Dial M for Murder

1954
PG
1h 45m

IMDb RATING

8.2/10

193K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

Play trailer2:34

A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.2/10

193K

YOUR RATING

POPULARITY

4,486

633

See production info at IMDbPro

Top rated movie #162

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 5 wins & 3 nominations total

Trivia
Alfred Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant to star, but Warner Brothers felt that he would be miscast as a villain.

Goofs
Wendice throws a £100 bundle on a pink armchair. The money falls right at the back of the seat. A few minutes later, Swann takes the money which is now right in front of the armchair.

Quotes
Tony Wendice: How do you go about writing a detective story?
Mark Halliday: Well, you forget detection and concentrate on crime. Crime's the thing. And then you imagine you're going to steal something or murder somebody.
Tony Wendice: Oh, is that how you do it? It's interesting.
Mark Halliday: Yes, I usually put myself in the criminal's shoes and then I keep asking myself, uh, what do I do next?
Margot Mary Wendice: Do you really believe in the perfect murder?
Mark Halliday: Mmm, yes, absolutely. On paper, that is. And I think I could, uh, plan one better than most people; but I doubt if I could carry it out.
Tony Wendice: Oh? Why not?
Mark Halliday: Well, because in stories things usually turn out the way the author wants them to; and in real life they don't... always.
Tony Wendice: Hmm.
Mark Halliday: No, I'm afraid my murders would be something like my bridge: I'd make some stupid mistake and never realize it until I found everybody was looking at me.

Crazy credits
The title is shown on a background of a British telephone dial; its MNO marking is replaced by a single large M which forms the single M of the title.

Alternate versions
The film had an intermission in its original 3-D release, although it is less than two hours in length.

Connections
Edited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Le contrôle de l'univers (1999)

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.