Elements of Murder

Dial M for Murder

(1954)


Directed by- Alfred Hitchcock

*Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams

As I was watching Dial M for Murder I was half worried if it would turn out to be like Rope, which was the Hitchcock film I saw right before this one.
Like it, in the sense that it would follow a formula and a linear storyline with no unforeseen development or as they say, a catch.
Now, not that Rope was not a good film, it was fantastic. Only it didn't make you jump out of your seat. All it did was to follow the 'plan' brilliantly well.

But as the murder scene is played out and the anxiety waxed, a terrible accident shook me up from my seat and the film off its cliched track and onto something mindbendingly amazing!
After that it was a cat and mouse game that kept me completely off the scent.
I knew what was going on when and what will shortly follow but towards the end there was this terrible nagging, an uneasiness that something didn't add up somewhere.
And when it finally did I was overcome by its petty brilliance.

The film deftly explores all elements of murder. Motive, the Act and finally, Retribution.
The story which follows a sly yet motivated husband, his unfaithful wife, her gumshoe of a lover and a determined inspector runs on the steam of it's surprise act with great intent and carries forth this blazing thriller ably until it seems to run out of gas and quite suddenly, injects new life with a catch that not only solves all problems, but handsomely.

Ray Milland's acting is superb. He plays the calculating schemer Wendice with an ease that slips in effortlessly.
Meanwhile Grace Kelly's wide-eyed wife Margot who becomes a double-victim, firstly of her husband's evil plot and then of the long, misguided arms of the law is believable. As is Cummings' detective novel author Halliday.
But John Williams' snoopy Chief Inspector Hubbard is the one who truly stands up to Milland's fantastic bad guy with slick hair and a vicious smile.

Based almost entirely in an apartment, the film is directed with absolute expertise.
Every pan, every zoom of the camera was done dexterously to accentuate the significance and symbolism of various objects and scenes.
Hitchcock really directs this one with such airtight drama and earnestness that the atmosphere creates half the effect of the film.

An awe-inspiring work of cinema that throws off the obvious and presents an intelligent and inventive adaptation of a play.



Rating- 4.5/5