Such a frustrating disappointment

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

STAGE FRIGHT is a good, if not great, middle era mystery from director Alfred Hitchcock. The somewhat slight storyline is well suited to his methods, because it gives him the opportunity for plenty of suspenseful situations. In essence, a young, somewhat naïve actress is called in to help investigate a murder. She's forced to adopt two different identities depending on whom she interacts with during the case – for instance, when she's with the suspected murderess she pretends to be a servant, and when she's with the investigating detective she has to be herself. The story has the expected twists and turns along the way, along with some of Hitchcock's trademark directorial flourishes (clever editing, a cameo appearance, strong lighting, extreme close-ups).The film has dated slightly, with some of the dialogue not really ringing true, but that matters little when the cast is of this calibre. A team of luminaries has been assembled for the production, and all of them are very good. Jane Wyman is a lovely heroine, warm and full of integrity, and she makes a perfect foil for Marlene Dietrich's sinister, suspicion-inducing ice queen. Michael Wilding is excellent as a romantic lead, and Richard Todd is also good value for money in one of his early performances as the 'wronged man'. My favourite cast member by far is Alastair Sim, who has an openly comic role as an eccentric caught up in the proceedings. There's quite a lot of humour in this film and most of it comes from Sim, whose timing and delivery of his lines are both perfect.STAGE FRIGHT is more of a simmering than a burning thriller; there are no 'big' suspense sequences like in later Hitchcock films, but it does end on a high with a twist and a flourish that don't disappoint. My favourite moments include an interlude at a fairground and the moment when Wyman is literally 'caught between doors' at her employer's house. This makes for solid viewing and is a must for Hitchcock fans.

There is a recurring plot in crime dramas: an innocent man is suspected of committing a murder, and he tries to evade the police long enough to prove his own innocence. Hitchcock often used it, as in "The 39 Steps." This plot requires us to suspend disbelief, because no one has ever proved his innocence in real life by avoiding the police long enough to find out who really did it and getting evidence to prove it. "Stage Fright" is a slight variation on this plot. In this case, the suspect's friend tries to hide him from the police long enough to prove the murder was committed by someone else. Once again, no one in real life has ever managed to do that.In a really good movie, like "The 39 Steps," suspending disbelief is easy, and we are well rewarded for doing so. But in a mediocre film like "Stage Fright," we are only partially engaged in the movie, and thus find ourselves comparing what happens with reality, and being a little put off by the difference. Instead of suspending disbelief, we find ourselves simply disbelieving.Maybe it is just me, but if I were suspected of a crime I did not commit, I would get myself a lawyer and turn myself in to the police. The movie begins with Jonathan telling Eve that Charlotte came over to his apartment with blood on her dress, saying she killed her husband in self-defense during an argument. He says he agreed to help her establish an alibi, and he goes back to her place to get another dress, and while he is there, tries to make it look like a burglary. However, Charlotte's maid shows up, sees him, and is able to identify him to the police. Now, we later find out that this story is a lie. But while I was watching it, taking this story seriously, I thought to myself that I would have simply advised Charlotte to get a lawyer and turn herself in to the police. And if she refused, I would have notified the police anyway.Furthermore, when Jonathan shows up at the theater where Eve, an actress, is in rehearsal, he tells her that the police want him for something he didn't do, and she agrees to help him escape. She should have told Jonathan to get a lawyer and turn himself in to the police. If he refused to do so, she should have notified the police herself.She takes Jonathan to her father's place, where the father agrees to help Eve hide Jonathan. By this time, it will come as no surprise when I say that if I had been Eve's father, I would have told Jonathan to get a lawyer and turn himself in to the police. If Jonathan and Eve refused to go along with this idea, I would have notified the police anyway.Later, we find out that it was Jonathan who killed Charlotte's husband. But that only allows for one more iteration of my general advice. In that case, Charlotte should have gotten a lawyer and gone to the police. Even if she did instigate the murder, as Jonathan claims, she could have denied involvement, and Jonathan would have been the one to go to prison.Now, it might be argued that if any one of these characters had gone to the police, as I say they should have, there would have been no movie. But any movie that is lackluster enough to allow for disbelief, rather than the suspension thereof, is a movie we would have been better off without.

Alfred Hitchcock directed this mystery thriller that stars Jane Wyman as Eve Gill, who helps her friend Jonathan Cooper(played by Richard Todd) when he is accused of murdering his lover's husband. The woman in question is actress Charlotte Winwood(played by Marlene Dietrich) who is being interrogated by the detective investigating the case, who also talks to Eve. Strangely, they find themselves falling in love, as the real murderer turns out to be an unpleasant surprise... Disappointing film once again has a good cast(to be expected from Hitchcock) but a disjointed story that ultimately leads nowhere, made semi-infamous because of, what turns out to be, a controversial "flashback".

