stage fright ( 1950 ) certainly isn not one of alfred hitchcock great film and but i like it quite a lot and in fact . from 1949 1950 and the master of suspense take a temporary break from hollywood film making and produce two uk production and the first be under capricorn ( 1949 ) and a fascinating but relatively unengaging melodrama with superb camera work . the second and a return to his standard narrative form after two noticeably experimental picture and be an adaptation of the story man run by selwyn jepson . with a wonderful british support cast and centre around hollywood star jane wyman and marlene dietrich and the film have a distinctly british feel to it and and not just because of the actor and set . hitchcock whimsical sense of humour and evident in a great many of his picture and be allow to permeate the traditional drama or romance storyline and and the film would certainly have felt comfortable alongside the ealing comedy of the late 1940s and early 1950s and many of which employ darkly comedic overtone . there something about jane wyman that immediately catch my eye while watch this film . behind her rosy cheek and timid eye and soft voice and there a certain innocence and vulnerability about her demeanour that really draw my sympathy . her character and eve gill and be basically a petty schoolgirl and drive by silly but unwavering aspiration to uncover the truth and and her delicate personality be punctuate by moment of stubbornness and and and indeed and some occasional bravery . i have never really take to actress marlene dietrich and and i find her distinct european accent and stunt line delivery to be rather distract while however and she do passably well a charlotte inwood and demonstrate an arrogant disposition that form a strong contrast with the mild personality of wyman character . as far a the male actor be concerned and strong performance be give by richard todd a the wrongly accuse boyfriend { for some reason or another and the irish actor remind me of joaquin phoenix } and michael wilding a the honest and romantic detective with whom eve inevitably fall in love and and alastair sim be a lot of fun a our lead lady loving and playful father . in compare alfred hitchcock film with those of his contemporary and it interest to note how the director make stunning and dynamic use of the camera . both rope ( 1948 ) and under capricorn ( 1949 ) have make pioneer use of long take and sweep the camera across the room with astonishing style and grace . for the first time and hitchcock { and cinematographer wilkie cooper } integrate these technique into a more traditional film making style and and multiple sequence play out in a single take while my favourite shot follow cooper ( richard todd ) through charlotte front door and and smoothly rise with him a he ascend the staircase . another interesting element to the film and which meet with much criticism upon it release and be the ingenious use of a false flashback and a cooper recount of past event be reveal to be little more than an elaborate lie . a the anecdote be explicitly treat a cooper own version of event and i see little dishonesty in hitchcock clever manipulation of the audience and and the final twist certainly succeed in take me by surprise though i probably should have notice something amiss when the romance between eve and smith begin to develop .