Dial M for Murder

This is a great murder mystery. Ray Milland is terrific as the cunning and manipulative husband out for the ultimate revenge. Robert Cummings seems a bit dim at first but then you realize he's just been taking it all in. Grace Kelly is just, well, she's Grace Kelly; elegant, beautiful, perfect. This movie introduced me to the talent of ay Milland. I watch this and "The Uninvited" together.

Do you really believe in the perfect murder? Tony Wendice (Ray Milland), a former tennis player, does. That is the reason why he decides that asking someone to kill his beautiful and very rich wife is a good idea.

But why kill someone just for the sake of doing so? Truth to be told, Tony is afraid that Margot (Grace Kelly) will ask him for divorce in order to marry Mark (Robert Cummings), an American writer she had a brief affair with after marrying Tony. Margot decided to stay with her husband, and is not aware of the fact that he knows about her past relationship with Mark, who happens to visit them when Tony decides he has to kill his wife. But how will he do it? And will he succeed?

If you really want to know the answers to those questions, and enjoy a well-paced thriller, watch "Dial M for Murder (1954). Enjoy it...

Belen Alcat

PS: "Dial M for Murder" was the inspiration for "A perfect murder" (1998), a film starring Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow.

If you are familiar with any of the Hitchcock masterpiece edition DVDs. This is about the same quality, good picture and sound. This is something you would find in a store, not a nock-off. No problems at at.

This is a highly intreging, cleaverly constructed thriller with fantastic, sometimes sinister performances from all 3 central players. (Grace Kelly is stunning as well as exuding a sultry innocence). The fact that it mostly takes place in one indoor location does not matter to me but the lack of action may not appeal to some. The film relies on intense, absorbing script which works on all levels and is thoroughly entertaining.
Hitchcock at his 1950s best!

Ray Milland schemes to knock off his lovely wife (Grace Kelly) in order to support his flagging bank balance...

His cause is "justified" by the fact that his wife is guilty of cheating on him...

Milland develops a carefully constructed murder plan, contacting Captain Lesgate (John Williams), an old college classmate operating illegal ventures, to whom he outlines his murder scheme and then blackmails into carrying it out...

The movie takes off from there as an intense character battle between three different characters... Tony, done by Ray Milland in outstanding performance, is icily intense and incredibly wild. He is easily the best of the three... Grace Kelly & Robert Cummings both pale in comparison, although Grace is slightly better, for the merely reason that her character is left for to do the least amount of truly suspenseful acting...

The murder is set up and is deliciously evil: The defining moment is when Ray Milland wipes clean every object he touches as he explains to Anthony Dawson how to carry out the murder of his adulterous wife, thus not incriminating himself... They discuss the closing of the screen door to the porch, the placement of the golden key, and the time it will take his woman to answer the distracting phone call...

Grace Kelly is the smart but vulnerable Margot... She begins her role dressed in bright crimson reds but as the film progresses and finds herself accused, her outfits become darker... Kelly is ingénue enough to be sympathetic but also tough enough to be respected... Her most memorable image was on the phone, oblivious to the assassin behind her...

Robert Cummings does not fare at all because of his comical face... He is the weakest cast member bringing so little to the table...

John Williams is excellent as the dangerous murder weapon tricked by a clever scoundrel... but he somewhere along makes one fatal mistake...

Anthony Dawson is absolutely brilliant, delightful as the eccentric Chief Inspector watching how the easy-talking husband is trying to cover his tracks... As soon as he arrives on scene to investigate the murder, there's an instant feeling of electricity... Here's a guy who can read human nature from a mile away... He takes compassion on Kelly, but unfortunately, the two don't partner up as in cop buddy movies...

The film, however, belongs to the sinister Ray Milland, the cold logic husband who designs the murder to look like a routine burglary gone wrong, and leads Scotland Yard into believing his wife is guilty of deliberate murder...

Milland, a genteel charmer with an icy murderous side, is perfect as Tony Wendice... If ever there was a demonstration of venality, Milland's Tony Wendice was it: courteous on the outside, devious on the inside... We see his cheery domestic manner with his wife... He blithely sends her out for the evening with her lover, then without breaking his stride sits down at the telephone and calls Swan, the man he intends to enlist for the murder... There is something chilling about the way in which Milland operates in these scenes: Once Swan arrives, the polite smile never leaves Milland's face as he switches gears from exchanging pleasantries to blackmail and murder.. The entire scene was shot from the ceiling...

'Dial M for Murder' holds its grip pretty well... Hitchcock provides the tension in many directorial tricks: Margot's unexpected change in plans for the evening; a hiding place for a key blocked by Mark at a critical moment; a stopped watch; an occupied telephone box; Margot's wavering hand holding the telephone that almost blocks Swan's access to her neck; Tony taking the key out of Swan's pocket and even briefing his wife what to tell the police...

'Dial M for Murder' is a classic stage murder thriller... It never reaches the heights that 'Rear Window' did, but it has to be one of the most brilliant stage thrillers ever written... The score, composed by Dimitri Tiomkin, is both eerie & precarious...

"Dial M for Murder" is a film that makes you pay attention. It is a definite must-see!