Dial M for Murder (1954)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Sophie B

  
  Another great and involving film from Hitchcock. Near perfect timing, fantastic acting and a brilliant narrative. At first I thought that revealing the murderer and his tactics would be extremely detrimental to the film, however as it went on the tension built up as although we knew… More
  Another great and involving film from Hitchcock. Near perfect timing, fantastic acting and a brilliant narrative. At first I thought that revealing the murderer and his tactics would be extremely detrimental to the film, however as it went on the tension built up as although we knew what had been planned, we didn't know what would actually happen. Definitely recommend!

• Alexander D

  
  Hitchcock at his best.

• Graham J

  
  The master of suspense does what he does best.

• Chris W

  
  This might sound a little odd or redundant, but this film is very Hitchcockian. It's also very, very British. And fun. It's very twisty and turny, and you kind of have to pay attention to follow it, but all in all, this is a first-rate thriller. The most surprising thing… More
  This might sound a little odd or redundant, but this film is very Hitchcockian. It's also very, very British. And fun. It's very twisty and turny, and you kind of have to pay attention to follow it, but all in all, this is a first-rate thriller. The most surprising thing about it all is how almost the entire film takes place in a single setting, yet, it really holds your interest and maintains a pretty high level of suspense and intrigue. I could have done with a bit more action and a little less talking, but that's an extremely minor gripe. The plot's been recycled many times since (dude plots to kill his wife, plan goes horribly awry), but none of those have been able, it seems, to match this one. Chalk it up to many factors, one of the biggest being Hitch himself. (and no, that was not a jab at his size). The performances are great, and I enjoyed the look. The music's pretty damn sweet, too. I will say that even though the film is good at holding one's attention, it still seems to be in need of being a bit tighter, so I'm torn on the rating. I'll give it a 5, but let's grade it as the most miniscule A- ever. Regardless of how I score it, go see it. It's awesome.

• Bob O

  
  It has many of Hitch's famous tropes: the perfect murder, the tortured blonde, and several macGuffins, yet somehow it lacks the visceral thrills of his other work. Adapted rather strictly from a play of the same name about a man's plan to off his adulterous wife, Hitch… More
  It has many of Hitch's famous tropes: the perfect murder, the tortured blonde, and several macGuffins, yet somehow it lacks the visceral thrills of his other work. Adapted rather strictly from a play of the same name about a man's plan to off his adulterous wife, Hitch compensates the film's one-room setting with many speculative re-framings and deep compositions. Still, this is the famous director cooling his heels as opposed to rolling up his sleeves. I did enjoy the story's consideration of details as vital to any crime (or investigation) as the gently wife-killer attempts to stay one step ahead of the police. Dial M For Murder is vintage Hitchcock, but more notably a preamble to his formula shattering greats of the later 50's and early 60's.

• Anthony L

  
  First off, the writing is brilliant - making it one of my favourite Hitchcock's. The opening scene with Ray Milland and Anthony Dawson discussing murder is just brilliant. Surely this film inspired Colombo? It even has the line 'Just one more thing'. What's with… More
  First off, the writing is brilliant - making it one of my favourite Hitchcock's. The opening scene with Ray Milland and Anthony Dawson discussing murder is just brilliant. Surely this film inspired Colombo? It even has the line 'Just one more thing'. What's with Tennis players though, I guess Hitch was a fan. Another brilliant Hitchcock thriller.

• Spencer S

  
  My first Hitchcock and a personal favorite, Ray Milland is unequivocally the master of the gentle Englisg accent with a hint of menace. The web of deceit and lies unravels slowly, peeling away the layers as Grace Kelly becomes increasingly scared of her now murderous husband, and her… More
  My first Hitchcock and a personal favorite, Ray Milland is unequivocally the master of the gentle Englisg accent with a hint of menace. The web of deceit and lies unravels slowly, peeling away the layers as Grace Kelly becomes increasingly scared of her now murderous husband, and her actions.

• AJ V

  
  Another really great Hitchcock movie, which I got to see in 3-D, and that was so awesome! Without the 3D it's still a good thriller.

• Film C

  
  i loved it i thought it was a very good and intriguing movie that keeps you guesing as to what is actually happening! another awesome story and well acted! Alfred Hitchcock is amazing!

