Dial M for Murder

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  December 14, 2008

  stopitgoaway

  After earning an Academy award nomination for her performance in John Ford's 1953 tale of romance and adventure, "Mogambo", the beautiful actress Grace Kelly proved that she was way more than just a pretty face and that there was real talent behind her image. However, what truly ...( read more)took her career to new levels were three now classic films she made directed by the legendary Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock. Under his direction, Kelly made an integral part of the Master's films, becoming the perfect embodiment of Hitchcock's idea of a female protagonist. While Kelly debuted two years earlier in the classic Western "High Noon", one could say that it was Hitchcock who really introduced the beauty and talent of Grace Kelly to the world. "Dial M for Murder" was the first of Hitchcock's films with Kelly, and a movie where once again the Master returns to a familiar theme: the perfect murder.
  
  The movie is the story of Tony Wendice (Ray Milland), a former tennis player married to the beautiful and wealthy Margot (Grace Kelly) and living in an nice apartment in London. Life is good for Tony, until he discovers that his wife is cheating on him with an old flame of her, famous crime novel writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). After that discovery, Tony spends a whole years plotting the perfect way to murder his wife in order to inherit her money, carefully planning every detail of the crime. When Mark visits London again, Tony finds the perfect chance to set his plan in motion, and as planned, he recruits Charles Swann (Anthony Dawson) to kill his wife. However, bad luck and a sudden change of events will test Tony's plan's infallibility as, just as Mark points out, human action can originate flaws even in the most perfectly devised plan.
  
  Like most Hitchcock's films, "Dial M for Murder" was an adaptation of another art-form, this time a popular play by Frederick Knott. As Knott was also the writer of the screenplay, the movie remains extremely faithful to the play, although of course, not without its differences. Knott's script is wonderfully constructed, as like in the play, the dialog is witty and simply captivating, with many twists and turns that spiced up the complex plot and keep it from being boring or tiresome. An interesting feature of the movie is that oddly, there are no black and white morality in the characters, and it's easy not only to sympathize with Margot (despite she being cheating on her husband) but also to sympathize with Tony (despite he wanting to kill his wife), as the characters are wonderfully developed with very detailed personalities.
  
  It seems that Hitchcock's knows that the dialog is the highlight of the play, as he deliberately focuses on his actors and uses an elegant camera-work to frame the whole movie inside the apartment. The movie literally is shot entirely in one single room (only two other sets are used, and only briefly), but Hitchcock's classy way of using the camera allow a highly dynamic flow that never lets the movie be tiresome. This is also very helpful as Hitchcock just lets his characters keep speaking, carefully describing actions and events (when other directors would use flashbacks) in a similar way to a what the real play would be. While this approach could easily get boring, Hitchcock's use of colors and overall visual imagery simply creates the perfect medium to allow Knott's dialog to shine.
  
  Without disrespecting John Ford or Fred Zinnemann, I think that it was Hitchcock who finally could allow Kelly's talent to shine beyond her physical beauty. Grace Kelly makes her character shine with her subtle and restrained performance, specially showing her skill in the second half of the film. While often Kelly receives top honors in this movie, it is actually Ray Milland who makes the whole movie work with his suave and charming "villian". Milland's performance is simply terrific, making his character nice enough to win the sympathies of the audience, yet still frighteningly intelligent as the mastermind of the plot. John Williams appears as the Inspector in charge to solve the complex puzzle, and delivers a classic performance as the Enlgish gentleman decided to find the final answer. Only Robert Cummings seems miscast as Mark Halliday, although a lot of his weak performance could be blamed to Milland, Kelly and Williams overshadowing him with their excellent work.
  
  In many ways, "Dial M for Murder" shares many things with "Rope", as not only the two films are based on successful plays, they are also about committing the perfect murder and oddly, they are both "experiments": while "Rope" was conceived as a "movie in one take", "Dial M for Murder" was done as 3-D movie. Sadly, the interest in 3-D was dying when the film was released, so few theaters carried the movie complete with the gimmick; a real shame, as Hitchcock's use of the technology, unlike most 3-D films of its time, was conceived as a way to enhance the claustrophobia of the Wendices' apartment instead of using it to merely shock the audience with "stuff coming out of the screen" (as seen in for example, "House of Wax"). While not too fond of the gimmick, Hitchcock truly gave it a good and intelligent (albeit subtle) use to it.
  
  "Dial M for Murder" is probably less celebrated than the Master's most famous movies, the fact that it came out the same years as "Rear Window" (again with Grace Kelly) may have had something to do with it too. While a subtler and more restrained tale of suspense, this is still the Master at his best, as the movie proves that when he was at the top of his game, no other director was comparable to him.

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  August 12, 2008

  76Majikat

  Impressive! I enjoyed the reamking of this in 'The Perfect Murder' with Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow, so was intigued to watch the original.
  
  Filming most of this film in one place, is really creative on Hitchcock's part. It is all 'so terribly terribly British, but ...( read more)that certainly captures the era that the film was made in.

