Dial M for Murder

Dial M for Murder (1954) takes place almost entirely in a single flat, and the format it was shot in is not widely known now. It was made in 3D. Hollywood had a brief 3D craze in the early fifties and Warner put this film into it. The fad collapsed before the film was ready and Dial M was mostly shown flat. Knowing that explains one scene. During the attempt on her life, the woman reaching back for the scissors and the scissors coming toward the camera is a movement designed for 3D. It works in two dimensions as well, but why it is staged that way only makes sense with this in mind. The story: Tony, a former tennis player, hires an old acquaintance to kill his wealthy wife Margot. The plan is laid out minute by minute and the audience knows it in advance. Then it goes wrong and Tony has to improvise a new one in real time. The tension comes not from who dies but from whether he will be caught. Hitchcock deliberately places the audience on the murderer's side. It is adapted from Frederick Knott's play and the theatrical quality is kept on purpose. It was Grace Kelly's first film with Hitchcock. It runs 105 minutes. Good for: classic thrillers, single location films, and Hitchcock. Less good for: the pace is slow and dialogue driven, and there is a strangling.