Dial M For Murder (1954)

Date Seen: 5/12/17

Score: 3.9/5

DIRECTOR: Alfred Hitchcock

PRODUCER: Alfred Hitchcock

STUDIO: Warner Brothers
SCREENPLAY: Frederick Knott
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Robert Burks

 

The opening credits

Are you looking for a movie that's 90% talking and 10% Grace Kelly looking hot? Then by all means, please watch Hitchcock's 1954 crime "thriller" Dial M For Murder. Or, if it would so please you, watch instead his other 1954 film, the masterpiece Rear Window, which ALSO has Grace Kelly, and gives her the chance to do much more than this film. 

Dial M For Murder is, certainly, an interesting film, but it's also one of those movies that should never have been made; it should have just stayed a play. Hitchcock is a master at mis-en-scène, yet he does very little with this film's visual sphere, leaving the master cinematographer Robert Burks to just do his thing with a limited set, dull looking men, and a general lack of color. It's not a very interesting film to watch if you're someone who likes Hitchcock for his visual style; it's also not really a good film to watch if you like him for his ability to thrill.

There is one really great scene in this film, and it's the scene in which Grace Kelly's Margot is attacked. It produces an effective thrill, and the complication of her husband's thorough plot to murder her is certainly interesting, at least temporarily. It's everything that comes after the attack that's really pretty boring. I found myself zoning out and confused at the attempt to solve the crime by the police detective (John Williams, but not that John Williams), and Margot's dull mystery-writer lover (Robert Cummings). It's always fun to watch Hitchcock's interpretation of the justice system, which never fails to be flawed and incompetent (hey, I know, let's let Grace Kelly's character off of death row for an afternoon to see if she really is innocent- if not, I guess we'll just execute her as planned). Yet in this film, it's less fun to watch the boys in blue in action, because it's basically just watching a bunch of men standing around talking and trying to verbally unravel a puzzle. If that's your thing, and your name is Raymond Chandler and you died in 1959, by all means, watch this film. If you are not a middle-aged man who enjoys listening to other men talk about crimes, watch something more interesting. This film barely even feels like a Hitchcock film.