Spotlight

Spotlight Date: 10-February-08
Spoiler Rating: Medium

Stage Fright (1950)

The realm of legend can be tricky to navigate. Take the oeuvre of Alfred Hitchcock. I have considered myself well acquainted with his work for years, yet I never got around to "Stage Fright" and never fretted over the omission. I mean, this movie is not considered a standout on Hitchcock's résumé — but then again, he made so many great films that a good one might be crowded aside. Now I find that "Stage Fright" is a good one, about which I am delighted if not entirely surprised.

The movie's plot is merely the foundation for its real charms, which include excellent characters and a successful mix of suspense and humor. Like "Shadow of a Doubt," the overarching theme concerns innocence opposing evil. Eve (Jane Wyman) is an aspiring actress with doe eyes who comes to the rescue when Jonathan (Richard Todd), the object of her unrequited affection, asks for her help. He confesses that he has just become the accomplice of his lover, stage sensation Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich), who inadvertently killed her husband and put Jonathan in the role of prime suspect. Eve immediately begins planning to extract him from the clutches of the law and the conniving woman who used him ill, never doubting his blamelessness or the wisdom of getting involved. She is a determined child fueled by dramatic instinct, largely oblivious to the moral blackness around her.

Eve's first stop is the home of her eccentric old father (Alastair Sim), who, interestingly enough, does not live with his daughter and batty old wife (Sybil Thorndike). Instead, he holes up in a seaside cabin nursing dreams of being a smuggler. He absorbs Eve's situation with perfect composure and agrees to harbor the fugitive until she can figure out their next move. Throughout her subsequent schemes (tailing the police, bribing a maid, posing as a reporter) she manages to maintain her wide-eyed sweetness, which renders her both vulnerable and endearing. It also besots a detective from whom she tries to wheedle information about the murder case. The detective (Michael Wilding) complicates matters by being sexy as hell, far too sexy for his preferred moniker of "Ordinary" Smith. (Oh, I get it: it's irony.) The back-of-a-cab moment he shares with Eve is one of a very small number of movie scenes that actually sell the idea of two people suddenly falling in love.

Appropriately enough, Eve's attempts at hiding her old flame while amassing evidence against Charlotte Inwood (who, being a diva-cum-femme fatale, is staler than the others but riveting nonetheless) lead to a showdown at the theater. Is Eve's innocence shattered ... or brought to a horrible end? Does Smith forgive her for what she has done? Does her father's bright idea shed light upon the truth? I leave the curtain open upon the final scene. Rent "Stage Fright" and learn the answers for yourself. It is a worthy spectacle.

Copyright © 2008 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.