No biz like show biz

Stage Fright

(1950)

Well, come on: Dietrich asked in the first few scenes to say "quarrel" and "au revoir," and then later we get to hear her sing Cole Porter's "Laziest Gal in Town"? Jane Wyman showing comic chops that, who knew? And Alastair Sim (his name misspelled in the credits!) auditioning for his Role of a Lifetime a year later. Oh, and a screenplay by Whitfield Cook (who also worked on Strangers on a Train the next year, here working from an adaptation by Alma Reville [Mrs. Hitch] of a novel by the prolific if obscure Selwyn Jepson) that is about as good as in any Hitchcock film (e.g., the romantic semi-dialogue between Wyman and Michael Wilding in the back of a moving car). A wonderful surprise.