These are two Belgian posters for 1950s Alfred Hitchcock movies.

Stage Fright (1950) is not considered one of the greatest Hitchcock movies, by any means. But it does have one very interesting narrative conceit (look away now, spoiler alert!) – the flashback that lied. Jane Wyman spends most of the movie helping Richard Todd escape the police for a murder he apparently did not commit, only to be revealed at the end that he did it, and had been lying all along! Marlene Dietrich also memorably appears as his lover, and is featured in the poster.

I Confess, from 1953, stars the great Montgomery Clift (an actor with the curious honour of having a song written about him – by The Clash, no less) as a conflicted Catholic priest. It has some interesting inverted narrative parallels with Stage Fright – this time around, rather than the ‘hero’ who freely lies, the protagonist is morally unable to tell the truth. The subject matter – Catholic guilt – was close to Hitchcock’s heart, but again the film is not considered one of his classics

These are two of a number of vintage Belgian posters for Hitchcock movies I bought last year. Most I had originally planned to sell off, including both these as they came in a rather battered condition. I Confess is for sale here. The Stage Fright poster (see above in its original condition) however has cleaned up nicely after some careful tape removal and smart framing to conceal the scribbled writing at the top. It reminds me somewhat of my Marnie poster in that Hitchcock himself features prominently. So rather than heading to eBay this is now going up in my office!