Dial M for Murder (film)
"Dial M for Murder" is a 1954 thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, renowned for its intricate plot and expert suspense-building techniques. The film follows professional tennis player Tony Wendice, who discovers his wife Margot's affair and plots her murder to inherit her wealth. He blackmails an old acquaintance, Charles Swann, to carry out the act while he creates an alibi with Margot's lover, Mark Halliday. However, the plan unravels when Margot defends herself and kills Swann in self-defense, leading to her wrongful conviction.
Hitchcock’s use of 3D technology, which was innovative at the time, adds a unique dimension to the film, enhancing the tension between characters and creating a claustrophobic atmosphere in the confined setting of the apartment. Despite Hitchcock's self-reflective remarks on simply "coasting" in his direction, the film's tight narrative and visual style have earned it critical acclaim. "Dial M for Murder" has left a lasting cultural impact, being referenced in various media and inspiring a remake titled "A Perfect Murder" in 1998. The film remains a significant work in Hitchcock's illustrious career and a classic example of mid-20th-century cinema.
Dial M for Murder (film)
- Release Date: 1954
- Director(s): Alfred Hitchcock
- Writer(s): Frederick Knott
- Principal Actors and Roles: Robert Cummings (Mark Halliday); Grace Kelly (Margot Mary Wendice); Ray Milland (Tony Wendice); Anthony Dawson (Captain Lesgate (Swann)); John Williams (Chief Inspector Hubbard)
- Book / Story Film Based On: Dial M for Murder by Frederick Knott
Dial M for Murder is widely known for its intricate plot, the masterly way that director Alfred Hitchcock creates and maintains suspense, as he usually does, and as an example of 3D, a medium that Hollywood experimented with in the early 1950s before mostly abandoning it, then resurrecting it in the 1980s and 1990s.
Plot
Professional tennis player Tony Wendice discovers his wife Margot is having an affair. Wendice decides to have her killed. He stands to inherit money if she dies and thus he is motivated by greed as well as revenge.
Wendice has a mild acquaintance from his college days named Charles Swann. Swann is a small-time criminal and, through blackmail, Wendice persuades him to kill Margot. Wendice also arranges an alibi for himself: While Swann is in his apartment strangling Margot, he will be on a social outing with Mark Halliday, Margot’s lover.
Swann breaks into the apartment and tries to strangle Margot but she ably defends herself, killing him with a pair of scissors. Margot is tried and convicted of the crime.
Halliday and a police inspector are both skeptical of Margot’s guilt. As her execution is approaching they identify Wendice as the instigator, ironically by allowing him to implicate himself when he uses a key hidden under the carpeting on his staircase to open the door to his apartment.
Significance
Dial M for Murder was a box office success when it was released in 1954. The film cost $1.4 million to make and grossed $6 million.
Originally, the film was released in both 2D and 3D. However, in 1980 the film was re-released only in a 3D version. Hitchcock referred to 3D as "a nine-day wonder," adding, "I came in on the ninth day."
On his website, the noted film critic David Bordwell discusses Hitchcock’s accomplishment in Dial M for Murder, referencing it against Hitchcock’s self-deprecating comments about the film in an interview that he gave to the celebrated film director Francois Truffaut. Hitchcock was notorious for toying with interviewers, as he did with audiences, but he was generally forthright with Truffaut. Hitchcock told Truffaut that he had been "coasting" and "playing it safe" in making the film, although, as Bordwell points out, by deliberately choosing not to add more scenes that take place outside of the apartment Hitchcock actually created challenges for himself. Bordwell provides a shot-by-shot analysis of portions of the film, demonstrating how Hitchcock met the challenge of filming in an enclosed space by using cinematic means such as close-ups and skillful editing. Bordwell further argues that Hitchcock had long been fascinated by tightly enclosed spaces—and, by extension, claustrophobia—and that Lifeboat (1944) and Rope (1948) are two earlier examples of Hitchcock features in which the setting is confined.
Film director Martin Scorsese concurs with Bordwell’s analysis, arguing that Hitchcock makes the enclosed space in the film work to his advantage. In a YouTube video Scorsese also says he prefers the 3D version to the 2D version and that Hitchcock’s use of the technology accentuates the tensions between the characters. Scorsese further maintains that Hitchcock’s use of 3D makes the audience feel familiar with the apartment to the point where the audience feels inside of it.
From Hitchcock’s comments about 3D it seems clear that it presented numerous technical challenges for him and that he was not overly enamored of it. Still, he demonstrated how the technology could be used for dramatic purposes and in the process influenced Scorsese, whose 2011 film Hugo was filmed in 3D.
In regard to the technology, one particularly famous shot is the one in which Margot reaches backward to grab the scissors that she uses to stab Swann. She appears to be asking the audience for assistance and thereby possibly implicating the audience in the act.
Dial M for Murder has had a wide influence in popular culture, spurred by Hitchcock’s fame and the catchiness of its title. It is referenced in multiple episodes of The Simpsons as well as the popular shows Family Guy and Third Rock from the Sun.
In 1998 Warner Bros. released a remake of Dial M for Murder. The film was titled A Perfect Murder. It stars Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen. The director, Andrew Davis, and the screenwriter, Patrick Smith Kelly, took many liberties with the original play and screenplay but the basic formula of the "perfect murder" gone awry remains the same. Indeed, the idea of a perfect murder has long fascinated audiences and it is no coincidence that Mark Halliday is a mystery writer. His name also recalls that of Brett Halliday, one of the most famous mystery writers of the twentieth century.
Hitchcock was famous for many things: his extraordinary body of work as a film director, his television program and mystery magazine, his outsize personality, and more. Dial M for Murder endures in his legendary career as a masterwork of popular entertainment.
Bibliography
A Hitchcock Reader. Marshall Deutelbaum and Leland Poague, eds. Hoboken: Wiley, 2009. Print.
Ackroyd, Peter. Alfred Hitchcock. New York: Chatto, 2015. Print.
Bordwell, David. "Dial M for Murder: Hitchcock Frets Not at His Narrow Room." DavidBordwell.Net. David Bordwell, 17 June 2013. Web. 17 Aug. 2015. <http://www.davidbordwell.net/blog/2012/09/07/dial-m-for-murder-hitchcock-frets-not-at-his-narrow-room/>.
Bouzereau, Laurent. Hitchcock, Piece by Piece. New York: Abrams, 2010. Print.
"Martin Scorsese on Dial M for Murder." YouTube. Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, 20 June 2013. Web. 29 July 2015. <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0DVWbVE0Ww>.
Spoto, Donald. The Dark Side of Genius: The Life of Alfred Hitchcock. Boston: De Capo, 1999. Print.
Truffaut, Francois and Helen G. Scott. Hitchcock/Truffaut. New York: Simon, 1967. Print.
Wood, Michael. Alfred Hitchcock: The Man Who Knew Too Much. San Diego: New Harvest, 2015. Print.
Wood, Robin. Hitchcock’s Films Revisited. New York: Columbia UP, 2002. Print.