Overrated and overhyped

Admirable film.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, this average drama has little suspense and one notable spoiler. The screenplay was written by Whitfield Cook from two stories by Selwyn Jepson, Man Running and Outrun the Constable; the director's wife Alma Reville wrote the adaptation. Featuring a cast with Jane Wyman and Marlene Dietrich, largely playing herself, it also features actor Michael Wilding in his second (and last) straight collaboration, and disappointing film, with the director.Wyman plays an aspiring actress, Eve Gill, that thinks she's in love with Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd), who has told her that he's being pursued by the police because he's assisted Charlotte Inwood (Dietrich) in covering up a murder. Cooper says that Inwood murdered her husband and that he, as Charlotte's clandestine lover, was just trying to help her, e.g. by disposing of her blood stained dress, when he was seen by Inwood's maid, escaping her premises. Wilding plays a police inspector named Smith who meets, and then falls in love with Eve, while investigating the crime and trying to find Cooper.With help from her eccentric father Commodore Gill (Alastair Sim), Eve pretends to be a servant to get closer to the famous Inwood in order to "catch" her and prove Cooper's innocence. In order to gain access to the singer, Eve bribes Inwood's current assistant Nellie Goode (Kay Walsh) to pretend to be sick so that she can take her place. Eve's alter ego must then avoid Inspector Smith while he pursues the budding relationship he'd established with her true self.Besides its somewhat suspenseful ending, the film's only other real highlight is found in the charity fair scene, late in the story. It follows Sim's character as he tries to force a reaction from Dietrich's, and the necessary steps (involving Joyce Grenfell's character) leading to it, and then the Inspector's realization about Eve's alter ego.It turns out that director Hitchcock "lied" to the audience in the film's opening flashback regarding Cooper; it is revealed that it was in fact Cooper who killed Inwood's husband.

This has all those Hitchcock staples. A man on the run who must develop trust with a group of sympathetic confederates, an effort to cover up being framed for a crime he says he did not commit, an innocent young woman who doesn't know where her loyalties should be, and an interesting group of settings which are used to make promote the plot line. Hitchcock usually gives us a person we already know is innocent, a Cary Grant or Robert Donat, but here he messes with us. The young woman becomes enamored with the investigator and the principle male figure is really only a friend. There is a really good performance by Alistair Sim (the star of the most wonderful version of "A Christmas Carol"). Some discount these older films of Hitchcock, but we see his hand in this all the way and it really works. Without giving away any spoilers, I can suggest you listen to the dialogue very carefully for dramatic irony.

I could kick myself for ignoring this Hitchcock masterpiece for so long! Considering I have been watching films (not just movies) since I was 10 then I ignored this movie for 49 years. What made me bypass this movie for so many years? The title is catchy and recognizable. I thought it was going to be something else entirely - and perhaps I thought it was going to bad. What fool I was! But thank goodness I recorded it and saw it tonight! One could go a whole lifetime and not discover this because no one talks about it. Why don't people discuss this movie!? There is so much in it to appreciate. Case in point: there is a very clever dolly shot during the first few minutes where walls disappear as a character enters a house from the street, closes the door, and the camera just keeps on rolling as the sound of the street fade away and the character walks in, up the stairs and down a hall.But in it I discovered wonderful Richard Todd and fascinating Michael Wilding, I found a new and higher appreciation for Marlene Dietrich, I added another notch to my highest appraisal of the legendary Alistair Sim, and now I see Jane Wyman in a whole new light. But the biggest thrill, was discovering a new movie by the master of suspense.I won't say much about the plot because whatever I say, is bound to be a lie! (wink-wink) I will let you ponder that statement...I would recommend to anyone who wants to discover the breadth of Hitchcock beyond his half-a-dozen more famous movies.

For an Alfred Hitchcock thriller released in 1950, "Stage Fright" seems strangely behind the times. Afterall, "Shadow of a Doubt" was released in 1943, "Rope" a fear years later and "Strangers on a Train" a year after "Stage Fright". These are all incredibly "modern" pictures. "Stage Fright", in contrast, plays like one of Hitchcock's 1930s thrillers, lacking the sophistication of much of his 1940s work. At the same time, were it released by any other director, "Fright" would perhaps be fairly highly regarded. It's just, with Hitchcock, one places higher standards.The plot? The incomparable Marlene Dietrich plays Charlotte Inwood, a stage actress who rules London's theatre houses. Being a cold hearted wench, she frames actor Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd) for the murder of her husband and then watches with delight as poor Cooper falls headlong into another one of Hitchcock's Kafkaesque "wrong man" plots. Assisting Cooper is Eve Gill (Jane Wyman), a spunky young actress who attempts to prove Cooper's innocence. Resilent and cunning, she ensnares Charlotte in a trap of her own. Sounds like Hitchcock's "Spellbound"? Yes, it's virtually the same film.Unsurprisingly, "Stage Fright" is preoccupied with stages, acting, false identities and performances. All the main characters are actors, and Eve frequently poses as invented characters in order to learn information, get into barred locations or bribe others. The film's first three acts are likewise structured around a series of lies (virtually everything said is dishonest), whilst the film's climax involves a series of truthful revelations, though again these are staged as actorly performances. As far as I know, this was also the first film to use a now well-worm cliché; it's the old gag in which the villain is tricked into revealing or confessing his or her crimes in front of an audience he or she is unaware is present ("Minority Report", "Monster's Inc" etc etc).The film marked Hitchcock's return to England after a series of pictures in America. It contains one riveting, suspenseful set piece, and continues Hitchcock's trend of favouring strong female roles. The rest of the film is well shot, but its script will undoubtedly seem generic and well-worn to modern audiences.7.9/10 – Worth one viewing.