Rated: NR

Made in London, the overlooked and under-rated “Stage Fright” stars Jane Wyman as a stage-struck RADA student implausibly forced to play a real-life role in order to solve a murder. Marlene Dietrich is decidedly eye-catching as the jaded international singing star, with Richard Todd on the run as Wyman's former boyfriend.

The film offers frequent tickling diversions from great supporting players like Alastair Sim, Joyce Grenfell and Sybill Thorndike.

It's a comic charade, really — a whodunnit about role-playing and duplicity; even the flashback lies. Hitchcock later admitted to François Truffaut that this contributed to the suspense structure's not being up to his normal standard. But then again, the point of the film lies elsewhere