Stage Fright

Stage Fright (1950)

Runtime: 110 minutes

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Starring: Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding, Richard Todd, Alastair Sim

From: Warner Brothers

I have no time for a proper intro so I'll note that I'll be back Sunday night and here's what I wrote about the film on Letterboxd:

A few days ago I went to the local library to rent a few DVD's of Hitchcock films, all of which I have never seen before. The first one I chose for viewing was this, as it's “lesser-known”, at least by the director's lofty standards.

The plot: A popular entertainer-Charlotte Inwood-(Marlene Dietrich) in an English city accidentally kills her husband, and her lover (Richard Todd) is accidentally seen at the scene of the crime so he has to hide out and he uses his friend Eve (Jane Wyman) to avoid the cops and she does various things to try and clear his name. A detective, a scheming lady that dresses Ms. Inwood and even her parents get involved.

The main thing is that the film has a conceit which of course I won't reveal here for those who haven't seen this before; at the time it wasn't well-received as it was a pretty new thing. In these recent times it's done more often and now that plot point looks better, and in the context of this motion picture it does work.

The movie does feel its length of 110 minutes, the whole thing is rather ridiculous and while not a slight considering his astounding career, it's still lesser Hitch. However, the reason why I rate this the way I do... it's certainly well-acted by a talent cast and there are some great characters, such as Eve's dad (Alastair Sim) and a vivid Cockney speaking lady (Kay Walsh). Of course it was filmed very well and the ending is quite strong. Plus, you get to see Marlene perform.

Those positives help mask the negatives and make this a movie that you may want to check out if you enjoy the director but mainly have only see his most famous works. Many of his famous tropes are here but as typical they are done in a different way so you won't feel like things are stale as you watch it.