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• 
  
  June 23, 2008

  AgentLexi2132

  ''Do you really believe in the perfect murder? ''
  
  
  An ex-tennis pro carries out a plot to murder his wife. When things go wrong, he improvises a brilliant plan B.
  
  Ray Milland: Tony Wendice
  
  Grace Kelly: Margot Mary Wendice
  
  Robert Cummings: Mark ...( read more)Halliday
  
  This suspenseful thriller, this Dial M for Murder is a must see. Alfred Hitchcock yet again shows he was and still remains one of the first masters of film directing.
  
  The innocence of the stunning Grace Kelly, the acting of Ray Milland, and John Williams are very good. The details unfold beautifully as you view Dial M. The plot and premise is as old as the hills but nonetheless compelling and enthralling all at the same time.
  
  Meanwhile, another aspect of Hitchcock's films which makes them his own creation is his ability to keep the viewer glued and hypnotised without hardly any changes to the settings. This is apparent in Dial M For Murder, as in Rear Window, where most of filming is shot in a one room.
  
  It is these elements, which make a film undoubtedly Hitchcock's own, that leaves one to puzzle over why the man perceived it to be important to place himself in mostly all of his films. Vanity maybe? Perhaps it was just for the purpose of being witty or very cocky which compelled him to be so cheeky. On the hand it might have merely been a ploy to encourage the audience, or viewer to pay more attention and try and spot him.
  
  As to the plot of the film Dial M for Murder itself, I think it is very clever with brilliant dialogue. Also containing so many twists in Dial M that the viewer is completely led in circles by the director. Aside from the brilliantly constructed plot, the suspense and build up is astounding. Hitchcock also is in control of the actors like puppets on a string and deftly unravels the crime.
  
  This should not be overlooked because of Hitchcock's bigger, more familiar films, as Dial M for Murder is without a doubt one of his best.

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• 
  
  June 12, 2008

  wellmeetagain

  Top shelf Hitch. Highly recommended even without 3D glasses.

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• 
  
  February 4, 2008

  rubystevens

  ray milland is brilliant in this, just not quite as brilliant as he thinks he is lol

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• 
  
  November 17, 2009

  killantzb4itzl8

  Very clever screenplay.
  A Hitchcock masterpiece highly recommended.
  
  Margot Mary Wendice: Do you really believe in the perfect murder?
  Mark Halliday: Mmm, yes, absolutely. On paper, that is. And I think I could, uh, plan one better than most people; but I doubt if I could carry i...( read more)t out.
  Tony Wendice: Oh? Why not?
  Mark Halliday: Well, because in stories things usually turn out the way the author wants them to; and in real life they don't... always.
  Tony Wendice: Hmm.
  Mark Halliday: No, I'm afraid my murders would be something like my bridge: I'd make some stupid mistake and never realize it until I found everybody was looking at me.

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  November 15, 2009

  Yelverton

  This movie will keep you on the edge of your seat.

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  November 5, 2009

  slavescreams

  so good, puts most modern films of this kind in the dark.

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• 
  
  October 28, 2009

  KESSLER72

  a pretty enjoyable HITCHCOCK suspense flick that i bet will grow on me even more with future viewings. RAY MILLAND is excellent and GRACE KELLY is sexy!! I can't blame the man for wanting to kill the cheating bitch!!

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• 
  
  October 12, 2009

  MightySparks

  I put this off for a while because it seemed gay and I hate Grace Kelly. She wasn't actually too bad in this, but whatever. Like most old movies, I was kind of bored for the first 30 minutes, but once it started it was quite good. Annoyingly, the ending was predictable as any mov...( read more)ie, which annoyed me, because 1) I hoped that Grace Kelly would die anyway and 2) the main dude would get away with it (can't frickin' remember his name now).

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• 
  May 9, 2008

  GJDWriter

  One of Hitchcock's Best!
• 
  December 2, 2007

  GeorgeBailey88

  This is a film that could be studied in film classes. The character build-up mixed with brilliant camera direction makes this a notable Hitchcock film. Grace Kelly gives what I consider to be her best performance in a Hitchcock film next to To Catch a Thief and Rear Window.
  
  Ray Milland and John Williams are perfect opposites for this investigation that takes place. Both underrated performances.

• Ray Milland
• Grace Kelly
• Robert Cummings
• John Williams (II)
• Anthony Dawson
• Leo Britt

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No facts approved yet. Be the first

• Name the original movie (staring Ray Milland and Grace Kelly) who's remake (A Perfect Murder) stared Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen.  Answer »
• Which Hitchcock movie, starring Ray Miland and Grace Kelly, was originally filmed in 3D, but only received a very limited release as a 3D movie?  Answer »
• Name the Hitchcock film from the plot summary: An ex-tennis pro plots to murder his wife.  Answer »
• What film starring Gwenyth Paltrow, Michael Douglas and Viggo Mortenson is a remake of 'Dial M for Murder'?  Answer »

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