Stage Fright

Rating:
Summary: Finally gets the recognition it deserves
Review: After years of film/Hitchcock scholars dismissing it (like Truffaut did) or having coniptions about the famous "lie" it contains, it's great to see people are now appreciating this sharp, clever little movie. A recent biographer of Dietrich also correctly identified it as one her best showcases...she is hilarious and very sexy here. As for the "lie"...I think it's brilliant, and it will forever teach viewers not to believe everything the director shows them (Brian De Palma must have memorized this movie). Oh yeah...can we get a DVD please?!

Rating:
Summary: Don't be frightened of this movie!
Review: I love all of Hitchcock's movies, so it's hard to pick a favorite, but this one would be near the top. The plot is full of suspense and humor, the actors are perfect in their respective parts, especially Marlene Dietrich and Jane Wyman. Any movie where Marlene sings is a must-see anyway, much less in a Hitchcock movie! Lots of comic bits sprinkled throughout the movie offset the suspense and deadly points perfectly. When I first saw the movie years ago, I was completely fooled right up to the point with Wyman and Richard Todd hiding beneath the stage. But I still watch the movie about once a year and thoroughly enjoy it every time. A must for any Hitchcock fan who may have never seen this true gem.

Rating:
Summary: A Kind of Battle of Angels
Review: I've watched this movie countless times. It is one of my very favorites. It combines all of the hallmarks of Hitchcock mystery thrillers, with the unusual device of a combative pairing of two American film stars, Jane Wyman and German-born Marlene Dietrich. This dark against light struggle between women is not altogether foreign in Hitchcock films; one thinks of the pairing of Suzanne Plechette and Tipi Hedrin in THE BIRDS, but in that film the Plechette character is killed off early. Here, the dark-haired Wyman character who dominates the very first scene, survives until the very last scene. However, the fair-haired Dietrich character has equal screen time, and though they often appear separately, they do sometimes play together in the most unusual way and to the most peculiar effect.

Stage Fright is a murder mystery based on the Selwyn Jepson novel, and I would do the new viewer the greatest injustice by beraying even a little of the plot. Outside of the particulars of the homicide in question, this is a movie about deception and betrayal within the context of the Theatre and its tradition; of theatrical people and their lives which, to an outsider, seem to be little more than imposture and artifice. The film then, is an elaborate structure of mirrors, smoke and lies.

Among the aspects of STAGE FRIGHT which set it apart from other films of the period, is the exceptional musical score by an obscure composer, Leighton Lucas. So sophisticated and expressive is it at working to enhance the story, one is reminded of later Hitchcock films like VERTIGO. First class work.

The costuming is superbe. Dietrich as Musical Star and Comedienne, Charlotte Indood, wears Dior throughout, and the coutourier created for her two dresses which play a key part in the articulation of the crime. Both dresses are made of some ineffably gauzy silken stuff, so insubstantial and smoke-like, that one of them -- a pale, probably blue dress and absolutely plain -- can be balled up with one hand by Dietrich's lover, Richard Todd, and stuffed into his sportscoat at the armhole without beraying even the slightest bulge. That dress' twin is dark, and probably a navy blue.

I mention this incidence of the two dresses because although dresses have important messages to deliveer about the women who wear them in Hitchcock movies, in no other film of his does costume, wardrobe and dressmaking play so crucial a part in defining the roles of the actresses, as they go back and forth within the story, altering their appearances and changing their identities to suit their frequently devious purposes.

The dark-haired Jane Wyman, who often played in American films with her hair bleached and permed, here plays with a very simple bob. Her makeup is quiet, but not austere. Her clothing is classic, in that it is anglo-saxon clothing as we've seen it for half a centrury or more. It is conservative in cut, modest and discreet. She wears, for example, in the scene where she lures a detective into a confidential chat, what appears to be a double-breasted camel's hair coat which, to the casual observer appears to be nothing out of the ordinary, but upon closer inspection appears to be of the finest goods, and could be worn today, some fifty-two years later, without apology, anywhere.

