Actors, Muderers, and British Theatre

For his 1950 film Stage Fright, Alfred Hitchcock returned to his native England to create a story of murder, detective work, and deceit in the theatre world of London. The film is based on the thriller short story Man Running written by acclaimed British writer Selwyn Jepson. The film features a marvelously talented cast along with the film debut of Hitchcock's daughter Patricia.

The film stars Jane Wyman as Eve Gill, a British born girl, educated in America, who is now training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) to become an actress. Her friend Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd) comes to her with a bloodstained dress, telling her his lover, the marvelously talented and incredibly famous actress Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich) has murdered her husband and pinned the blame on him. Eve is in love with Jonathan and so she agrees to help him, bringing him to her father Commodore Gill (Alastair Sim) to help smuggle him to safely. Then Jonathan destroys the dress, their only evidence of his innocence. To prove Jonathan's innocence, Eve pays off Charlotte Inwood's maid Nellie Goode (Kay Walsh) and uses her acting talent to be the Cockney Doris Tynsdale, replacing Nellie as Charlotte's maid during Nellie's supposed illness. While she is trying to prove Jonathan's innocence, Eve falls in love with Detective Wilfred "Ordinary" Smith (Michael Wilding), who is inches away from solving the case and exposing her. Eve must juggle the roles of being herself, a newspaper reporter, and Doris Tynsdale the maid.

This film uses the extra-long sequences, like many of Hitchcock's earlier film, but also introduces new cinematic ideas. In particular, this movie famed because it calls into question the credibility of flashbacks where in previous cinematic tradition, it was unquestioned that flashbacks were always truthful. Rather than being the absolute truth, the flashback shown at the beginning is a version of events, not the truth. Marlene Dietrich demanded that all of her clothing for the film be made by legendary fashion designer Dior and in turn, Dior demanded a credit in the film.

For some differing opinions on the movie, there are several reviews that can help guide you through. This review comes from screensavour.net, which has spoilers but discusses the historical and cinematic ramifications of the film. The site filmdefrance.com offers a synopsis and critique that will be more beneficial to tried and true Hitchcock fans who want to know more about the film in the context of its director. The website thisdistractedglobe.com offers a variety of kudos and criticisms of the film. For a brief, concise review of the film, look at this one from franksmovieblog. Stage Fright is a great example of a movie that has suspense, drama, a little romance, and some comedy thrown in for good measure.