reviewed by: Charity Bishop

           

While not being one of Grace Kelly's best films, Dial M for Murder is certainly a memorable experience. Hitchcock plays with your sense of justice vs. moral ethics in a spellbinding story that is in reality a murder plot gone wrong... from the perspective of the murderer, whom you grow to respect and yet fear. If you can handle some of its horrifying aspects, you'll find it not as good as Rear Window, but memorable nonetheless. Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) and his wife Margot (Grace Kelly) appear to have the perfect relationship. To look at them, one and all would believe they were a happily married couple... but as always, looks can be deceiving and there is far more to this couple than first meets the eye. Tony is an ex-pro tennis player, and Margot his beautiful and successful wife. In secret Margot is carrying on a romantic fling with a young mystery writer by the name of Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings).

Tony has been aware of the affair for some time, but keeps his wife in the dark, playing the innocent husband engaged in business while secretly planning his revenge. When an old collage acquaintance comes to town in a wave of scandal, for romancing and disposing of wealthy widows, Tony gives him a call. Sending off his wife and Mark for drinks and a trip to the theater under the pretense of joining them later, Tony proceeds to engage Lesgate (Anthony Dawson) into the idea of murdering his wife. "Do you believe in the perfect murder?" he inquires gamely, and reveals that he has planned the crime even down to the smallest minute detail. Is he not justified? -- after all, she is the one at fault. At first Lesgate will have no part of it is forced to agree for fear of what Tony may do to him otherwise. 

Murder is not a pleasant business, but crime pays and Tony has a perfect plan that will ultimately play it off as a case of unintentional murder and leave himself in the clear. He'll spend the evening at his club and phone Margot at midnight. Lesgate will be concealed in the apartment; he will creep up behind her at the telephone and strangle her, then make it look like a robbery. Margot pays with her life for her sin... and Mark looses her. But as Tony will find out, no murder plan is ever perfect.  When the tables turn, it becomes a game of manipulation to avoid the clever net cast over him by the police. And even Mark, with all his talent for conceiving murder plots, may be closer to the truth than even he could have imagined. It's a film with twists and turns that becomes fascinating as time progresses... an almost morbid fascination with the idea of committing murder and escaping without even the slightest shadow of a doubt. The viewer is in awe of our evil villain for his genius and yet struggles along with Margot to survive.

There it is, the plan lain out to the tiniest detail... everything from how long it will take Margot to cross the room and answer the phone to the placement of "the key" that will play a prominent role. We witness the shrewd cruelness of Tony's face as he elaborates on his idea, then watch him rapidly adjust when the tables turn; it suddenly becomes a struggle for survival rather than a gleeful game. The audience is swept up, biting their nails and holding their breath as subtle alterations in pattern jeopardize Tony's plan... a stopped watch... an occupied telephone box... a hesitation on the part of Margot to answer the phone. It's murder at its most fashionable; yet murder is nothing to scoff at. Viewers will find the "strangling scene" dark and violent. The idea of a husband first planning to murder and then intentionally implicating his wife are chilling. Also, the entire affair revolves around an adulterous wife; it's hard to find someone to root for in this nest of immoral villains. Nothing is ever shown between them except for a few kisses and mild innuendoes, and for the most part the film is clean in language or content issues. The scene in which Margot is attacked contains several chilling and graphic shots of attempted strangling, as well as a hand grasping a pair of silver sewing scissors (the impact is only implied).

Once again, Hitchcock asks us to make a moral decision... who to root for. He manipulates the mind with subtle changes... Margot's entrance in bright, lively, flirtatious colors that gradually becomes dark with the passing of time. The most memorable scenes are when Tony lays out the crime, and later when Mark comes up with a suitable argument to save their precious Margot. If you can take the film with a grain of salt and endure a horrifying struggle in pitch darkness, Dial M for Murder is a diverting dilemma for a midsummer's night.