Stage Fright

Released Apr 15, 1950

1 hr. 50 min.

Mystery & Thriller

List

92%

24 Reviews

Tomatometer

68%

5,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

The police think actor Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd) is a murderer, and now they're on his tail. He asserts that it was his lover, the famous actress Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich), who killed the victim (not coincidentally, her husband). He seeks shelter with his ex-girlfriend Eve (Jane Wyman), a budding actress. Convinced Jonathan is innocent, Eve plays detective and assumes multiple disguises. But once she is entangled in a web of deception, she fears everyone in fact wears a mask.

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David K

I love Hitchcock. But, this one leaves me flat. Not a great sense of suspense but it does have a twist. The question is whether that is enough to hold interest. Not really for me. Maybe it's because my expectation of Hitchcock has been shaped from all of his great films from "The Lodger" to "Psycho". Hey, no one's perfect.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

05/18/23

Full Review

Liam D

One of Alfred Hitchcock (Topaz, Saboteur) more underseen movies a film noir that has an intriguing mystery surrounding it

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

11/06/22

Full Review

Murty C

This I loved this film - a quintessential Hitchcock murder mystery. It features marvelous camera work, and exceptional direction and editing which create many suspenseful moments where you wait with bated breath. The stellar cast is headed by Jane Wyman (who plays a young aspiring actress named Eve Gill) and Marlene Dietrich (who plays an established stage star, Charlotte Inwood) and an ensemble of fine character actors such as Alastair Sims (who plays Commodore Gill, the father of Eve Gill) and Sybil Thorndike (the separated mother of Eve). The plot involves a young male romantic interest of Eve, Jonathan Cooper (played by Richard Todd) who is shielding Charlotte Inwood in the murder of her husband and it is Eve's job to shield Jonathan. This involves sleuthing around in the guise of a substitute maid to Charlotte, which creates many twists and turns including the entrance of detective Wilfred "Ordinary" Smith (played by Michael Wilding). Everybody does their job superbly, a testament to Hitchcock's skill. Another wonderful aspect of this movie is how well Hitchcock handled scenes featuring multiple important characters - it is magical. Get out your popcorn and enjoy this perfect Saturday matinee!

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

06/15/22

Full Review

stu b

Not the most celebrated of HItchcock's films, but an ultimately satisfying thriller nonetheless. Marlene Dietrich stars as an acclaimed London actress who murders her husband and then frames her lover for the crime...which prompts the lover's earlier girlfriend, a young ingenue still attending drama school, to go deep undercover in an effort to trick Dietrich into confessing. Well-acted by all--pay particular attention to Alastair Sims' enormously entertaining turn as the ingenue's willing-to-do-anything father--and much more light-hearted than most of the master's films, but chockful of suspenseful moments, too. The ending will leave you gasping--rarely has a thriller led its audience down the proverbial garden path as skillfully as this one--and you'll probably want to view it a second time (and maybe even a third) to see what you may have missed. With Richard Todd as Dietrich's lover, Jane Wyman as the girl, and Michael Wilding as the police inspector who falls for her. Hardly a masterpiece, but still a treat.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

06/08/22

Full Review

alan z

I think this movie was ahead of its time, finally getting the respect on here that it never got in 1950. It was also a revelation that Jane Wyman could be sexy, despite being Mrs. Ronald Reagan at one time.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

j m

The plot is hard to follow, but stuff like Hitchcock's memorable cameo makes this film better.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

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Alfred Hitchcock

Director

Jane Wyman

Eve Gill

Marlene Dietrich

Charlotte Inwood

Richard Todd

Jonathan Cooper

Michael Wilding

Ordinary Smith

Kay Walsh

Nellie Goode

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Jake Wilson

The Age (Australia)

This 1950 thriller is minor only by the standards of genius.

Oct 26, 2018

Full Review

Richard Brody

New Yorker

Hitchcock conjures a deep-rooted, irony-rich complicity of father and daughter that seems borrowed from the films of Howard Hawks and suggests the inner compass that helps to guard against chasing the wrong man.

Mar 10, 2014

Full Review

Variety Staff

Variety

Wyman is delightful as embryo actress but the choice femme spot goes to Dietrich.

Feb 4, 2008

Full Review

Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

It is a thriller in which Hitchcock, with the surgical precision of his aesthetic, builds a twisted murder mystery based on suspicion, deception and false clues that point in wrong directions where nothing is what it seems. [Full review in Spanish]

Rated: 7/10

Jan 14, 2024

Full Review

Mattie Lucas

From the Front Row

The tale of dueling actresses allows Hitchcock to playfully layer deception upon deception, culminating in a twist that, while not particularly well received at the time, is one of the film's most remarkable elements.

Rated: 3/4

Mar 23, 2022

Full Review

Matt Brunson

Film Frenzy

Lesser Hitchcock? Hardly.

Rated: 3/4

Jan 29, 2022

Full Review

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Synopsis

The police think actor Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd) is a murderer, and now they're on his tail. He asserts that it was his lover, the famous actress Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich), who killed the victim (not coincidentally, her husband). He seeks shelter with his ex-girlfriend Eve (Jane Wyman), a budding actress. Convinced Jonathan is innocent, Eve plays detective and assumes multiple disguises. But once she is entangled in a web of deception, she fears everyone in fact wears a mask.

Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Executive Producer: Richard Cooper, Wayne Wong
Screenwriter: John Loughlin, Kurtis Rintala
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
Production Co: Iceman Productions, EBS Los Angeles
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 15, 1950, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Aug 15, 2008

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