Twists and turns, mystery and suspense, and the fate of a beautiful woman are all at the center of Alfred Hitchcock's brilliant film, Dial M For Murder. We enter the scene with a unfaithful woman and the man she loves hiding this secret away from her husband. Little does she know, her husband is fully aware of her activities and plans to set her up for murder and make away with her inheritance. Grace Kelly playing the beautiful Margot Wendice as the lead role and target of Ray Milland(Tony Wendace) well thought out plan to bump her off. John Williams plays the inquisitive inspector Hubbard who tenaciously pokes and prods the minute holes in Tony's plot. This film is an absolute classic and because of this it has been reviewed many times over by critics greater than myself, but I was absolutely glued to the screen. The shooting is tight and controlled, the scenes have crisp action and acting, not a movement wasted or without import.
Mark Halliday(Robert Cummings) is Margot's not so secret lover, and through several revelations is the film's moral compass and emotional center. Tony, discovering the affair, persuades Captain Lesgate(Anthony Dawson) a former college classmate, through blackmail to murder his wife therefore reaping the benefit of her will upon her death. Of course the act goes wrong and the rest of the film Tony tries to jump from one rock to the next, trying to avoid the inevitable. Ray Milland is absolutely wonderful as the obsessed, conniving, believably manipulative, husband. He meticulously plans each step and move out to such a degree that he nearly isn't discovered and we see how long he must have agonized over each moment and action. And as we close things out, it's sort of beautiful to see the stoicism of the British and acceptance of one's fate. Obsession is a theme of Hitchcock's that is touched here as well as in Vertigo. Obsessed over the intricate execution of a well laid plan, of ridding yourself of a tiresome problem, of outsmarting all of them and laughing all the way.
Dial M For Murder is a classic film because it keeps us engaged for the entire one hundred and thirty minutes that it's on the screen. Hitchcock's sure direction and hand keep us enthralled wanting to know how it will end, a murder mystery with intelligent and captivating players. Margot is played with such vulnerability by Kelly and we feel so much for her disadvantage and disposition. The dynamic of her trying to figure it all out and the shock of being told her own husband set her up to be murdered. Despite the serious tone there are moments of levity throughout and as a whole the film is superb in every way. Hitchcock has us all the way until the credits role, not sure if there is one more surprise in store hiding in the shadows.
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