One could go on and on about the clothes the actresses wear, and use all available time and space without mentioning the supporting actors in the piece, from Kay Walsh, Alister Sim, Michael Wilding and Richard Todd, to Dame Sybil Thorndike, Charlotte Greenwood, and the incomparable Miles Malleson. If any movie depended on perfect character work, and demonstrated it well, this movie does just that. The secondary characters alone are worth the price of admission; even Hitchcock's daughter. In fact, the English cast is so fine, one is often tempted to wonder what this movie might have been like if Hitchcock had cast instead of Dierich, Googie Withers, or Gertrude Lawrence, Vivian Leigh or Valerie Hobson in the Charlotte Inwood role. Certainly it would have been different, and there was no shortage of talented, beautiful actresses in London, then, as there is no shortage today. But, however she got the role, Dietrich brought with her one invisible ally none of the others possessed, and perhaps one which even Hitchcock did not expect. She brought her voice, and with it, just occasionally, she managess to tie together what might have seemed to her to be a somewhat too flabby, too comfy assemblage of little gray people, by displaying unexpectedly and to great effect, a shining thread of ironic sarcasm like a skien of stainless steel, holding the project together, and reminding all of us with the crack of a whip, that this is, after all, a story about a calculated murder.

This film is rather like one of Goya's etchings; a study in lights and darks, an intimate entertainment, meant to be looked at closely and quietly, and savored. Stage Fright is adult entertainment, in the very best sense of the term.

Rating:
Summary: exellent Hitchcock movie
Review: Jane Wyman and Marlene Dietrich star in the suspense-laden thriller STAGE FRIGHT, centering around the London theatre district and a murder involving a famous stage star.

Eve Gill (Jane Wyman) seizes the acting oppertunity of a lifetime when her boyfriend Jonathan (Richard Todd) is framed for murder. She poses as the maid and goes to work for her boyfriend's accuser, stage great Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich). In her attempts to prove Jonathan's innocence, Eve has to question wether it is true......

Featuring Michael Wilding, Kay Walsh, Alistair Sim and Dame Sybil Thorndike, STAGE FRIGHT is a rollicking adventure from beginning to end.

Rating:
Summary: All the World's A Stage
Review: Why Stage Fright doesn't rank amongst the top Hitchcock films is one of the great mysteries of the twentieth century. It has all the things that the best Hitchcock films have: great stars, Jane Wyman and Marlene Dietrich, both at the top of their game, a compelling storyline, a blossoming romance, and wonderful characterizations from the supporting players. The story begins with Eve Gill (Wyman), a student actress at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and her attempts to shield her boyfriend Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd) from being framed for the murder of the husband of stage actress Charlotte Inwood (Dietrich). Jonathan and Charlotte were lovers and he fears that this relationship will be exposed (it was a secret) and thus establish his guilt. Eve who has had a crush on Jonathan for years believes he is telling the truth and tries to expose Charlotte as the real murderer. To do this she pretends to be the cousin of Charlotte's maid Nellie Good (Kay Walsh) who ostensibly is ill. In the guise of Doris, Nellie's "cousin," Eve is able to gain Charlotte's confidence. As Eve gets closer and closer to Charlotte, the mystery surrounding the death of her husband becomes more confusing and complex. Along the way, Eve is attracted to Inspector Wilfred Smith (Michael Wilding) who is investigating the case. As Eve's character tries to solve the murder, her relationship with the inspector gets a little strained. She wants to tell Wilfred that she's Doris, Charlotte's maid, but the timing never seems right. With more twists and turns than the average Hitchcock film, Stage Fright moves along at a crisp pace, keeping viewers guessing right until the end. To reveal more would spoil the fun. Wyman is great as Eve and absolutely charming as the maid, Doris. And Dietrich is at her best playing a woman who isn't at all what she appears to be. And that's a big part of what makes this film so compelling. No one is who they appear to be! Everyone seems to be acting a part or role for one reason or another. There is great support from Todd, Wilding, Sybil Thorndike and Alastair Sim (as Eve's parents). Thorndike is simply hilarious as Wyman's mother, as is Sim as her father. If you're a Hitchcock fan, I don't think you'll be disappointed in this one, and if you're new to Hitchcock, by all means give it a try.