Dial M for Murder
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Movie Reviews of Dial M for Murder
Movie Review: dial m for murder
Summary: 5 Stars
it was a dvd we had seen the play recently of dial m for murder and wanted to get the dvd . arrived quickly and great.Movie Review: Movie review
Summary: 5 Stars
VERY happy with the movie I received. The DVD was in mint condition and not one glitch throughout the movie! Thanks!Movie Review: Dial M for Murder--excellent purchase
Summary: 5 Stars
The DVD of "Dial M for Murder" was purchased and delivered quickly as described. It plays well. Great transaction.Movie Review: One of the Best!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is just a great movie! Considering that it takes place in one room, it is a masterpiece.Movie Review: Classic Hitchcock Thriller With Tension Filled Scenario
Summary: 4 Stars
Alfred Hitchcock wasn't called the "Master of Suspense", for nothing and while 1954's "Dial M For Murder", is probably not his best remembered work, the film contains so many wonderful elements that work together to make a great thriller that it deserves to be included in the pantheon of Hitchcock greats along with the likes of "Rebecca", "Rear Window", North by NorthWest", and "Psycho". Hitchcock has taken a story very much betraying it's stage origins and managed without opening it out greatly for the screen to create an intriguing story that would hold movie audiences attention. That is achieved despite the fact that apart from one or two brief scenes all the action takes place in a cramped apartment belonging to the characters played by Ray Milland and Grace Kelly. The way he manages to make the apartment and its outside stairwell an integral part of the action, with it almost taking on a life of it's own is pure Hitchcock genius that in the hands of a lesser director would have seemed purely claustrophobic. Working with his favourite actress in Grace Kelly, here all cool elegance but with a strong inner sensuality as was her trademark, Hitchcock is also totally at home with his favourite theme of well thought out murder and has a field day with the story and visual potential of "Dial M For Murder".
Based on the highly successful and often revived stage play by Frederick Knott "Dial M for Murder", could be described as an "elegant thriller", and is the type which sadly dont seem to be made anymore. We are first introduced to suave Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) a retired tennis pro used to living the high life with his elegant wife Margot (Grace Kelly). Tony discovers that Margo has been having an affair with American writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings), and fearing that a divorce might remove his source of income he plots to murder Margot, making it look like an accident. He cleverly black mails an old college acquaintance Charles Swann (Anthony Dawson), who is gulity of stealing money from the College, into committing the murder which Tony sets up so as to give himself a perfect alibi. However on the evening when the murder is due to take place when Tony manages to arrange for Margot to be home on her own while he and the unsuspecting Mark are at a function, everything goes wrong when Margot actually kills Swann with a pair of scissors while defending herself from his attack when she goes to answer the telephone. The unexpected result turns all of Tony's carefully laid plans upside down but he then immediately attempts to make things work his way by making it look like Swann was actually blackmailing Margot over an incriminating letter from Mark and that Margot killed him trying to retrieve it. Tony's master plan however starts to unravel when Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams), comes on the case and even after Margot is found guilty of murder and is to be hanged the tireless chief inspector teams up with Mark to prove at the eleventh hour that Margot only killed Swann in self defense. Through a brilliant web designed to trap Tony and prove he was the one trying to kill his wife the chief inspector closes in on his "prey", and it is through a simple latchkey and its duplicate that Chief Inspector Hubbard finally manages to trap Tony into incriminating himself and in revealing the whole horrid plan engineered by Tony to do away with Margot for her money.
Ray Milland had I feel one of his very best roles as Tony Wendice, the very charming villian who plans the perfect murder only to see it go rather messingly wrong. Milland began his Hollywood career playing goodlooking but rather bland leading men however in roles such as this he superbly displays his fine maturing talents for playing very likeable rogues. In "Dial M for Murder', I find myself almost rooting for him as the criminial investigation begins to close in on him, somehow hoping that he wont get caught out. Despite planning his own wife's cold blooded murder his character comes off the most interesting and multi dimensional of all the leads. His superb scene where he sets up the scenerio by black mailing Charles Swann really reveals Ray Milland's finely tuned ability to play a very likeable and suave villian even when he is plotting the murder of his wife. Grace Kelly had one of her most famous roles in this movie and once again the magic between herself and favourite director Alfred Hitchcok sparked with Kelly's cool patrician looks and demeanour combining perfectly with Hitchcock's style of directing. Her adulterous wife character first seems rather predictable and colourless however as she is dragged further into her husband's cold blooded plan that sees her almost sent to the hangman for the self defense murder of her husband's paid killer her Margot is given more dimension and inner strength. Grace Kelly always revealed more of herself than just the cool beauty under Hitchcock's direction and for her efforts here she was awarded the New York Film Critics Award. Robert Cummings as Mark Halliday has come in for the main flak for his rather uninteresting character which certainly is not entirely the actors fault although the viewer I'm sure has a hard time wonderign why Grace Kelly would forsake the devilishly elegant Milland for the character played by Cummings. Supporting performances in this small cast are few and th eonly one of note is the always excellent John Williams in his all important role of Chief Insp. Hubbard. A Hitchcock regular over many years, Williams brings the correct level of urbane charm and underlying determination to make a memorable and at times highly amusing Chief Inspector. Hitchcock was wise to not greatly alter the acclaimed stage play and he has preserved the most suspenseful elements in the play such as the ongoing saga of the latchkey and who is in possession of it's duplicates. Appropriate importance is placed throughout the film's running time by Hitchcock on this one key and it's importance as a clue that unravels the whole case finally for the Chief Inspector. Certainly among his other genius Hitchcock was always expert in displaying his cast and in particular his leading ladies to the best effect on screen and Grace Kelly really came into her own in this elegant colour production superbly made up and gowned so that she did look like a real life princess a few years before she actually became one. Dimitri Tiomkin's evocative score is also highly suitable for this very wordy thriller and reaches its emotional peak during the still disturbing and justly famous murder sequence in the apartment. Stunningly choreographed by Hitchcock it achieves what it sets out to do surprising the audience with the outcome they did not first expect backed up by tension filled music that heightens the drama.
"Dial M for Murder", would probably be seen by alot of modern audiences as too slow, too talky with not enough action however I think it's a superb thriller unique in the respect that for once the written word rather than the action creates the suspense. Grace Kelly's attempted murder scene still however packs a real punch and is probably one of the most well known and most often repeated sequences from any Hitchcock effort. "Dial M for Murder", has so much to recommend it to lovers of suspense from a veteran director in top form, to at least two leading actors perfectly cast in roles tailor made for them. Thrillers and investigation stories dont come much better than they do here and every lover of Alfred Hitchcock and his directing genius should have this superb film in their collections. Enjoy.