Charles Pike (Henry Fonda), heir to the Pike's Ale fortune ("the Ale that won for Yale." [1]), has absolutely zero interest in brewing ale, beer, or anything in between. In fact, he's an ophiologist returning from a year in the Amazon studying snakes because, well, that's what an ophiologist does. On the voyage from South America he meets Jean Harrington (Barbara Stanwyck) and her father "Colonel" Harrington (Charles Coburn), who aren't so much rich socialites as they are con artists and gamblers. In the midst of their scam, Jean falls in love with him, but after he proposes marriage his bodyguard discovers her identity and the engagement is off. Because revenge is sweet, she poses as an English lady tricking him into falling in love with her all over again.

You wouldn't expect a script written by Preston Sturges while he waited for the finalization of his third divorce to have a positive or healthy view of love and marriage and The Lady Eve doesn't disappoint. Charles Pike is no great romantic — he's no great anything, really. It's entirely possible he's good with snakes, but other than that, there's no real evidence that he's got a clue. He proposes to Jean on two different occasions and uses the exact same wording each time, even though he thinks he's proposing to different girls. He does bad card tricks, is an awful poker player, and views life as a dim-witted holier-than-thou fool. Accordingly, Fonda plays him as a bumbling idiot of the worst kind: he thinks himself intelligent and sophisticated despite the fact that it takes him three changes of clothes just to get through a simple dinner.

On the other hand, Jean is a street-wise hustler. In a clever scene, she deals her father a cold deck while giving Charles four Queens and a nine [2]. Her father then switches in four Kings, she switches it back on him, he switches in four Aces from his other pocket, and she finally trumps him by "accidentally" exposing the Ace she's conveniently kept on the top of the deck. Her father must then fold and claim he was bluffing. Charles has no clue any of this is going on because he's so focused on his cards. Not realizing they're con artists is odd, but falling in love with her in maybe two days is even odder. And when he discovers the truth, he doesn't give her an opportunity to explain what she was willing to give up for him. What sort of person proposes to someone he just met then discards her at the slightest bit of bad news? Can that be love?