STAGE FRIGHT: Blu-ray (Warner Bros. 1950) Warner Archive

Alfred Hitchcock’s Stage Fright (1950) is a convoluted English charmer that seeks to recapture something of the flavor of Britain's music hall with a murder thrown in for kicks. Rarely has Hitchcock’s attention to comedy and suspense been more seamlessly blended than in this minor - if narrative flawed - effort. Selwyn Jepson's novel 'Man Running' is the inspiration for the film, scripted by Whitfield Cook, Ranald MacDougall, Alma Reville and James Birdie. Personally, I have always sincerely enjoyed Stage Fright as a wonderfully atmospheric, if slightly 'inferior' masterwork from Hitchcock's Warner Bros. period. Today, the films Hitchcock made at that studio are not as well-regarded as those done just prior, at Selznick International in the early 1940’s, or the rest he would continue to churn out with staggering star-studded efficiency over at Paramount, and finally, Universal from the mid-1950’s onward. Yet, Stage Fright is a clever enough movie with finely wrought performances to make us forget what we are shown in the first five minutes is a colossal lie, not perpetuated by the characters, but by Hitchcock, hoping to pull the wool over our eyes just long enough to get his spectacular prowess as a storyteller in without any reservations on the part of the audience. It’s a cheat, however, and knowing this, in retrospect, slightly diminishes our appreciation for the movie in totem. Not that any movie – much less, one made by Hitchcock, and, to star Marlene Dietrich, could ever be dull. And Stage Fright never is. But it does run into its share of confusing little episodes, never to be entirely squirreled away, rather to carry on with Hitch’s misdirection until, at last, we can step back and admire the picture, exclusively for its craftsmanship, and then, the other star turns put forth. Jane Wyman, Richard Todd, Alastair Simms and Michael Wilding are superior talents. Wyman, fresh off her Oscar win for Johnny Belinda (1948) is miraculous as the lovelorn ‘green’ girl who cannot see past the indiscretions of the man she pines to have as her own. Todd’s psychotic is bone-chilling, while Simms and Wilding bring up the rear as comic relief.

All the elements are in play for what ought to have been another peerless Hitchcock thriller. Indeed, Hitchcock was most enthusiastic about the project as it returned him to his Anglo roots, partly to be shot abroad and on the Warner backlot, but cleverly to give post-war audiences their first real opportunity to see London in all its crumbling decay and post-war reconstruction – a wan ghost flower of its former glory.  Hitchcock had arrived in Hollywood just prior to the nation’s borders being closed to international travel, leaving family and friends behind. He returned, having conquered both sides of the Atlantic, and ready to revisit the city from his youth. Our story opens with a problematic flashback. Stage diva, Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich) arrives at the London flat of her lover, Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd), presumably, after just having murdered her wealthy husband. There is blood all over the front of her dress. And Jonathan, severely smitten with this seemingly calculating black widow, quickly accommodates her with a change of clothes and by burning the evidence, even as police descend upon him. Alas, everything we have just seen is a MacGuffin – a deliberate fib, narrated by Jonathan to throw the audience off of his crime of passion. Enter Jane Wyman as Jonathan's loyal friend, Eve Gill. A student of drama who is desperately in love with him, Eve is determined to get to the bottom of things. She enlists the help of her divorced father, Commodore Gill (Alastair Simms) who is highly suspicious of her would-be lover’s motives. Indeed, love has blinded Eve to at least one truth – Jonathan is too star-struck and obsessed with Charlotte to give a damn about her. So, the Commodore and Eve decide to play a dangerous game of cat and mouse with Charlotte, testing Jonathan’s theory of the crime.

Against her father's strenuous objections, Eve masquerades as Nellie Good, a common house maid brought into Charlotte's employ, only to discover the actress is currently having an affair with her agent, Freddie (Hector McGregor).  Meanwhile police inspector, Wilfred Smith (Michael Wilding) has grown quite fond of Eve. Moreover, he believes her trusting nature is shielding the real killer. As Eve and Wilfred's relationship ripens, he tries to convince her Jonathan's story does not add up. But Eve will have none of Wilfred's alternative theories - at least, none he cannot prove beyond a shadow of a doubt. Gradually, the pieces begin to fall into place. Pursued by the police, Jonathan enlists Eve to help him hide. She shields him from immediate discovery beneath the stage at the theater, only to discover much too late, Jonathan has made the whole story up. Charlotte never came to his flat. She was not stained in her husband’s blood. She killed no one. The maid who discovered Jonathan fleeing from the Inwood’s fashionable townhouse actually did see Jonathan alone, as he and no one else was responsible for the cold-blooded murder of Charlotte’s husband. And Charlotte is not even guilty of an affair that might have encouraged Jonathan to take such drastic actions. In fact, she knew nothing of the breadth of his obsession for her. So, Eve has loved a ghost. Worse – a murderer, who now must do away with the one loose end who knows the truth – Eve! Mercifully, Wilfred and his men close in before the inevitable can occur. Panicked and crazed, Jonathan makes a daring break for the theater’s rear exit. He is felled by the heavy fire door, dropping from above, to severe him in his tracks. Deeply distraught, but ever wiser, Eve goes off with Wilfred – infinitely more her speed and temperament.

