CinePete This is Hitchcock-lite. The director takes a casual approach to his material, intended more as social satire than crime thriller. Filmed in London, Stage Fright owes as much to the Ealing Studio comedies of the period as it does to its famous director.A man has been murdered in the mansion of stage star Marlene Dietrich, and her boyfriend Richard Todd is the prime suspect. Coming to his rescue, loyal friend Jane Wyman, a dramatic arts student, disguises herself as Dietrich's personal maid to uncover evidence that will free Todd from suspicion.Several people take an interest in the murder investigation, but no one seems particularly alarmed or fearful - nor is anyone ever in a really perilous situation. Wyman seems emotionally removed from all that goes on, and her new boyfriend Michael Wilding, assigned to the case, has a debonair style, but no particular conviction as a detective.A central weakness in Stage Fright is the unfortunately under-written role for Marlene Dietrich, a supposedly "dangerous woman" who never poses much threat to anyone.It is Richard Todd who makes the strongest impact. He is responsible for the notorious "lying flashback" which opens the film (his version of the murder turns out to be a total fabrication). Stage Fright achieves its best Hitchcockian moments in the tense climax when Todd is cornered beneath an empty theatre stage, with glowing "psycho eyes," suddenly an actual, murderous threat to his supportive friend Wyman. Apart from Todd, the best part is Hitchcock's playful satire of British class types. Several British thespians upstage the principal actors: Alistair Sim as Jane's smuggler-father who joins the game for fun, Sybil Thorndike as her overly proper mother, Miles Malleson as an obtrusive masher in a pub, Joyce Grenfell as "Lovely Ducks," a carnival barker with a mordant sense of humour.Most engaging is Kay Walsh as Dietrich's chambermaid, a wry opportunist with schemes of her own. Ms. Walsh, as the conniving, ironically-named Nellie Goode, practically steals the picture from its more widely-known stars.There's an interesting theatre metaphor working itself out, beginning with the rise of a theatre safety curtain during the credits, and ending (most appropriately) in its deadly sudden fall. The murder investigation is a playful stage drama for the main characters, one reason perhaps why Stage Fright lacks the serious tone of other Hitchcock thrillers of the period.

SnoopyStyle Eve Gill (Jane Wyman) is driving Jonathan Cooper who is on the run. He tells her about his affair with fellow actor Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich) and getting involved in covering up her killing of her husband. She had a bloody dress. He went back to her home to get a clean dress and manufacture a break-in only to be spotted by her assistant Nellie Goode. The police showed up at his place, and he escaped to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art to find Eve. The movie returns to its start as they drive to Eve's father (Alastair Sim) who notices problems with the bloody dress. Eve has a crush on Johnny and works to prove his innocence. She befriends a man who turns out to be Detective Inspector Wilfred O. Smith (Michael Wilding). She pretends to be a reporter and bribes Nellie to replace her as assistant to Charlotte.Director Alfred Hitchcock returns to work in Britain. It's a comedic thriller. Wyman does a two-minute bit with really thick glasses. She's very endearing and absolutely winning. She's a little Nancy Drew in this. I expected the unreliable narrator right away although the flaw could be either Johnny or Charlotte. There is something obviously wrong with Johnny's account. There is a few too many convenient times when Eve overhears a conversation. Eve sticks with Johnny a bit too long especially after he tries to force Charlotte to go with him. It's also somewhat a sitcom with the fake identity. Nevertheless, it works well enough as second tier Hitchcock.

Spikeopath Stage Fright is directed by Alfred Hitchcock and collectively written by Whitfield Cook, Ranald MacDougall, Alma Reville and James Bridie, it's based on the novel "Man Running" written by Selwyn Jepson. It stars Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding, Richard Todd and Alastair Sim. Plot sees Wyman as drama student Eve Gill, who is asked by friend Jonathan Cooper (Todd) for help because he is on the run for the alleged murder of Charlotte Inwood's (Dietrich) husband. He swears his innocence and with Eve's father (Sim) also in tow, they set about trying to prove Jonathan's innocence. It kind of goes without saying, since 90% of other reviews for Stage Fright have made the point, but Stage Fright is a lesser Hitchcock movie in terms of quality. In fact, watching it now upon revisits, it's actually, well, a bit of a bore. Yes it finds the directing maestro dallying in the realm of acting = deception, himself the deception puppet master, and the cast can't be faulted for quality of performance; notably Wyman who leads the film as a heroine taking on a number of different guises to a number of different people. But it lacks menace, it lacks sardonic humour and after playing the audience like an appropriately named fiddle, the pay off lacks dramatic impact or surprise. It has a bit more to it than merely being one for Hitchcock completists, for one thing fans of British cinema get a nice cameo from the wonderful Joyce Grenfell, but unlike a good portion of Hitchcock's work, this one doesn't hold up on repeat viewings. Decent but not actually very good. 6/10

atlasmb I regard Stage Fright as one of Hitchcock's most undervalued films. It contains certain conventions of his film craft, yet introduces a unique twist--a twist that is misunderstood.As is always the case in a Hitchcock film, blood is the element of murder. Here, the blood stain on a dress is what links the characters together. Like a deadly game of tag, the dress goes from person to person, pulling them into the story, tainting them. First, the framed boyfriend, then the girl who loves him, then her father.Hitchcock likes to play with the difference between what the characters know and what the viewers know. When the audience knows more, it can add suspense (e.g. when Raymond Burr sees Grace Kelly point to the ring in Rear Window). Here he toys with us, giving us a flashback that misleads, but it is not really a "false flashback" as it has so often been called. Remember that this is not a case of the director showing what happened prior; it is an illustration of the story being told to Jane Wyman by Richard Todd. He is manipulating her with a false story. So the misunderstanding is caused by a false telling, not a false flashback. But, yes, Hitchcock does use it to mislead us. He is challenging the rules (but in a fair way) just as he fooled everyone by killing off the "star" of his movie Psycho.Personally, I enjoyed all the acting, especially Alastair Sims as Jane Wyman's father. I found the dialogue of this movie very enjoyable--clever and full of nuance and illusion. Sims really took advantage of his role and delivered some delicious lines.It was nice to Patricia Hitchcock in the minor role of Chubby. In Strangers on a Train, she gets to better display her talents.Wyman's character, an acting student, takes on the various roles as the lies pile up. Eventually, she becomes the assistant/dresser for the star actress played by Marlene Dietrich. Her father becomes her assistant/dresser in that role, as she is drawn deeper and deeper into her own fiction.At the beginning of the film, we see the curtain rise on the proceedings (something Baz Luhrmann used later). Until the final curtain falls, we are drawn into a suspenseful story of an amateur sleuth. Time is an important element in suspense, and Hitchcock does not need to put a clock on screen to remind us of the impending problems that threaten his characters here. And he sometimes seems to drag out the time with inconsequentials, knowing he is drawing us further into the anxiety of his protagonists.I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I hope others discover it.