Dial M For Murder (1954)

In Alfred Hitchcock's classic crime-thriller and mystery masterpiece - Hitchcock's screen version of English playwright Frederick Knott's successful stage play; the thriller had all the elements of a Hitchcock suspense murder mystery - a deadly love triangle, a MacGuffin (latch-keys), a stagebound set and dialogue-rich script, and another of Hitchcock's brief cameo appearances.

The 105-minute film was moderately successful with $6 million dollars of revenue, but it failed to receive any Oscar nominations. It was filmed in 3-D with the technology that was available at the time, and judged as one of the greatest 3D films ever made; it was remade as A Perfect Murder (1998). Hitchcock's film posed an intriguing plot question - "Will he get away with it?" (not 'Who-dun-it?').

It was one of Hitchcock's lesser but above-average classics, set in the post-war 1950s when 'getting-ahead' in life was a primary motivation. This was quintessential 'Hitchcockian blonde' Grace Kelly's first of three films for Hitchcock, followed by Rear Window (1954) and To Catch a Thief (1955).

• the opening sequence of title credits (with romantic theme music playing, from Dimitri Tiomkin) appeared above a background of a magnified telephone dial on an old-fashioned black British telephone; the MNO (6) label was replaced by a single large red 'M' letter - the M of the film's title
• in the opening breakfast table scene set in a townhouse in London, ex-tennis Wimbledon pro Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) - the charming, sophisticated yet villainous husband - kissed his blonde American socialite wife Margot Wendice (Grace Kelly); she was reading the newspaper about the imminent arrival of the Queen Mary at Southhampton with great interest, since the article stated that one of the passengers was American TV crime-mystery writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings)

Amorous Kiss Between Margot and Mark Halliday

Margot Wendice (Grace Kelly)

Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings)

• later that afternoon, after a quick dissolve, Margot was with Mark in her living room, and they were enjoying an amorous kiss; she was entertaining her American ex-lover - without her husband present; a love triangle existed between Margot, Tony, and Mark; Margot and Mark were in a secretive love relationship that had resumed after Mark had returned to the US about a year earlier - she believed (inaccurately) that her husband was oblivious to their past (and continuing) love affair; Tony had become obsessively jealous of his unfaithful wife's secretive love affair, although recently, Margot had decided to give her marriage a fresh start and remain loyal to Tony (despite her love for Mark); however, she knew that Mark's strong intentions were for her to divorce Tony and be with him
• after Tony gave up his tennis career, he had become totally reliant on his wife's wealth; he could no longer divorce her and risk losing her financial support, if she ever reignited her affair with Mark - this prospect was highly likely, so Tony began to contemplate having Margot murdered
• meanwhile, Margot explained to Mark how she had been blackmailed over a missing (and incriminating) love letter sent from Mark; without notifying the authorities or telling Tony, she paid off the blackmailer to arrange for the return of the purloined love letter (from her stolen purse) that she had received from Mark; Margot attempted to keep their secretive affair under wraps by paying off the blackmailer; however, the blackmailer (revealed later to be her husband who was testing his wife) never picked up the money she sent or returned the letter
• the couple were forced to separate when they heard Tony enter the front door into the outer hallway and approach the apartment's front door with his latch-key; due to his claim that he had to prepare a business report, Tony encouraged Margot and Mark to dine out that evening and attend the theatre; while they were out, Tony was plotting and masterminding the murder of his unfaithful wife so that he could inherit her fortune; to carry out the killing, Tony phoned Captain C.A. Lesgate/Swann (Anthony Dawson), a former Cambridge classmate (from 20 years earlier) with a petty criminal record, and invited Swann to the townhouse

Captain C.A. Lesgate/Swann (Anthony Dawson)

Hitchcock's Cameo

Tony Plotting and Blackmailing Swann

• during their conversation, director Hitchcock's cameo was displayed; from the wall, Tony removed a framed picture of a class reunion dinner at Cambridge Univ. - a formal tuxedo-event - including Hitchcock, and both cigar-smoking Capt. Lesgate and Tony seated across the table from him
• Tony gave a long-winded description of his problematic and troubled marriage, and then proposed to blackmail, pressure or "influence" Swann to commit the "perfect murder" of his wife for £1,000 pounds cash - a murder-for-hire; as leverage, Tony knew about Swann's theft of a cashbox years earlier, and also threatened that Swann could be accused of stealing Margot's handbag and writing the two blackmail notes to her; he also reminded Swann of many instances of incriminating evidence against him that he could report to the police
• a deal was arranged - the planned murder was to occur the next night, in the living room where they were located; while Margot was at home alone, and Tony and Mark Halliday attended a stag party, Swann was to be outside the apartment watching and waiting; Tony went through the motions of the crime - at exactly 10:57 pm (presumably after Margot retired), Swann would enter using a front-door latch-key (Margot's) left under the hall stair carpet for him, outside the door; then, Tony would inadvertently (but purposely) dial his home number at 11:00 pm sharp - the call would bring Margot out of her bedroom to answer it; Swann would be awaiting her and strangle her; after the murder, Swann was to leave the garden window open, and replace the key under the stairway carpet while exiting out the way he entered; it would be staged to look like an aborted robbery [Note: Tony would keep his own key so he could let himself and Mark in. Then, after discovering Margot's body, Tony would take the key from under the carpet and return it to her hand bag before the police arrived.]
• the next evening - the night of the murder, during the cocktail hour, Tony, Margot, and Mark chatted; Mark proposed that he could theoretically author the 'perfect murder,' but in real life, he would probably overlook some detail and undoubtedly be caught; Tony was able to deftly extract Margot's latch-key from her purse, and then he surreptitiously placed it in the hallway under the stairs' carpet for Swann's use, as the two men departed for the stag party
• as Swann arrived in the hallway of the townhouse for the dirty deed, Margot was asleep in the back bedroom; he located the key under the carpet of the 5th step, and opened the door (and then he returned the key, Margot's stolen key, to its hiding place - OFF-SCREEN)
• in the attempted strangulation scene, the tension was ratcheted up; Tony's plan was to have his wife leave her bedroom to answer the living room phone, to enable Swann to strangle her from behind the drawn window curtains where he was hiding; at the time of the planned murder in one of the most suspenseful scenes ever filmed, Tony was on the phone and dialing M (for murder) from a hotel lobby's payphone to reach his wife; his call was to be at 11:00 pm, but the plan was botched when his watch unexpectedly stopped and it was later than expected by about 8 minutes
• the assassin was frazzled and was about to leave because of the delay, when the phone finally rang, the camera slowly panned to the left around Margot as she came into the living room and answered