Whatever its flaws in narrative craftsmanship, Stage Fright is wonderfully atmospheric. The picture features a Cole Porter tune expressly written for Dietrich, ‘The Laziest Gal in Town’ – inimitably performed by the sexy star and forever thereafter to become a part of Dietrich’s live one-woman shows. Dietrich also begins to warble Edith Piaf's ‘La Vie En Rose’ in a cleverly timed vignette, in which the Commodore coaxes a Boy Scout to approach Charlotte while she is performing during a flower show, producing a doll with a blood-stained dress.  Ironically Dietrich, who was one of the most proficient, but demanding of stars, never clashed with Hitchcock; also, famous for being an exacting professional.  Questioned on how the two got on during shooting, Hitchcock drolly replied, “Everything is fine. Miss Dietrich has arranged the whole thing. She has told them exactly where to place the lights and how to photograph her." Some years later, Hitchcock drolly reasoned, "Marlene was a professional star. She was also a professional cameraman, art director, editor, costume designer, hairdresser, makeup woman, composer, producer and director.” If Dietrich did have an aversion toward anyone while shooting this movie, it was Jane Wyman, whom she regarded, if not comparable to herself in terms of glamour, then distinctly a threat as an actress. Although Dietrich’s reception toward Wyman remained frosty, affording her costar no opportunities to discuss scenes or otherwise socialize, the women did their work respectively as professionals.

Stage Fright was originally intended to be made by Hitchcock’s indie company, Transatlantic, responsible for producing 1943’s Shadow of a Doubt, 1948’s Rope, and 1949’s Under Capricorn – all under distribution through Warner Bros. As the failure of that latter movie had put a minor financial strain on Hitchcock, he relented, selling Stage Fright outright to Warner, along with his services; a fruitful alliance to directly dovetail into a 3-picture deal with WB, resulting in three irrefutable classics: Strangers on A Train (1951), I Confess (1953) and Dial M for Murder (1954).  Hitchcock would later return to Warner Bros. to make The Wrong Man (1956) – the least successful of his collaborations with the studio. Since his earliest days in picture-making, Hitchcock’s cameo appearances had become a main staple, much beloved by audiences. In Stage Fright, the master appears a full 39-mins. into the plot, casting a disparaging glance at Wyman’s Eve as she rehearses her scripted introduction to Charlotte, presenting herself as the replacement ‘hired help’. One of only two films Hitchcock made in England after becoming an American director (1972’s Frenzy being the other), Stage Fright has been rather dismissively misrepresented by the critics as a footnote in the director’s illustrious career. Yet, Stage Fright is a far more intricate and satisfying movie than most give it credit. Hitchcock concocts some genuinely brilliant sequences, including the aforementioned moment when Commodore Gill bribes a Boy Scout with the blood-stained doll. In the final analysis, Stage Fright is a good solid thriller predicated on a gargantuan piece of misdirection. It is not the greatest Hitchcock movie – not by a long shot. But it represents the master at, perhaps, his most daring, a only Hitchcock could flat out lie to his audience and almost get away with it! Besides, second-tier Hitchcock is usually better than A-list everybody else.

Warner Archive’s (WAC) Blu-ray of Stage Fright has been grotesquely overdue. This one sports another excellent effort from the archive, sourced from a 4K scan of the original camera negative, with a considerable leap in image quality. Gone are the murky tones, replaced here by a gorgeous B&W image with razor-sharp clarity and superbly wrought contrast. Textures in skin, hair, clothing, etc. are revealed throughout with wonderfully film-like grain factored in. There are no age-related artifacts to speak of. The DVD release suffered greatly from these. And the gray scale here is nuanced with more refined blacks, a gamut of grays and whites that are pristine rather than dingy as they once appeared on the DVD. The light smattering of edge enhancement that afflicted the DVD also is gone. The DTS 2.0 mono audio is solid. Ported over from the DVD - a brief featurette on the ‘making of the movie’. Bottom line: Stage Fright is a valiant Hitchcock thriller whose singular narrative flaw never proves fatal. A great way to cozy up in front of the TV on a cold winter’s night – with the master of suspense heating things up in a classic ‘classy’ way. Highly recommended!

FILM RATING (out of 5 - 5 being the best)

4

VIDEO/AUDIO

4.5

EXTRAS

1