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.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 5 wins & 3 nominations total
Richard Bender
- Banquet Member
- (uncredited)
Robin Sanders Clark
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Jack Cunningham
- Bobby Outside Flat
- (uncredited)
Robert Dobson
- Police Photographer
- (uncredited)
Guy Doleman
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Bess Flowers
- Woman Departing Ship
- (uncredited)
Robert Garvin
- Banquet Member
- (uncredited)
Herschel Graham
- Banquet Member
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSir Alfred Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant to star, but Warner Brothers felt that he would be miscast as a villain.
- Goofs(at around 24 mins) 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: It's funny to think that just a year ago, I sat in that Knightsbridge Pub actually planning to murder her. And I might have done it, if I hadn't seen something that changed my mind.
C.A. Swan: Well? What did you see?
Tony Wendice: I saw you.
- Crazy creditsThe 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 versionsThe film had an intermission in its original 3-D release, although it is less than two hours in length.
- ConnectionsEdited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Le contrôle de l'univers (1999)
Featured review
M for masterful
A treat for the eyes and exercise for the brain, "Dial M For Murder" is Hitchcock's second "drawing-room perfect murder" movie, after "Rope", the latter a darker and more sinister affair altogether. Hitchcock himself in interviews played down the quality of this movie, amongst other other things indicating that it was treated almost as a warm-up for the more ambitious "Rear Window" which immediately followed it in his career.
However. it actually has a lot going for it, being beautifully shot in luminous colour, extremely well acted in almost every role and peppered throughout with those eye-catching and brain-satisfying flourishes which so distinguished the director from the rest.
Yes, it is very set-bound, betraying its stage origins and likewise very talky, especially on exposition, but it keeps the viewer alert throughout and delivers a neatly satisfying conclusion. I do wish Hitchcock could have done better with his back-projection unit (an old-fashioned, jarring trait he still hadn't grown out of by "Marnie" some 10 years later) and I occasionally found the constant too frivolous background music an intrusion, but it's well paced throughout, helped considerably by an on-form cast.
Ray Milland is excellent in a kind of darker Cary Grant type persona, Grace Kelly (who'd want to murder her?) goes convincingly from loveliness to wretchedness while it's pleasing to see Robert Cumming to the fore, recalled by Hitch for the first time in over a decade (since "Saboteur" in 1942). The actors playing the would be murderer and nosey police inspector are just fine too.
About those flourishes..., perhaps the most famous being the changing spotlight on Grace Kelly's doomed face as her trial is condensed into just a few terse minutes and of course the murder scene itself, even if one can't imagine her extended stabbing gesture being strong enough to cut through Swann's jacket far less kill him stone dead, but I also enjoyed the raised tracking shot looking down on Milland as he explains his plot to Swann and particularly the parting shadows of lovers Cumming and Kelly at Milland's unexpected approach.
Yes, it's old fashioned Hollywood movie-making, but it's old-fashioned Hollywood movie-making at its best and in my opinion an unjustly overlooked effort from the Master.
However. it actually has a lot going for it, being beautifully shot in luminous colour, extremely well acted in almost every role and peppered throughout with those eye-catching and brain-satisfying flourishes which so distinguished the director from the rest.
Yes, it is very set-bound, betraying its stage origins and likewise very talky, especially on exposition, but it keeps the viewer alert throughout and delivers a neatly satisfying conclusion. I do wish Hitchcock could have done better with his back-projection unit (an old-fashioned, jarring trait he still hadn't grown out of by "Marnie" some 10 years later) and I occasionally found the constant too frivolous background music an intrusion, but it's well paced throughout, helped considerably by an on-form cast.
Ray Milland is excellent in a kind of darker Cary Grant type persona, Grace Kelly (who'd want to murder her?) goes convincingly from loveliness to wretchedness while it's pleasing to see Robert Cumming to the fore, recalled by Hitch for the first time in over a decade (since "Saboteur" in 1942). The actors playing the would be murderer and nosey police inspector are just fine too.
About those flourishes..., perhaps the most famous being the changing spotlight on Grace Kelly's doomed face as her trial is condensed into just a few terse minutes and of course the murder scene itself, even if one can't imagine her extended stabbing gesture being strong enough to cut through Swann's jacket far less kill him stone dead, but I also enjoyed the raised tracking shot looking down on Milland as he explains his plot to Swann and particularly the parting shadows of lovers Cumming and Kelly at Milland's unexpected approach.
Yes, it's old fashioned Hollywood movie-making, but it's old-fashioned Hollywood movie-making at its best and in my opinion an unjustly overlooked effort from the Master.
helpful•579
- Lejink
- Sep 3, 2010
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,400,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $24,845
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $12,562
- Apr 11, 1999
- Gross worldwide
- $43,308
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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