Dial M for Murder (1954)

Director:

Alfred Hitchcock

Writers:

Frederick Knott (screenplay)
Frederick Knott (play)

Release Date:

29 May 1954 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Kiss By Kiss...Supreme Suspense Unfurls!

Plot:

An ex-tennis pro carries out a plot to murder his wife. When things go wrong, he improvises a brilliant plan B.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Money | Police | Blackmail | Lure Of Riches

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Ray Milland	...	Tony Wendice
Grace Kelly	...	Margot Mary Wendice
Robert Cummings	...	Mark Halliday
John Williams	...	Chief Inspector Hubbard
Anthony Dawson	...	Captain Lesgate - aka Charles Alexander Swann
Leo Britt	...	The Storyteller
Patrick Allen	...	Detective Pearson
George Leigh	...	Detective Williams
George Alderson	...	First Detective
Robin Hughes	...	Police Sergeant

Also Known As:

Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder (USA) (complete title)
Dial 'M' for Murder (USA) (alternative spelling)
Le crime était presque parfait (Belgium: French title) (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Bei Anruf Mord (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
La llamada fatal (Argentina) (Venezuela) [es]
Alibi (Israel: Hebrew title) [iw]
Chamada para a Morte (Portugal) [pt]
Con M de muerte (Venezuela) [es]
Crim perfecte (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Crimen perfecto (Spain) [es]
Daiyaru emu wo mawase! (Japan) [ja]
De moord was bijna volmaakt (Belgium: Flemish title) [un]
Det perfekta brottet (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Disque M Para Matar (Brazil) [pt]
Il delitto perfetto (Italy) [it]
La llamada fatal (Crimen perfecto) (Argentina) [es]
Slå nollan till polisen (Sweden) [sv]
Täydellinen rikos (Finland) [fi]
Telefonen ringer kl. 23 (Denmark) [da]
Tilefonisate asfaleia amesou draseos (Greece) (reissue title) [el]
U spreekt met uw moordenaar (Netherlands) [nl]

Runtime:

105 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Warnercolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound System)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | Spain:T | West Germany:12 (video) (re-rated) | West Germany:16 (nf) (original rating) | South Korea:12 (DVD rating) (2004) | Brazil:16 | Canada:PG (video rating) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | France:U | Norway:16 | USA:Approved (PCA #16708) | USA:PG (1982 re-release) | UK:PG

Filming Locations:

Warner Brothers Burbank Studios - 4000 Warner Boulevard, Burbank, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

John Williams won the 1953 Tony Award (New York City) for Supporting or Features Actor in a Drama for "Dial M for Murder" as Inspector Hubbard and recreated the role in the movie version.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: (At 41:41) Just before Margot is strangled she answers the phone but there is no one speaking. We clearly HEAR that she is hitting the phone button several times with her hidden hand. As we saw previously that this is not an 'operator' call, this should disconnect. However, the husband keeps talking, and can be heard even before he hits the 'connect' button.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Margot Mary Wendice: let me get you another drink. Mark, before Tony comes I ought to explain something.
Mark Halliday: Yes, I've been waiting for that.
Margot Mary Wendice: I haven't told him anything about us.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Un homme et une femme, 20 ans déjà (1986)

One of Hitchcock's best thrillers.

1954 was a big year for Grace Kelly. She played in Hitchcock's classic "Rear window" and she won an Oscar for best actress in "The country girl" and most people tend to forget that she starred in yet another classic, "Dial M for murder". Starring Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, and Robert Cummings, it is simply one of Hitchcock's finest movies of all-time. In fact, I would consider it to be my second favorite Hitchcock movie ever, my first being "Psycho" (although I haven't seen "Rear window" yet).

Margot (Grace Kelly) is married to Tony Wendice (Ray Milland), an ex-tennis player. However, she has been seeing another man named Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). Mark writes crime stories. The two of them think that Tony doesn't know about their relationship but they're wrong; Tony has known about this relationship for one year and seems to have had enough of it. So when Mark, who lives in New-York, comes to London to see Margot, Tony wants to go out with Mark and his wife. But the night of the event, Tony is unable to go. So he tells Margot to take Mark out and to have a good time. The only problem is that Tony doesn't really have something that's keeping him from going out with Margot and Mark. He has another plan, the plan being to blackmail one of his old college friends that has become a small time crook into murdering his wife.

What follows this is pure entertainment at its best. As usual, Hitchcock masterfully directs this movie and has the right actors to do the job. Ray Milland and Grace Kelly deliver very good performances and surprisingly enough, Robert Cummings does a rather good job in his role of Mark Halliday, the American crime novel writer who accidentally stumbles on the answer. But it is John Williams who steals the show with his great performance as Inspector Hubbard, the detective who holds the key to the whole mistery. He is simply excellent and pretty funny when he is supposed to be. Another of his great performances is in "Witness for the prosecution" where he played Brogan Moore, Charles Laughton's very good friend and seconding lawyer in the case. As for "Dial M for murder", well it's one of those movies that anyone should see at pretty much any cost.