Dial M for Murder

I used to consider this second-tier Hitchcock, but a re-watch proved to me just how excellent the script and directing were, as well as how stellar and underrated both Grace Kelly and Ray Milland tend to be, at least presently, three generations after the fact. The suspense is tied tighter than the proverbial drum. Needless to say, to this day, I never keep scissors on top of my desk anymore...

John Chard

January 5, 2019

8/10

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. Middle tier Hitchcock it may be, by his own admission, but it's still one of the finest mystery thrillers around. Ray Milland plays Tony Wendice, a former tennis player married to Grace Kelly's Margot, who is the source of his wealth. Fearing his lifestyle is about to come to an end due to her dalliances with American mystery writer, Mark H…

barrymost

September 5, 2019

7/10

Just with a glance at the cast list and the knowledge that it's directed by the legendary film-making genius Alfred Hitchcock, you know it's going to be good. This taut, nicely-done thriller was originally filmed in 3D, though I wouldn't say it's any less effective when viewed normally. Ray Milland and Grace Kelly are both very accomplished actors, and are very enjoyable here. Watch for John Williams as Inspector Hubbard from Scotland Yard; he's like a British Columbo! The story moves along …

Jack

June 1, 2020

8/10

While this is not one of the most popular Alfred Hitchcock films out there, it is still brilliant. You can immediately recognise this film has Sir Alfred Hitchcock’s signature on it from the way the film is shot and its story is told. I did not know anything about the film before I started watching it and I am glad I did it. There were plenty of surprises to see me going to the end of the film. Would I watch it again? Possibly. Would I make my friends watch it? Definitely.

It is very obvious that this was written as a play. It is very heavy on exposition to cover almost all activities that take place outside of the "essentially" one room of the apartment. Nothing wrong with that, but it gives the film a different feel. This is more of an intellectual exercise than a action-packed murder mystery. It might have been better to have written Tony as a chess master than a former tennis star. It would have been a bit more in keeping with his plots and strategies. E…

CinemaSerf

November 21, 2022

8/10

This is definitely my favourite Hitchcock thriller. Adapted from Frederick Knott's equally enduring stage play; Ray Milland is wonderfully suave, debonaire and calculating as "Tony" who goes to some effort to enact the perfect murder to despatch his cheating wife (Grace Kelly). He hires petty crook Anthony Dawson to do the deed, but it all goes wrong and she ends up alive, well and leaving him with an unforeseen headache. Enter, in my view, the star of this film - John Williams ("Chief Inspector…