Hitch Films Another Play

Good evening…

Hitchcock was no stranger to filming plays. His first one was the limp Juno And the Paycock, a depressing affair that was only made bearable by Sara Allgood. Almost a quarter of a century later, Hitch was feeling a little stagnant, so he decided to film another play, Dial M For Murder. Although it bears a lot of the typical Hitchcock earmarks, it’s more Hitchcock-lite than anything.

The film opens in London, where Tony and Margot Wendice (Ray Milland and Grace Kelly) seem to be living in wedded bliss in a fancy apartment in Maida Vale. Tony is a retired tennis player and Margot is a socialite with a healthy income. The two of them enjoy steady rounds of business and pleasure with the Maida Vale set.

While Tony and Margot’s life might seem perfect, Margot has been having an affair with family friend and crime fiction writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). She’s trying to do the honorable thing and break it off, but even so, she still carries Mark’s last letter in her purse. Unfortunately, while on a trip, Margot lost both her purse and the letter. Then she got the purse back but no letter. So Margot is a little concerned and a wee bit frantic.

Tony, meanwhile, suspects that Margot’s been cheating on him, and he hires his longtime friend, Charles Swann (Anthony Dawson) to come in and murder Margot while he and Mark are out at a party. Tony will call at an appointed time, and just as Margot picks up the phone, Charles will pop in the window and strangle her with a pink scarf. Charles doesn’t want to do it, but Tony lays on the blackmail: Charles’ fingerprints are on the letter Margot thought she lost.

It seems like the perfect crime, but Margot stabs Charles with a scissors and he falls over dead. Tony pretends to be all sympathetic, but what he really does is blackmail Margot into getting tried and convicted of murder. He even changes out the pink scarf for a nylon and makes Margot think she’s going crazy.

Not everyone buys Tony’s story, though. Mark is definitely suspicious, and so is Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams), who keeps poking around and making Tony nervous. Hubbard’s antennae go up when Mark starts putting his knowledge of criminal behavior to use, plus Hubbard has a few of his own tricks. Margot’s situation may not be as hopeless as it seems and Tony’s crime might not be as perfect as he was hoping for.

Even though this is very much a Hitch film, the movie’s stage origins are very much obvious. The original playwright, Frederick Knott, wrote the film’s screenplay, and seemed to want to stick with what worked for the stage. We all know that the usual thing when adapting plays for the big screen is to take them outside. Dial M doesn’t do that; except for a few brief field trips, the majority of the action takes place in the apartment. This is probably a good thing because it keeps the focus on the story as opposed to going outside for the sake of going outside, which may have added needless confusion to the film.

The result is an atypical Hitchcock film. It’s not as much of a slow burn as many Hitchcock films are; instead, Dial M feels like a slow trickle, as if the director was very ‘meh’ about the whole business. Which he was.

On the other hand, there were aspects of the film that were very typical of the Hitchcock brand. It seems as if Hitch was working with actors who were very safe on a story that was very safe. He had cool blonde, Grace Kelly, who would later work with him on Rear Window. He had Ray Milland, a durable, steady Welsh American who had a reputation for versatility as an actor. He had the affable Robert Cummings who had worked with him before as well. His expectations were well-known in Hollywood by that time.

Or maybe he had other gimmicks on his mind. At the behest of Warner Bros., Dial M For Murder tried to hop onto the 3D bandwagon with some shots set up for the express purpose of jumping out at the audience. It flopped, though. 3D cameras weren’t capable of the shots Hitchcock wanted, such as a closeup of the ‘M’ in Dial M, not to mention moviegoers were already soured on 3D. Quite a few members of the test audience didn’t show up when they heard the film was in 3D and those that did come come hated the 3D format.

Naturally, the film premiered in standard format, but according to TCM traces of the 3D format still remain in the 2D version, such as lamps and other furniture in the foreground of scenes with actors standing behind. Also naturally, Dial M For Murder was Hitchcock’s only 3D film. I can’t imagine why.

In the end, though, Dial M For Murder doesn’t need gimmicks. While it’s definitely lighter on shock value than the average Hitchcock film, it’s no less suspenseful and enjoyable. It’s also worn very well; Dial M is still frequently produced for the stage by community theater groups and professional companies alike.

For more of the Second Master of Suspense Blogathon, please see Maddy at Classic Film and TV Corner. Thanks for hosting this, Maddy, and thanks for letting me get this in so late. Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you tomorrow for another post…

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