Dial M for Murder (1954)

By 1954 Alfred Hitchcock's reputation was still growing. He was accustomed to receiving generally positive reviews and was one of the most successful directors working in Hollywood at the time. However his next film, Dial M for Murder, would ignite what was to be the golden age of the veteran filmmaker's career, and over the next decade he would create films like Vertigo, North by Northwest and Psycho and influence cinema like no other director before or since.

But in 1954 Hitchcock was short on ideas. He'd intended for his follow-up to the previous year's I Confess to be based on a 1948  novel, The Bramble Bush, by David Duncan. The story, which Hitchcock had been working on adapting since before starting production on I Confess, was the same basic thread he'd used before, a 'wrong-man' tale in which a fugitive is forced to assume the identity of a murder suspect. After Warner Bros. had taken exception to the left-wing politics of the story and forced Hitchcock to remove the offending scenes from his adaption, he lost interest in the project and it was ultimately abandoned. Under pressure from the studio to produce a film quickly, it was suggested that he adapt Frederick Knott's London-based stage play, Dial M for Murder. Reluctantly, Hitchcock agreed.

So for Hitchcock this wasn't a project in which he felt any particular motivation for, and even whilst producing it he was at work on his next film, Rear Window, which he had far more of a personal interest in.  It says a lot about Hitchcock's vast talent that even if this was a film he could bring little more than acquiescence to, the casting is so inspired and his direction so flawless that it soon became a classic of the thriller genre.

The story had begun as a BBC television programme before taking to the stage in the West End and, in late 1952, Broadway, had drawn critical acclaim; but with the entire story set in one apartment its claustrophobic nature seemed at odds with the grander scale of recent Hitchcock productions. Though by this period filmmakers adapting stage plays were content to remain true to their roots; a trend started by Laurence Olivier's Henry V (1944), and refrain from opening the story up to multiple locations, it's still surprising that Hitchcock decided to keep the story focussed on one set, with his only concessions to the big screen being to add a number of brief shots; in a gentleman's club, looking out onto the street outside the apartment, and the memorable yet surreal courtroom montage (which I won't discuss here for fear of spoilers).

In the story Ray Milland plays Tony Wendice, an ex-tennis professional who lives in a London apartment with his wealthy wife Margot (Grace Kelly). After Tony discovers a letter showing that his wife has been having an affair with American writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings) he becomes seized by jealously, anger and greed and plots to have her murdered, allowing him to inherit her considerable wealth. Under the pretence of buying a car, he lures an old acquaintance from Cambridge to his flat, the petty criminal C.A. Swann (Anthony Dawson). Tony then reveals that he has been following Swann for some time and cunningly blackmails the man into murdering his wife Margot. With little choice, Swann accepts, and Tony reveals his meticulously-crafted plan. Later, Swann sneaks into the apartment where Margot is alone while Tony is at a club with Mark - the perfect alibi. Things begin to go wrong for Tony when he is delayed in making the phone call that is the signal for Swann, hiding in the apartment, to carry out his crime.

Throughout his career, it was unusual for Hitchcock to make films with such a small cast, and confined to just a couple of sets. The only film on a similar scale at this time was Lifeboat from 1944 (though Rope would  be confined for much of its duration), and apart from Rear Window which immediately followed Dial M for Murder, it's not a style he would return to. Because of this, it was imperative that he had a good cast. Ray Milland was chosen for the central role of Tony Wendice. Milland had won an Oscar in 1946 for his defining performance as an alcoholic in Billy Wilder's film-noir classic The Lost Weekend, a role in which he was required to portray a man close to the edge. It's fitting that his second most famous role to The Lost Weekend couldn't be further removed from the character of Don Birnam. Here he is calm, charming and restrained throughout, even maintaining the facade when it seems all hope has been lost. Based on the strength of his performance here, it's a mystery why Hitchcock never worked with him again.
An equally pivotal role was that of Tony Wendice's wife, Margot. Hitchcock's eye for a good blonde ensured that it wouldn't be long before Grace Kelly came to his attention, and following her performance here she quickly became one of his favourite leading ladies. Kelly was far from an unknown actress when she was cast in Dial M for Murder, her first collaboration with Hitchcock. She began acting in 1950 and her television work bought her to the attention of John Ford who cast her in his 1953 film Mogambo. Her performance in the film and classic Hollywood looks quickly cemented her movie-star status, and she received an Best Supporting Actress Oscar nomination for her work on Mogambo. Her performance on Dial M is one of her best, conveying sheer terror at the events happening to her, but never allowing herself to go too extreme.

The great thing about Dial M for Murder is that it's a mystery, but as we already know who the perpetrator is the second half of the film is a question of whether Wendice can get away with the crime or not. His quick thinking and unflappable nature at times when his back is truly against the wall is almost shocking in its audacity, yet it's down to the charm and personality Milland gives the character that the audience are almost on his side at times, too easily forgetting the fact that he is plotting to have his wife murdered. Conversely, the would-be hero Mark Halliday whom Margot is having an affair with is fundamentally dull and unlikable and we almost want him to come unstuck. The detective, played by Hitchcock favourite and typical English gentleman John Williams, is both honest and likable, traits very rare in Hitchcockian policemen. His careful, meticulous attention to tiny details on Wendice's apparently perfectly-arranged crime almost act as a blueprint for Peter Falk's detective Columbo whose television mystery murder films would become hugely popular twenty years later.

Dial M for Murder was also one of the first films Hitchcock made in colour (though this time using the single-strip Eastmancolor as opposed to the more vivid three strip Technicolor). This concession was made after Warner Bros. had decided that the film should be shot in the new format of 3-D, following a recent craze begun in 1952 with Bwana Devil, but which was a process only made possible by the use of Eastmancolor. The use of the large 3-D camera caused the crew problems on set (notably needing a huge telephone to be built in order to film the opening close-up shot of a finger dialling numbers), and ironically by the time of the film's release had gone out of fashion and was seldom shown in its intended 3-D. I haven't seen the film in 3-D (though the new Blu-ray release includes both 2-D and 3-D options), but a restored re-release in 1979 received a large theatrical distribution.

The pitfall that a lot of single-stage film productions can fall into is they feel too claustrophobic and the story can feel slow due to no changes of location. Hitchcock never falls into this trap, and each shot feels fresh. He uses a huge variety of camera angles, and even unusually opens up the fourth wall, as well as shooting from high up as Wendice reveals his plan for his wife's murder to Swann. There's always a lot going on, and at no point does the story feel slow, even by modern standards. Hitchcock of course knows exactly how and when to use suspense, and the scenes as Wendice, realising his watch has broken and he has got the time wrong, tries to call his apartment to initiate his wife's murder are absolutely compelling. Dial M for Murder represents the culmination of 30 years filmmaking experience, and was one of Hitchcock's finest films to date. By the age of 54 most directors begin to slow down or settle into mediocrity. Alfred Hitchcock was just warming up.