Stage Fright - Alfred Hitchcock [DVD] [1950]

Description

In Alfred Hitchcock's world, theatres are where danger stalks the wings, characters are not what they seem, and that "final curtain" can drop any second. The droll "Stage Fright" springs from that entertaining tradition. Jane Wyman plays drama student Eve Gill, who tries to clear a friend (Richard Todd) being framed for murder by becoming the maid of flamboyant stage star Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich). Filming in his native England, Hitchcock merrily juggles elements of humour and whodunnit and puts a game ensemble (Alastair Sim, Sybil Thorndike, Joyce Grenfell, Kay Walsh and daughter Patricia Hitchcock) through its paces. Look out, too, for uncredited appearances from Irene Handl, Alfie Bass and Lionel Jeffries. No one turns a theatre into a bastion of dread quite like Hitchcock, and "Stage Fright" is proof positive...