Movie #137 "Stage Fright" is a Hitchcock movie that has escaped me all these years. As it unfolded, I was liking the black and white photography, the opening that started the first minute with the heart pumping, and the idea that this young actress would put her skills to work to help her friend. Then, Marlene Dietrich made her entrance. I thought, I've seen her in a couple of films ---- she's never been a favorite, but surely she's better than this -------- so campy, so chewing up the furniture type of acting. Then, Hitch puts several musical numbers in this -----Dietrich singing -----yikes. The movie seemed to go on and on. I tried fast forwarding through the dull musical numbers, and the netflix got bolloxed up so I just had to sit through them to get to the Hitchcock end...........which WAS VERY GOOD. Wow, I can't remember reading about this movie at all when I studied Hitchcock, but the closeup of Jane Wyman's eyes at the end as the real story unfurls before her and she is in a life and death situation --- that she is no longer in her play world, but this is reality ---well, that made the film worth it. If it were all like this, well, it would have been "Birds" or "Psycho" ---but they can't all be that good, right? And this is not one of his best. And I don't think I have to see another Marlene Dietrich film again Not a fan.
Average rating: 3.577
I gave it 3 stars
Stage Fright
(1950) NR
Alfred Hitchcock takes Selwyn Jepson's novel, preserves all the thrills from the page and adds a dash of his own. Eve Gil (Jane Wyman), a drama student studying in London, learns that a friend, John Cooper (Richard Todd), has been implicated in the death of the husband of his lover, actress Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich). John has a plan to prove himself innocent, but needs Eve's help, not to mention her talent. Can they pull it off?
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