Dial M for Murder - Plan B Never Seemed so Delightful

DIAL M FOR MURDER

Year: 1954

Country: USA.

Cast: Ray Milland, Grace Kelley, Robert Cummings, John Williams, Anthony Dawson and others.

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock.

Runtime: 1 hour 45 minutes approx.

Is this the man she was waiting for… or the man who was waiting for her?

Before I start raving about ‘Dial M for Murder’ I have to confess that this movie wasn’t vintage Hitchcock, but it was well worth the time spent on it. I’m reviewing it as a standalone Hitchcock movie and not in comparison with his other masterpieces.

Over the years, I’ve come to like some stereotypes and hate others. One character I enjoy watching is the calculative person, who bides his time when plotting something big. Typically an ideal conversationalist and a master manipulator, he’s cunning and quick to improvise. I’d classify some outstanding villains (most notably Lee Woo-jin from Oldboy, whose name strikes me first) and a maybe even a few protagonists under this class.

For me, ‘Dial M…’’s Tony Wendice occupies a well-deserved position in that list of movie character staples.

You can take my word for it. Irrespective of whether you love or hate the movie, I’m sure you’re bound to notice the guy who plots to kill his wife in a systematic fashion.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, brings us to the plot. It’s tough to recount the plot without possible spoilers so let this serve as an early apology. When Tony Wendice (deftly played by Ray Milland) learns of his wife Margot (Grace Kelly, presumably Hitchcock’s favourite female lead)’s affair with leading crime novelist Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings), he decides to kill her and use her money for his own needs. As simple as that. After blackmailing an old school mate (Anthony Dawson as Charles Alexander Swan) into carrying out the execution, and planning everything to the minutest of details, he sets things in motion. And as most of you would’ve already guessed by now, the film takes the things-did-not-go-as-planned route and Margot ends up killing Swan in self defense.

Seems ordinary right? This is where ‘Dial M…’ shines as a movie. The quick thinker that he is, Wendice cooks up an impeccable plan B that highlights Margot killing Swan, not in defense, but with motive. Things seem to be going Wendice’s way at last, but Halliday’s persistence and the introduction of the annoying Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams) seem to throw the proverbial wrench in Tony’s machinery. Does Wendice succeed in his brilliantly improvised plan? Or is he eventually found out? There you go, ‘Dial M…’ in a nutshell. Well okay, a very large nutshell.

Character-wise the movie is flawless. Right on top of the pyramid sits Millard with his absolute portrayal of Wendice. Persuasive in conversation and almost artful in his moves, he is every inch the diabolical stereotype I’ve grown to love. Along with Kelley, he forms the perfect couple, while Halliday plays the paramour with finesse. Williams does credible work as the meddlesome cop who thankfully doesn’t get on our nerves. Dawson too, justifies his selection by making his character look so real that you almost feel sorry for him. Such good characters, under Hitchcock’s reins, make for a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

Spoilers follow. Read at your own discretion.

Characters apart, I loved the way some of the scenes were made deliberately outlandish. To me, it almost seemed like Hitchcock saying, “This MUST happen only in the movies.” or something to the extent. The perfect segment that summarizes what I’m trying to say is the entire ‘What if’ conversation between Halliday and Wendice. In this scene, Halliday asks Wendice to save Margot by assuming certain things about the crime. In what must be a stroke of pure Hitchcock, Halliday highlights everything that Wendice actually did to frame his wife. Right from the motive to the stocking. After he theorizes all this, it does not strike him that his hypothesis is a very accurate description of what actually happened. Not by a long shot. I’ve seen quite a few detectives and their deductions but I’ve never seen anything as zany as this!

I was also appreciative of the fact that Hitchcock wasted no time on trivial details. While most directors would have spent hefty portions of the runtime in explaining the delicate situation that surrounds the Wendices, Hitchcock takes all but a minute to drive his point home. At breakfast, Margot reads a clipping about Halliday coming to town. And after a quick shot of an ocean liner, we see them kissing. And that’s that. Everything else is left to the viewer. I love it when directors do that sensibly.

By all means go ahead and watch ‘Dial M for Murder’. You might find some hidden feature of the movie that I didn’t.