Review -- Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder (1954)
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, Robert Cummings
Canadian Rating: PG
3 stars out of 4 (Good)
By Albert Tam
Dial M for Murder is a patient mystery and it’s as straightforward as any mystery can be and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Grace Kelly is Margot Wendice, the wife of Tony Wendice played by Ray Milland. She’s beautiful and rich and is everything a man could want out of a woman - except she’s involved in an affair with an American journalist played by Mark Halliday and Tony knows it. In an act of revenge, Tony plans her murder by hiring a hand which should be a flawless series of events but complications arise and suddenly Margot is still alive and the killer is dead on their living room floor. Suddenly, Tony is scrambling to rid of her by creating a frame-up and avoiding the right questions from the police and from her lover.
The film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock who is one of the best all-time directors for mysteries and suspense. His talent in Dial M for Murder, however, feels restrained and he settles for letting expository conversations, not actions, tell us the story. This blame you can place on the fact that it was based on an original play or you can just say that this wasn’t great Hitchcock, just an efficient one.
Regardless, the key to the strengths of Dial M for Murder is the idea behind it and the envious drive of Tony to succeed in ridding of his wife. We know he is the guilty party and even if the characters don’t know it, he somehow keeps avoiding our accusations too.
What makes Tony ultimately so frustratingly sly is the actor behind him. Ray Milland. Milland doesn’t play vengeful the entire time and confuses us by showing affection for the woman he hates even though there always seems to be something off with that. Grace Kelly, who has always been a phenomenal actress, feels restricted to a gullible and angst-ridden woman wrongfully accused - I feel there could have been a larger story with her as there always is with woman characters in Hitchcock films.
Dial M for Murder doesn’t come close to the calibre of Hitchcock’s other films but it’s still a good one and a nice introduction if you want to start watching his works. It has solid performances, an at once exhilarating and frustrating protagonist, and an ending that even though we felt was coming, doesn’t come off exactly the way we had predicted.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, Robert Cummings
Canadian Rating: PG
3 stars out of 4 (Good)
By Albert Tam
Dial M for Murder is a patient mystery and it’s as straightforward as any mystery can be and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Grace Kelly is Margot Wendice, the wife of Tony Wendice played by Ray Milland. She’s beautiful and rich and is everything a man could want out of a woman - except she’s involved in an affair with an American journalist played by Mark Halliday and Tony knows it. In an act of revenge, Tony plans her murder by hiring a hand which should be a flawless series of events but complications arise and suddenly Margot is still alive and the killer is dead on their living room floor. Suddenly, Tony is scrambling to rid of her by creating a frame-up and avoiding the right questions from the police and from her lover.
The film was directed by Alfred Hitchcock who is one of the best all-time directors for mysteries and suspense. His talent in Dial M for Murder, however, feels restrained and he settles for letting expository conversations, not actions, tell us the story. This blame you can place on the fact that it was based on an original play or you can just say that this wasn’t great Hitchcock, just an efficient one.
Regardless, the key to the strengths of Dial M for Murder is the idea behind it and the envious drive of Tony to succeed in ridding of his wife. We know he is the guilty party and even if the characters don’t know it, he somehow keeps avoiding our accusations too.
What makes Tony ultimately so frustratingly sly is the actor behind him. Ray Milland. Milland doesn’t play vengeful the entire time and confuses us by showing affection for the woman he hates even though there always seems to be something off with that. Grace Kelly, who has always been a phenomenal actress, feels restricted to a gullible and angst-ridden woman wrongfully accused - I feel there could have been a larger story with her as there always is with woman characters in Hitchcock films.
Dial M for Murder doesn’t come close to the calibre of Hitchcock’s other films but it’s still a good one and a nice introduction if you want to start watching his works. It has solid performances, an at once exhilarating and frustrating protagonist, and an ending that even though we felt was coming, doesn’t come off exactly the way we had predicted.