A personal favorite, Bette Davis gave perhaps her best performance in the Academy Award Winning, AFI recipient All About Eve. After putting out a perfectly respectable, but fairly featureless version of the film some years back, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment is giving the film a new special edition.

From the moment she glimpses her idol at the stage door, Eve Harrington moves relentlessly towards her goal: taking the reigns of power from the great actress Margo Channing. The cunning Eve maneuvers her way into Margo’s Broadway role, becomes a sensation and even causes turmoil in the lives of Margo’s director boyfriend, her playwright and his wife. Only the cynical drama critic sees through Eve, admiring her audacity and perfect pattern of deceit.

Like many studios Fox is finally embracing the 1.37:1 Academy ratio of older films instead of the (admittedly minor) cropping to fullscreen. All About Eve will feature a newly restored Academy ratio presentation with an audio commentary by actress Celeste Holm. Also included are plenty of original promotional material from the film’s original release including promotional spots for actresses Bette Davis and Anne Baxter MovieTone News clips Academy Awards Honor Best Film Achievements and Hollywood Attends Gala Premiere of “All About Eve”, newsreels, a restoration comparison, the complete original screenplay, and theatrical trailers.

Although many DVDs sprout hours of fluff material, this kind of DVD truly captures the essence of a film. Price at $19.95, the disc will arrive January 14th.