STAGE FRIGHT, based on Selwyn Jepson's novel, was adapted for the screen by Alfred Hitchcock's wife and frequent collaborator, Alma Reville. Hitchcock uses London itself as the stage for this story of an acting student forced to solve a murder. Young Eve Gil (Jane Wyman) is studying drama at the Royal Academy when she runs into an old friend, John Cooper (Richard Todd), who explains that he has been implicated in a murder he didn't commit. Cooper's affair with stage icon Charlotte Inwood (Marlene Dietrich) has made him a suspect in the death of Inwood's husband. Hitchcock used an actress as the protagonist in his 1930 film MURDER, but here, as a student forced by circumstance to truly learn the acting craft through real-life deception, the character of Eve can also be compared to Hitchcock's other accidental heroes, such as Cary Grant's Roger Thornhill in NORTH BY NORTHWEST. Eve must pose in many guises to get to the truth, and her nimble, multifaceted performance is commendable. But as the smoldering older diva, Marlene Dietrich's supporting role takes center stage.