Magnified Phone During Tony's Phone Dialing, Calling Margo to Awaken Her, and Answer Her Phone in the Living Room

• the camera moved to view Swann's position behind the living room curtains; he approached with a twisted scarf and wrapped it around her neck, but she foiled his strong attack by fighting back; seen with a tremendous 3-D effect, she reached behind her - into the audience from the screen - searching for a weapon (a pair of scissors) to defend herself and then killed the hired assassin by stabbing him in the back; when he theatrically fell to the floor onto his back, the blades of the scissors were pushed more deeply into his body

		3-D Stabbing Sequence

• after the murder had gone awry, and Tony realized that Margot was still alive, he spoke out: "Margot?...Darling, it's me!" and promised that he would rush home; when he arrived, he entered the locked front door of the apartment with his own latch-key, and quickly improvised to cover up for his sabotaged plan: (1) he took a key from Swann's pocket (he mistakenly took Swann's own apartment key) and placed it in Margot's purse (to make it look like her key wasn't missing), (2) he burned Swann's scarf (the murder weapon) in the fireplace and replaced it with one of Margot's stockings (to make it look like Margot had self-inflicted neck wounds), and (3) he planted Mark's letter on Swann (to make it look like Swann was the blackmailer)
• Tony's new plan was to outwit the police and it seemed to succeed - making it appear that Margot had an ulterior motive for killing Swann (he was blackmailing her over the love letter and her affair with Mark)
• Margot was rapidly brought to trial and convicted (and to be punished with execution); however, there were anomalies in Tony's story that ultimately didn't add up (mixed up keys, switched raincoats, etc.), and wily Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams) was on the case; his objective was to prove Margot's innocence and establish Tony's guilt

Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams)

Hubbard Investigating Tony

• during much of the second half of the film, Mark theorized or speculated with Tony about what actually happened to save Margot's life, and in fact, his theory was extremely close to the truth - that Tony had paid Swann to kill his wife Margot; Tony blamed Margot for an attache case with 'blackmail' money to pay off Swann, but she claimed she knew nothing about it
• in the concluding scene, Hubbard had set up a trap for Tony after he found that Tony had hidden Margot's stolen front-door key in the hallway - and it was still there; he showed the key to the astonished Mark and Margot

An Astonished Margot and Mark

Hubbard Explaining Tony's Dastardly Plan

• in hiding, everyone watched as Tony entered the hallway a second time - he unsuccessfully tried "Margot's key" from her handbag, and walked away; outside the building on the stairs, he looked down at the key and realized it was Swann's apartment key; the Inspector spied on him from the bedroom window and imagined what was running through Tony's head: ("He's staring at the key. Of course, that's Swann's key, isn't it? Now he's got it! He's coming back fast. He's remembered")
• Tony decided to re-enter the building and use Margot's front-door key that he had stolen from her handbag, and planted for Swann's use under the stairs carpet in the hallway; Tony incriminated himself when he opened the door with the crucial duplicate latchkey [Note: it was the one that Swann had earlier retrieved from under the carpet on the 5th step of the stairs outside the apartment; Swann had entered using the planted key and immediately replaced it under the stairs' rug (off-screen); that was the reason why there was no key found on the dead assassin Swann (and there was no forced entry either, because he didn't have mud on his shoes)]

Outside the Apartment Front Door, Tony Pondering the Key Situation	The Inspector: "He's remembered"	Tony Retrieving the Carpet Key (Margot's Stolen Key)
Turning to Approach the Door With Margot's Planted Latch-Key	Tony Using the Stairway Key to Enter	After Entering, Tony Realized He Had Been Found Out

• when Tony entered (after using the planted key) and turned, he realized he had been found out; only Tony would have known about the location of the key; (Inspector Hubbard had predicted Tony's downfall: "Once he opens that door, we shall know everything"); as the lights went on inside the apartment (symbolic of his revealed crime), he turned and found himself face-to-face with the Inspector, Margot and Mark waiting inside; with restrained British reserve, Tony congratulated the Inspector for solving the case