Surely not one among Hitchock's most discussed films, STAGE FRIGHT stands out as a "wild accumulation of clever or colorful episodes" rather than "wild accumulation of tension" (Bosley Crowther, New York Times, February 1950). Indeed, STAGE FRIGHT does not occur to display any striking resemblance to more popular fantasy products by the Master of Suspense and, strangely enough, his famous hallmark, the MacGuffin, actually remains offstage. Carter B. Horsley rightly observed once that "Hitchcock had a wickedly delicious sense of humor and was a master manipulator of his audiences with unexpected dramatics in spectacular locations." It seems that this line finds its clearest resemblance in this film which proves to balance the real with the stylized, occurs to transmute a melodrama into real life where, specifically, Hitchcock and old England are doing darn well...and...lots of our assumptions give way to the unique fantasy of linguistic and cinematic 'manipulation.' With the lovely camera ankle of 'entrance into apartment' viewers enter a slightly different world by Hitchock, yet equally entertaining and memorable. Flashbacks are there to tell lies, the images of ruined London serve to correspond to specific period challenges, the English characters spy or are accused while the German ones sing, the psychology of characters seem to deceive us all the way through but one thing is certain: the show goes on with a very specific aspect where 'some fear' is placed: the stage. Terribly theatrical context but isn't that so much British? Traditionally British? Therefore, I would like to focus on three points of this "helter-skelter" movie, as Bosley Crowther names it in his review: the cast, old England and humor.THE CAST: One of the film's major strengths is its delightful bunch of British cast. As a relatively newcomer at Hitchcock, JANE WYMAN, is the director's unique female discovery. From the start of the film, she somehow manages to call our attention, we empathize with her and, in the long run, she constitutes, for us, a perfect model of 'make-belive.' There is innocence and inexperience blended in her. One of the most powerful scenes that she handles is the bar moment where she leads audiences to certain tension but does not let us be absorbed by it completely. She looks desperate, as humorous Mr Fortesque notes, but surprises us with later reactions. That anticipates, and rightly so, her major skill in this performance, to evoke emotions constantly keeping the borderline, the limit to what place it is safe to go and which point we actually cannot cross. Also great job as one Doris Tinsdale and a dresser of extravagant Charlotte.MICHAEL WILDING, a very eminent actor of the times, with his role does not only serve to portray an 'Agatha-Christie' like detective but beautifully combines the wits, charm, and determination creating a unique, non-verbal interaction with various audiences. Finally, he is the one who falls in love. His moment is the car scene with Eve. The performance of RICHARD TODD, the actor of Irish origin does occur a bit shadowed by others. STAGE FRIGHT does not ignore, among the supporting performers, the elderly couple (who are usually the parents of a protagonist) and so they are here: ALISTAIR SIM as calm and peaceful Mr Gill and SYBIL THORNDYKE as his rigid, demanding wife.As she is a strict mother of more or less Victorian style, he is a very sympathetic, hilarious (at moments) daddy who is afraid for his daughter knowing that 'in real life you have to face situations with all its bearings.' He is a very likable old gentleman, at the same time, resorting to more peaceful way of life and one of the most frank of all Hitchcock's supporting characters. Crowther nicely refers to Sim's performance saying that: "the privilege of watching him muster his wits and resources to assist his daughter in her endeavors is one of the genuine pleasures of the film." Sim and Thorndyke paired together, they powerfully manifest the director's own believes about elderly couples within traditional conventions of a family life. And, obviously, Hitchock's daughter Patricia in the supporting role.Of course, among the cast, there is one exception from 'the British' yet, the one loved by the British public: MARLENE DIETRICH. It simply takes her that way and some people see the film solely for the sake of her presence. Yes, as 'the Laziest Gal in Town' with specific sexy laziness that only Marlene was capable of handling on the screen, she reveals the flamboyant and yet predictable aspect of her character, Charlotte. Her glamor goes with her terrific impact on characters around and audiences alike with, indeed, some other unforgettable climaxes than the song she sang for Hitchcock (and sang once more in Denver). She embodies sex with power, extravagance with manipulation, beauty with price.OLD ENGLAND: Along with the title and the locations, Hitchcock highlights something significant that may but does not necessarily remain in the background: peaceful, idyllic England that is forever gone with the old generation. We don't have haunting castles, some ghastly removed spots, foggy atmosphere and other clichés of the sort but a garden party, old cafés, theater basically ruled by classical approach, gentlemen of the old style and the post-war London where ruins also stand for social situation of the time. In this way, the film is 'dazzlingly stagy...far from frightening' (Crowther) but very pleasant to watch. And the last aspect:HUMOR is ever-present from the lovely scene of Doris Tinsdale in glasses through Hitchcock's cameo presence, Mr and Mrs Gill's tense interactions, some of Ordinary Smith's lines to the dark wit (for the time) expressed in Charlotte's line "I hate rainy funerals." Many clever lines make the film witty in an intelligent manner.STAGE FRIGHT is undeniably a movie worth seeing, another of Hitchock's powerful productions though it might not look like one. Worth seeing!