Stage Struck is a 1958 American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 drama film

Drama film

A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...

 directed by Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet

Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...

. The screenplay

Screenplay

A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...

 by Augustus and Ruth Goetz is based on a play by Zoe Akins

Zoe Akins

Zoë Akins was an American playwright, poet, and author.- Early years :Born in Humansville, Missouri, Akins was educated in Illinois and later in St. Louis, where she began her writing career...

, which served as the basis for the 1933 film Morning Glory starring Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Hepburn

Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...

.

New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

er Eva Lovelace, an ingenue

Ingenue (stock character)

See also Disingenuous, which is not quite the antonym that it may seem!The ingénue is a stock character in literature, film, and a role type in the theatre; generally a girl or a young woman who is endearingly innocent and wholesome. Ingenue may also refer to a new young actress or one typecast in...

 intent on conquering the Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 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

Tallulah Bankhead

Tallulah Brockman Bankhead was an award-winning American actress of the stage and screen, talk-show host, and bonne vivante...

-like leading lady Rita Vernon.

Filmed entirely on location in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, 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.http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/disneys-forgotten-live-action-releases-1957-59.html

Principal cast

• Henry Fonda
  Henry Fonda
  Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
  
   ..... Lewis Easton
• Susan Strasberg
  Susan Strasberg
  Susan Elizabeth Strasberg was an American film and stage actress.-Background and career:Strasberg was born in New York City, New York, the daughter of theatre director and drama coach Lee Strasberg of the Actors Studio and former actress Paula Strasberg...
  
   ..... Eva Lovelace
• Joan Greenwood
  Joan Greenwood
  Joan Greenwood was an English actress. Born in Chelsea, she studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Her husky voice, coupled with her slow, precise elocution, was her trademark...
  
   ..... Rita Vernon
• Herbert Marshall
  Herbert Marshall
  Herbert Marshall , born Herbert Brough Falcon Marshall, was an English actor.His parents were Percy F. Marshall and Ethel May Turner. He graduated from St. Mary's College in Old Harlow, Essex and worked for a time as an accounting clerk...
  
   ..... Robert Harley Hedges
• Christopher Plummer
  Christopher Plummer
  Arthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
  
   ..... Joe Sheridan
• Pat Harrington, Jr.
  Pat Harrington, Jr.
  Pat Harrington, Jr., is an American voice, stage, and television actor most popularly known for his role as building superintendent "Schneider" on the CBS sitcom One Day At A Time. He is the son of Pat Harrington, Sr.- Biography :...
  
   ..... Benny
• Frank Campanella
  Frank Campanella
  Frank Campanella was an American character actor.Campanella was born in New York City, the son of Sicilian immigrants Mary O. and Philip Campanella, a musician. He was the brother of actor Joseph Campanella and spoke mostly Italian growing up; this proved useful during World War II, when he worked...
  
   ..... Benny
• Jack Weston ..... Frank

Principal production credits

• Executive Producer
  Film producer
  A film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
  
   ..... William Dozier
  William Dozier
  William Dozier was an American film and television producer and actor.He began in the film industry...
  
  
• Original Music
  Film score
  A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film, forming part of the film's soundtrack, which also usually includes dialogue and sound effects...
  
   ..... Alex North
  Alex North
  Alex North was an American composer who wrote the first jazz-based film score and one of the first modernist scores written in Hollywood ....
  
  
• Cinematography
  Cinematography
  Cinematography is the making of lighting and camera choices when recording photographic images for cinema. It is closely related to the art of still photography...
  
   ..... Maurice Hartzband, Franz Planer
  Franz Planer
  Franz Planer, A.S.C. was a cinematographer born in Karlsbad, Austria-Hungary ,-Biography:...
  
  
• Production Design
  Production designer
  In film and television, a production designer is the person responsible for the overall look of a filmed event such as films, TV programs, music videos or adverts. Production designers have one of the key creative roles in the creation of motion pictures and television. Working directly with the...
  
   ..... Kim Swados
• Costume Design
  Costume design
  Costume design is the fabrication of apparel for the overall appearance of a character or performer. This usually involves researching, designing and building the actual items from conception. Costumes may be for a theater or cinema performance but may not be limited to such...
  
   ..... Moss Mabry
  Moss Mabry
  Moss Mabry was a famed Costume designer who lived from . He started off designing costumes for his high school plays, but actually studied mechanical engineering at the University of Florida. He later went to Hollywood to attend art school, eventually signing a contract with Warner Bros....
  
  

Critical reception

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."

External links

• Stage Struck at Turner Classic Movies