Film is a visual medium so the unofficial motto of moviemaking is, "Show, don't tell." However, Alfred Hitchcock was never one to follow the rules and on re-watching his classic Dial M for Murder, I was struck by how much it is driven by relentless verbal exposition.
Ray Milland plays Tony Wendice, a retired tennis player who is married to Margot (the cool and elegant Grace Kelly), a wealthy woman whose money has kept him very comfortable. However, he discovered a year ago that she was having an affair. Margot ended the affair once Tony started paying more attention to her, but like most Hitchcock husbands, Tony doesn't want his wife, just her money. So he decides to set an elaborate murder plot into motion, an intricate enterprise that will give him a watertight alibi and solve his wife problem once and for all.
Tony blackmails a man named Swann into committing his wife's murder. The idea is that Swann will sneak into the house at night when Margot is home alone. Tony will be out at a party, surrounded by people who can vouch for his whereabouts, and will phone home at 11. When Margot enters the living room to answer the phone, Swann will slip out from behind the curtains and kill her. The first part of the movie leads up to the execution of the murder plot; the second half follows the aftermath of the night's events and the ensuing investigation.
Dial M For Murder is remarkably contained and all of the action takes place in the Wendice's house. But there is very little action, apart from the murder scene. Most of the movie consists of Ray Milland talking; talking about his discovery of his wife's infidelity, talking about his decision to kill his wife, talking about how he has set up the crime, talking about how the actual murder will be conducted. He stage manages the entire affair, explaining to Swann exactly how his wife will wake up when the phone rings, turn on the light, open the door, walk up to the phone, answer it. But all that talking and planning is Tony's undoing. Things never go according to plan, and the beauty of the movie is how the entire thing unravels because Swann doesn't follow one direction exactly as Tony planned.
Hitchcock made some fascinating mysteries and Dial M for Murder is no exception. It is not visually evocative like Rear Window, but Ray Milland's voice will penetrate your brain as Tony explains every piece of his master plan. Psychopaths like the sound of their own voice, and if you pay attention to Tony Wendice as he goes on and on about this murder, you can speculate about how it will all go horribly wrong.
Ray Milland plays Tony Wendice, a retired tennis player who is married to Margot (the cool and elegant Grace Kelly), a wealthy woman whose money has kept him very comfortable. However, he discovered a year ago that she was having an affair. Margot ended the affair once Tony started paying more attention to her, but like most Hitchcock husbands, Tony doesn't want his wife, just her money. So he decides to set an elaborate murder plot into motion, an intricate enterprise that will give him a watertight alibi and solve his wife problem once and for all.
Tony blackmails a man named Swann into committing his wife's murder. The idea is that Swann will sneak into the house at night when Margot is home alone. Tony will be out at a party, surrounded by people who can vouch for his whereabouts, and will phone home at 11. When Margot enters the living room to answer the phone, Swann will slip out from behind the curtains and kill her. The first part of the movie leads up to the execution of the murder plot; the second half follows the aftermath of the night's events and the ensuing investigation.
Dial M For Murder is remarkably contained and all of the action takes place in the Wendice's house. But there is very little action, apart from the murder scene. Most of the movie consists of Ray Milland talking; talking about his discovery of his wife's infidelity, talking about his decision to kill his wife, talking about how he has set up the crime, talking about how the actual murder will be conducted. He stage manages the entire affair, explaining to Swann exactly how his wife will wake up when the phone rings, turn on the light, open the door, walk up to the phone, answer it. But all that talking and planning is Tony's undoing. Things never go according to plan, and the beauty of the movie is how the entire thing unravels because Swann doesn't follow one direction exactly as Tony planned.
Hitchcock made some fascinating mysteries and Dial M for Murder is no exception. It is not visually evocative like Rear Window, but Ray Milland's voice will penetrate your brain as Tony explains every piece of his master plan. Psychopaths like the sound of their own voice, and if you pay attention to Tony Wendice as he goes on and on about this murder, you can speculate about how it will all go horribly wrong.
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