The Lady Eve is a 1941 American screwball comedy film written and directed by Preston Sturges and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. The film is based on a story by Monckton Hoffe about a mismatched couple who meet on board an ocean liner. In 1994, The Lady Eve, which is included on many "Top 100" films of all-time lists, was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." Plot Jean Harrington is a beautiful con artist. Along with her equally larcenous father, "Colonel" Harrington, and his partner Gerald, she is sailing on an ocean liner with the intention to fleece rich, naive Charles Pike, the heir to the Pike Ale ("The Ale That Won for Yale") fortune. Charles is a woman-shy snake expert just returning from a year-long expedition up the Amazon. The young women aboard the ship compete for his attention, but Charles is more concerned with reading about snakes. Jean meets Charles by tripping him as he passes, and he is soon smitten with her. After Jean runs off, terrified by a real snake that Charles has brought on board which has gotten loose in his cabin, the two share a steamy scene in her cabin. Charles's minder Muggsy suspects that Jean is a trickster looking to steal from Charles, but Charles refuses to believe him. Then, despite the planned con, Jean falls in love with Charles and shields him from her card sharp father. Muggsy discovers the truth and presents proof to Charlie, who dumps Jean. Furious at being scorned, Jean soon re-enters Charles's life masquerading as the posh Lady Eve Sidwich, niece of Sir Alfred McGlennan Keith, another con man who has been swindling the rich of Connecticut. Jean takes on an English accent, determined to torment Charles mercilessly, as she explains, "I've got some unfinished business with him—I need him like the axe needs the turkey." When Charles meets Jean as Lady Eve, he is so bewildered at her resemblance to the Jean that he knew that he constantly trips and falls over himself. Although Muggsy tries to convince him that "she's the same dame," Charles reasons that Jean would not come close to his home without at least disguising herself. Then, after Sir Alfred feeds him a story that the Lady Eve is Jean's sister, Charles accepts the resemblance.