Review of Dial M for Murder (1954) by Nick B — 30 Jan 2010

80/100. This is the first Alfred Hitchcock movie that I've seen recently (i've seen the Birds and stuff a long time ago I think). This was a nice surprise of a movie. I read that this movie was based off of a play- and Hitchcock must have made a conscious effort to keep the entire movie in one room (I can count on one hand how many scenes were outside of the room- and those scenes were right outside of the house and in the hallway outside the front door). This movie is driven by dialogue and well written characters. The movie is not hurt by there being a lack of action (except for one scene of the attempted murder).

This movie was also my introduction to Grace Kelly. I read that she is considered one of the best female actresses in movie history- despite her very short career (jealous husband didn't like her being away and certainly didn't like watching her kiss other men on screen- since he was a prince- Grace Kelly became known as Princess Grace Kelly) and she did not disappoint- with her acting and looks. While I was disappointed with how Elizabeth Taylor looked in her prime, I was not disappointed one bit.

I won't bother with any spoilers, but this film had the feel of a smart television show. Ray Milland plays the husband who is aware that his wife is cheating on him- he has a conversation with his wife's lover (who writes crime novels)- saying that he can sure write a nice murder, but would never work in real life because in real life, there would always be a variable that you didn't count on. There is no such thing as "the perfect murder" in real life- because life happens. This is the main theme of the movie.

The detective who comes in during the 2nd half of this movie was a great character- Bottom line is that I was engrossed in the story while watching this and enjoyed myself. This movie has held up pretty well for being 56 years old. I'll be checking out more Hitchcock movies, so this was a great start.