Whi

War hero Dennis Morgan becomes the object of a publicity stunt staged by magazine publisher Sidney Greenstreet. The corpulent print mogul announces that Morgan has won a Christmas dinner, to be prepared by the magazine's housekeeping expert Barbara Stanwyck in her own Connecticut home. The catch: Not only does Stanwyck not have a home in Connecticut, but she's never been in a kitchen in her life! She also doesn't have a husband (as her articles claim), so Stanwyck's erstwhile beau Reginald Gardiner is pressed into service as the hubby. As for the cooking, that will be handled by master chef S. Z. Cuddles Sakall. This solves everything, right? No way, Jose. Long dismissed as a lesser film farce, Christmas in Connecticut has its own irresistible charm, and has in recent years become a perennial Christmas-eve TV attraction. Pay absolutely no attention to the 1992 TV remake, starring Dyan Cannon and directed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide.

(Preston Sturges) wrote and directed this classic romantic comedy starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck, who are involved in a scintillating battle of the sexes, as Sturges points up the terrors of sexual passion and the unattainability of the romantic ideal. Henry Fonda plays Charles Pike, the heir to the Pike Ale fortune (The Ale That Won for Yale). An ophiologist (a snake expert), he just spent a year up the Amazon looking for rare snakes with his cynical and protective guardian/valet Muggsy (William Demarest). He arrives to board the S.S. Southern Queen bound for New York, and immediately becomes the main order of business for a collection of single women looking to nab the eligible bachelor. Amongst those watching Charles board are a trio of con men and cardsharps -- Colonel Handsome Harry Harrington (Charles Coburn), his partner Gerald (Melville Cooper), and the Colonel's daughter Jean (Barbara Stanwyck). All three see Charles as a pushover and at dinner, while all the women are ogling Charles, Jean

Filmed on location at Montana's Glacier National Park, Cattle Queen of Montana makes excellent use of the diverse talents of Barbara Stanwyck and Ronald Reagan. Stanwyck is cast as Sierra Nevada Jones, who hopes to stake her claim in the cattle business despite opposition from hostile land barons. She is helped along by government agent Farrell, even though he's officially on hand to find out who's been inciting the local Indian tribes into attacking the whites. Lance Fuller delivers a well-balanced performance as Colorados, a college-educated Indian chief who hopes to bring peace to the land. Long a fixture of TV's Late Late Shows, Cattle Queen of Montana was briefly reissued theatrically when Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide.