"Stage Fright" is an entertaining and mostly lighthearted mystery; perhaps its themes are less consequential than in other Hitchcock films, but it still delivers a good time. It utilizes its theatrical setting well, contrasting truth with artifice, and acting with reality. And its characters are interesting and well-developed.<br /><br />Musical-comedy star Charlotte Inwood's (Marlene Dietrich) husband has been murdered, and her lover Jonathan (Richard Todd) fears that she committed the crime and is trying to frame him for it. While he hides from the police, Eve (Jane Wyman), an aspiring actress who has a crush on Jonathan, poses as Charlotte's maid in order to get the evidence that will clear his name.<br /><br />At least, that's how things seemto us, and to Eve. But at the end of the movie, we learn that someone lied at the beginning, twisting the facts, and the real situation is different. Though this "lying flashback" is widely considered to have caused "Stage Fright"'s failure, it actually feels necessary to me. This movie needs a twist to distinguish it, or else it would be just an amusing but forgettable mystery.<br /><br />Perhaps the title is misleading: there's not a lot of "fright" in "Stage Fright." It's a modest but enjoyable movie that feels more akin to Hitchcock's low-budget British movies than his Hollywood spectaculars. As in "The Lady Vanishes," the heroine is a spunky brunette instead of a cool blonde; the hero (Detective Smith, played by Michael Wilding) is likable but not stereotypically "heroic" or dashing; and there are some good comic roles for British character actors. Alastair Sim and Sybil Thorndike are hilarious as Eve's crazy parents.<br /><br />Though Wyman is a bit too obviously American, she makes for an appealing heroine; it's especially fun when she has to switch between playing Eve and posing as the Cockney maid, Doris. There's a fascinating mash-up of talents at work when Charlotte sings "The Laziest Gal in Town": song by Cole Porter, husky vocals by Dietrich, costumes by Christian Dior, direction by Hitchcock. And though Dietrich's acting seems unconvincing at firstshe's best as a cool and implacable diva, not a distraught widowwhen you learn that the first scene was a lie, everything truly falls into place.