Le grand alibi

This is a fine movie by Director Hitchcock in which Jane Wyman shines as the aspiring stage actor trying to get to the truth of a murder. It is usually overlooked or forgotten in evaluations of Hitchcock's overall work. Wyman's friend Richard Todd is on the run from the police. In an effort to out the guilty party, she enlists the help of her father, played by the great Alastair Sim. She worms her way into the household of a far more accomplished actor, Marlene Dietrich, impersonating a servant. She also wins the heart of a police inspector, Michael Wilding. She is at the forefront of this entertaining little film as she changes wardrobes and accents, going back and forth from London to her country home. The cast is strong all-round and, in addition to the above, are the talented Dame Sybil Thorndike, Joyce Grenfell and Kay Walsh, not to mention Patricia Hitchcock, the director's daughter, who often performed very capably in his movies. The movie is a black comedy that moves along at a great pace, with interesting vignettes and the long takes that Hitchcoock used so effectively. The on-___location shooting in London gives the movie a reality missing in Hitchcock's earlier films. I liked this movie very much and with Wyman's acting and Hitchcock's direction, it works well.

black comedy that boasts great performances from Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Michael Wilding, Alistair Sim, Sybil Thorndike, Joyce Grenfell, Kay Walsh & Richard Todd. Great use of silent sequences, close ups, slow motion, black humor, and mood lighting, Hitch's most underrated talkie (Easy Virtue is is most underrated silent film), this murder mystery offers all kinds of plot twists and sly humor even though you know the outcome long before it unspools. It's irrelevent. Fun all the way, including the opening theatre curtain and the closing one (thump). Dietrich is a splendid bitch, and this may be the best performance Wyman ever gave. Also look for Everley Gregg, Patricia Hitchcock, Miles Malleson and Ballard Berkeley. Dietrich's final close up and the coach scene with Wyman and Todd are gems. Sim and Thorndike are hilarious, as is the always wonderful Grenfell as "Lovely Ducks." A Must See.

I don't think it is as good as North By Northwest and Rebecca, but Stage Fright was a great film, and this is coming from a Hitchcock fan. The photography is beautiful, and so is the music, making some scenes like the one in the taxi very touching. The script is well crafted, and while you think you know what's happening, the final solution is very unpredictable. My only complaint for the film was the last couple of minutes, the film just ended abruptly without a rounded finish or even a monologue. I liked the story, about a man who is accused of murder and a friend of his sets out to clear his name, it is well told, and doesn't have a sense of contrivance, and I did fear it would do. As for the acting, I had very little problem with it, Jane Wyman was perfectly alluring as Eve. Michael Wilding delights as "Ordinary Smith", and while he started off a tad wooden, Richard Todd was fine too. Two of the film's stars impressed me the most though. One was Marlene Dietrich, who was deliciously frosty as the stage actress and singer Mrs Winstead. I find Dietrich quite captivating, with her lovingly designed clothes, beautiful face and distinctive voice, I thought she was a great actress. The other was Alistair Sim, who I consider the best Scrooge ever, with George C. Scott close behind- he had some very funny moments, the most notable one being at the garden party and the doll stall. Even Hitchcock himself has a cameo 30 minutes into the film, as does his daughter Patricia. I didn't know until the end credits, that Kay Walsh, Nancy in Oliver Twist, played the maid. All in all, a very overlooked film, that is actually very clever. It isn't Hitchcock's best, but it is a very good film. 9/10 Bethany Cox

What a great flick. At times ill-paced, but the performances more than make up for it. What's not to love? Doe-eyed Jane Wyman shifts effortlessly between the roles of aspiring dramatist to lovestruck protectress of Richard Todd to infiltrating false maid of Marlene Dietrich. Managing also to string along Michael Wilding, as the ubercool Inspector "Ordinary" Smith, she might sound like some cold calculating wench who uses up people like Marlene goes through hats. But that wouldn't be strictly accurate. Her Eve Gill is sweet and naive, but her gentler qualities are tempered with a genuine acting talent that allows her to juggle identities with the slyness of a fox-chameleon hybrid. The scene at the garden party when she switches from Dietrich's cockney maid to Smith's innocent date with every turn is delightful.

It is the masterful presence of the great Alastair Sim, however, that makes Stage Fright one of Hitchock's most enjoyable to watch. Few actors have his ability of making the most average of dialouges sound like a powerful oration, and as Eve's doting father, he makes the movie. His Commodore Gill is always at the ready to harbor a fugitive, clip off a snappy witicism, or scrounge blackmail money for his beloved daughter. He is equally at home playing comic relief as he is to serving as the plot glue that makes Eve's capers possible. But live with his wife? Thank you, no! He is content to live on his boat. Whether he is staging an amusing diversion to aid Eve, dispensing sage bits of fatherly advice, or merely strolling out in public, the man bleeds coolness with every move.

Some can argue that Stage Fright gives but an average treatment to the usual whodunnit murder-suspense formula that Hitchcock (and countless others) have used. This is perhaps true. But compared to the whole lot of crappy facsimile suspense films made since 1950, Stage Fright is quicker to entertain than most.

Be sure to check it out if you want to see Hitch cast his own daughter Patricia in the supporting role of "Chubby Banister." Is that some kind of sick joke or was that name flattering in the fifties?

P.S.-- I can't watch Marlene Dietrich anymore and not be reminded of Madeline Kahn's Teutonic Titwillow. Is there some free therapy I can get for this?

With such an unusual set of components, it was probably inevitable that "Stage Fright" would be a little uneven, but most of it works well enough. By Hitchcock's standards, it's average at best, but it is still an entertaining movie with an interesting story and a number of good sequences.

Simply seeing the distinctive persona of Marlene Dietrich and the enjoyably unique style of Alastair Sim in an Alfred Hitchcock film would make for an interesting combination in itself. They are joined by a generally solid group of performers, with their own individual styles, and there are several characters who all get fairly sizable roles.

Hitchcock's own approach here is a somewhat surprising contrast from his usual style of story-telling, and some of the developments must have seemed even more unexpected to the movie's original viewers. Another aspect of this is that for much of the movie none of the characters really takes and holds the focus, and as a result there are times when it seems to lack some flow.

Yet there are a number of good points to it as well. There are plenty of the usual Hitchcock details that make things more interesting, and most of the cast members give good performances in themselves. Most of Hitchcock's movies are rather better than this one, but watching "Stage Fright" is still a better use of one's time than watching the weak present-day efforts in the genre.