Dial M for Murder 1954

     This film is adapted from a Broadway play opening at the Plymouth Theater in New York on October 29, 1952 and ran for 552 performances.  Mark Halliday had a brief affair with Margot Mary Wendice.  Mark is an American writer and Margot is wealthy and she lives in London with her husband Tony Wendice.  He was formerly a professional tennis player.  He quit the circuit to spend more time with Margot and he found a regular job with less travel.  Mark wrote Margot many letters and she burned all of them except the last letter she received.  Her purse was stolen at Victoria Station and she was able to get the purse back to weeks later at lost and found.  This letter was the only item missing from the purse?  She receives a blackmail note asking for 50 pounds for the letter to be returned to her.  She mails the money but she doesn’t receive the letter?  Mark flies from America to visit the couple.  Margot tells Mark about the letter and also that Tony has become a better husband since he quit tennis.

     This is a very complex film and you don’t know how it’s going to turn out??  After Mark arrives, Tony asks him to attend a stag party with him.  Margot originally planned to attend a movie alone but Tony talks her into staying home and organizing his press clippings from tennis.  While she’s at home, a man attacks her from behind and he attempts to strangle her?  This incident sets the movie in a different direction.  4* (I really liked this movie) 

    

105 min, Crime directed by Alfred Hitchcock with Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams, Anthony Dawson, Leo Britt, Patrick Allen, George Leigh, George Alderson, Robin Hughes, Sanders Clark, Jack Cunningham, Robert Dobson.

Note:  Imdb 8.2 out of 10, 88% critic 92% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 638 reviews, Slant Magazine 3* out of 4*, TCM Leonard Maltin 3* out of 4* average user review 4.34* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed at Warner Brother Burbank Studios, California.  The budget was estimated at $1.4 million with a worldwide gross of $6 million.  Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant to star but Warner Bros felt he would be miscast in the role of Tony.  Grace Kelly is dressed in bright colors at the beginning of the film and they become progressively darker.  Hitchcock wanted to film to have the feeling of claustrophobia so most scenes were shot indoors.  Ranked #9 on the American Film Institute’s list of the 10 greatest films in the Mystery genre in June of 2008.  Filming was finished in 36 days.  Hitchcock was forced to make this movie to fulfill his contract.  He said he could have phoned in his direction and this caused him intense disinterest in the film.  There is another film with the same title from 1981.