| Stage Struck | |
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Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Sidney Lumet |
| Produced by | Stuart Millar |
| Written by | Augustus Goetz Ruth Goetz Zoe Akins (play) |
| Starring | Henry Fonda Susan Strasberg |
| Music by | Alex North |
| Cinematography | Maurice Hartzband Franz Planer |
| Editing by | Stuart Gilmore |
| Distributed by | Buena Vista Pictures |
| Release date(s) | 22 April 1958 |
| Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Stage Struck is a 1958 American drama film directed by Sidney Lumet. The screenplay by Augustus and Ruth Goetz is based on a play by Zoe Akins, which served as the basis for the 1933 film Morning Glory starring Katharine Hepburn.
New Englander Eva Lovelace, an ingenue intent on conquering the Broadway stage, is willing to sacrifice everything, including her love for suave producer Lewis Easton, to achieve her goal. Her trials and tribulations ultimately lead to a moment of triumph when she successfully steps in for temperamental, Tallulah Bankhead-like leading lady Rita Vernon.
Filmed entirely on location in New York City, the film was produced by RKO Radio Pictures and distributed by Walt Disney Productions' then new distribution arm Buena Vista Film Distribution which replaced RKO as Disney's distributor.[1]
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In his review in the New York Times, A.H. Weiler opined, "the moviemakers . . . obviously are devoted people, whose emotions, unfortunately, rarely move a viewer . . . The fact is that the bare bones of the plot . . . do not constitute a great revelation in a sophisticated age . . . Susan Strasberg . . . is competent as the determined Eva Lovelace. She is petite and fragile and sometimes expressive but strangely pallid in a role that would seem to call for fire, not mere smoldering . . . Christopher Plummer . . . is restrained but effective. Joan Greenwood . . . is explosively emotional . . . and Herbert Marshall does well . . . It makes a nice show even if it is not stirring." [1]