Dial M for Murder
Directed by Alfred Hitchcock
A husband wants to murder his cheating wife because she's a cheating wife and she's rich so he concots "the perfect murder." At least he thinks it's the perfect murder. Of course when planning the perfect murder you never plan for the unexpected, like your wife killing the dude you hired to murder her. Well, that's exactly what happens in
Dial M for Murder.
The interesting thing with
Dial M is that Hitchcock tells you exactly what's going to happen then says to the audience "enjoy the ride." And it's a good ride. The fact that nothing goes as planned should doom the entire plot but that's when things get interesting. The husband did such a good job of setting everything up that even though it all went haywire he still stands to get away with it. All he has to do is...walk away.
Dial M is based on a play and you can tell. The majority of the movie takes place in one room. I enjoy these kinds of movies because when they're done well they can really showcase strong writing and good acting. This has both. I would say the weakest performance is Grace Kelly but honestly, who cares, she's not that bad and it's Grace Kelly. And it may not even be Graces fault. A lot of it has to do with the character just being one of those 1950's type of women that are kind of, I don't know, soft?
There are a few things that bothered me, mostly regarding police procedure. For example, there's no way would I let a cop just cruise over to my desk and start flipping through bank statements. Nope. Not happening. Also, one of the biggest
keys to the movie kept reminding me of the line from Dr. Strangelove where Col. Bat Guano says to Mandrake "You don't think I'd go into battle with loose change in my pockets, do ya?" Hopefully that makes sense to anyone who has seen this. Aside from that I enjoyed
Dial M. Not as much as
Rear Window,
Psycho or
Strangers on a Train but more than
Vertigo and
N by NW