2 JUNE 1950, Page 13

Mr. Alfred Hitchcock has ever had a flair for combining

suspense with comedy, and if, in Stage Fright, the suspense is barely notice- able and its suspenders unconvincing, the comedy has no defects whatever. Mr. Alistair Sim lugubriously, Mr. Michael Wilding whimsically, Miss Kay,Walsh brassily and Miss Joyce Grenfell uproariously provide the \spectator with a variety of spine-shaking laughs, and even Miss Jane Wyman who, with a face like a newly- opened marguerite, plays a straight part, touches die fringe of humour now and then. Mr. Richard Todd as the murderer strikes a less happy note, and one must, alas, bravely face the fact that Miss Marlene Dietrich, though still undoubtedly the loveliest grand- mother alive, strikes no note at all. We have, I think, outgrown glamour unsupported by any other props such as, for instance, acting, and Miss Dietrich seems, unbelievably yet undeniably, to be not a very good actress.

This is not one of Mr. Hitchcock's best pictures, but, it is, all the same, very good entertainment and leaves one in a happy gurgling