Stage Fright is a film drama from 1950 directed by the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. This is the story of a man who is accused of murder and a friend who wants to help prove his innocence!
A struggling actress Eve Gill (screen legend Jane Wyman, The Yearling, The Lost Weekend) tries to help a friend that she is in love with Jonathan Cooper (Richard Todd, House of the Long Shadows) prove his innocence after he’s accused of murdering the husband of Charlotte Inwood (the iconic Marlene Dietrich, Witness for the Prosecution, Destry Rides Again, Desire) a singer/actress living in high society. Cooper was having an affair with Inwood, and it’s believed that she killed her husband as there was blood on her dress. Eve decides to investigate for herself, but when she meets detective Ordinary Smith (Michael Wilding, The Egyptian) she finds out not only the truth about the murder, but also falls for Mr. Smith.
Stage Fright is another classic, but my only critique is that I felt it was a bit overlong. The film’s cast includes a pair of screen legends in Alastair Sim (A Christmas Carol) in the role of Eve’s father, Andre Morell (Cash on Demand, She) as an inspector, plus Alfred Hitchcock’s daughter Patricia playing Chubby Bannister. Alfred Hitchcock himself can be seen around the thirty-nine-minute mark in his usual cameo. The climatic chase scene was well-done. Wikkie Cooper’s cinematography also is masterful as his work contributes to capture the mood of the film.
Given a brand new 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative, Stage Fright has finally arrived on Blu-ray thanks to the Warner Archive Collection. The video quality for this release is as one would expect, top notch, looking clean and polished with strong amounts of fine details and rich textures that should satisfy fans of the film. Near the end of the film there are a couple of juddery frames for whatever reason. Outside of that, this is a clean, sporty black and white image. No DNR appears to have been applied for this release.
Warner Archive’s DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio is also excellent with crisp, clear dialogue throughout the audio presentation. The great soundtrack by Leighton Lucas is also quite pleasing without coming in aggressively. Optional English (SDH) subtitles are available for this offering.
The extras for this release include the Hitchcock and Stage Fright documentary where various actors and directors talk about Stage Fright and other Hitchcock works around this era and a theatrical trailer, both of which came from the 2004 DVD release.
This is another superb release from Warner Archive with outstanding audio and video quality for this fine film, that any fan of Alfred Hitchcock should have in their movie collection. Highly recommended!
Stage Fright (1950)
Director- Alfred Hitchcock
Cast- Jane Wyman, Marlene Dietrich, Richard Todd
Country of Origin- United Kingdom
Distributor – Warner Archive/Warner Home Video
Number of Discs – 1
Reviewed by – David Steigman
Date –2/14/2022