• Lewis C

  
  Even the perfect crime can have one minor, overlooked detail that leads to the complete unraveling of the entire plan. The random quirks of chance can be the downfall of the cleverest man. That's the plot of Dial M for Murder, in a nutshell. I decided to make this my next… More
  Even the perfect crime can have one minor, overlooked detail that leads to the complete unraveling of the entire plan. The random quirks of chance can be the downfall of the cleverest man. That's the plot of Dial M for Murder, in a nutshell. I decided to make this my next Hitchcock film, because that's the kind of story that always seems to interest me. Well, the primary reason was that I'm in love with Grace Kelly, but the plot description was also appealing. Dial M reminded me of Rear Window, in a few ways. Most noticeably, the sparse (yet effective) action, and the use of a single apartment as the major setting for the film. In the hands of a lesser director, those two elements may have been a detriment to the overall quality. But Hitchcock once again works around them marvelously. It's not hard to guess the stage origins of this movie. It actually feels more like a play than a movie. And while that is in no way a negative, it does mean a lot of exposition. The story is explained to the viewers instead of shown, and because of that I cannot rate Dial M as highly as Psycho, Vertigo, or Rear Window. It's an interesting movie, and it's not hard to find yourself tense during nearly the entire last half. But the execution as a whole could have been better and less expository.

• Conner R

  
  One of my favorite Hitchcock films. It is completely brilliant in every way possible. The plot, the characters, the script, the set, directing, acting, etc. It all came together in this incredible film about unhappy couples. The black comedy aspect is faint, but it certainly seeps… More
  One of my favorite Hitchcock films. It is completely brilliant in every way possible. The plot, the characters, the script, the set, directing, acting, etc. It all came together in this incredible film about unhappy couples. The black comedy aspect is faint, but it certainly seeps through in this extravagant failed deception of Husband and Wife. I think it’s great that Ray Milland was so comfortable destroying the life of Grace Kelly to make some money after he found out she was having an affair. Right down to the end it has you guessing, a perfect example of why Hitchcock was the master.

• Jennifer D

  
  Lots of talk, little action. The details in the story was interesting, but got confusing. Grace Kelly: the saving point of this film

• Cassandra M

  
  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,… More
  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 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.

• Lady D

  
  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… More
  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 that certainly captures the era that the film was made in.

• Stella D

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

• Candy R

  
  Fave Hitchcock movie. Grace Kelly is excellent. Her husband plots to kill her.

• Veronique K

  
  a must-see hitchcock classic in 50s, and it features one of the best hitchcockian villain, ray milland as well as the stunning grace kelly as the hitchcockian icy cold blonde. this time the plotline begins with one of hitchcock's commonly favorite themes: murder on one's… More
  a must-see hitchcock classic in 50s, and it features one of the best hitchcockian villain, ray milland as well as the stunning grace kelly as the hitchcockian icy cold blonde. this time the plotline begins with one of hitchcock's commonly favorite themes: murder on one's spouse. ray milland plays the former tennis star who highly relies on the well fortune of his wife, angered by her infidelity, he schemes to blackmail his college acquaintance into slaughtering his wife. but the wife accidentally grabs a pair of scissors as self-defense, then the thug dies that forces him into entrapping his wife with muder-charged death sentence.... one of the elements on hitchcock's success is his thrust upon audience's intelligence and focused patience, and he hasn't altered any location of scenery in the whole flick, and all the plots all occur in one fixed tiny appartment which form the atmosphere of clausphobia. and his clever use of macguffin is upon the crucial drawback of this crime event, the key in grace kelly's handbag. the suspense is totally absorbed by the viewer while his attention is in quest of the key as hitchcock intends to manipulate. the showstopper in it is marvellous pro ray milland whose caculated composure savors his ruthless villainy with excellence. the scene he tricks a man into his apartment with murder proposal is brilliantly formidable, and from time to time, the complacent smirk upon his face gives him the adequate aura of an aloof villain. milland's character also confronts his final catastrophe with grace and fine humor like a good loser. as hitchcock always sympathesizes his villians, milland's wife-murderer also has a cause: marital unfaithfulness which resonates another classic hitchcockian trait: moral ambiguity. she cheats him first, then he schemes to kill her as an unworthy spouse.

• danny d

  
  this is a sensational film. it is incredibly simplistic in its art direction and sets as many of hitchcocks great films are, but the script was very complex and well thought out. this is the sort of film that could have slipped up and had too many holes to recover from, but i could… More
  this is a sensational film. it is incredibly simplistic in its art direction and sets as many of hitchcocks great films are, but the script was very complex and well thought out. this is the sort of film that could have slipped up and had too many holes to recover from, but i could find none. very detailed and smart and intricately woven. the only problem i could find is that there really arent any characters one could root for in this film. all parties are guilty, its just the less guilty that win in the end. one of hitchcocks best.

• Pierluigi P

  
  Hitch did it again in this gripping, superbly written and beautifuly staged murder mystery.

• Ken S

  
  Flawlessly executed

Read all 20 featured audience ratings