My Favourite Movies: Dial M for Murder

I’ve got a bit of a Hitchcock thing going ATM. I picked up a cheap box-set of 6 of his films (for an amazing £10) and went straight to two of my favourite examples – more on the second one at another time.

Anyway, Dial M for Murder was released in 1954 and starred Ray Milland as an aging ex-tennis star/ex playboy and Grace Kelly as his apparently dotting wife. Now my regular readers will know that the beautiful Grace was probably my first crush when I reached puberty – yes, I had great taste that far back! Anyway, if that wasn’t reason enough to watch this movie it’s also a very clever murder mystery thriller. You see Milland has discovered that his wife is actually in love with someone else and has decided to kill her off for her money – but he can’t do it himself of course. So he blackmails an old college chum to do it for him. Unfortunately for him it all goes wrong and she survives – I’m not actually giving too much away here as the best bits come after the attempted murder. The problem is that the husband had set up an elaborate plot to put the police off the scent – but now everything starts to unravel – not helped by the fact that his wife’s lover – a detective novel writer by trade – won’t let things stand and is constantly haranguing the police with wild ideas including one where the husband is actually the bad guy here…..

All in all this is masterfully done. I’m pretty sure that this must have started life as a stage play because of the way it’s filmed – almost entirely in the couple’s apartment and often from camera’s suspended over head as the follow the action from room to room. The lover – played somewhat over-the-top by Robert Cummings – is fairly disposable but Milland gives a good performance as the increasingly desperate husband/would be killer trying to put his perfect plan back together. Kelly is pretty much eye candy (something she does very well) and not much else is expected of her. The star of the show for me was the police Inspector played by John Williams who was very droll and obviously frighteningly clever. Of course what makes this film rise above the rest is the Hitchcock factor – the way it’s filmed, the intricacy of the plot and the way the whole thing hinges on the simplest of mistakes. I enjoyed it a great deal when I saw it again – probably for the 8^th – 10^th time a few weekends ago – and can recommend it to anyone who likes a well plotted and clever film. More Hitchcock to come…….