Hitchcock at his best. A husband (Ray Milland) planning to kill his adulterous wife (Grace Kelly). A murder gone wrong. The murderer (Anthony Dawson) ends up murdered. Perfect set up for an intense and compelling story.
There have been a number of remakes of this brilliant piece of a murder mystery that takes the genre and reverses it by telling the audience everything from the get go. The mystery, as the audience watches, is for the film characters to slowly put the pieces of the puzzle together.
Dial M for Murder is full of suspense and thrills and manages to entice the audience in a sort of cat and mouse one-upmanship game that takes place between the characters. The brilliance of Hitchcock is that although the identity of the culprit is known, all the characters have shades of gray making the audience question their decisions throughout the film.
Obviously, the tension build-up in the final act is typical Hitchcock, edge of the seat, fun. Considering that the entire film has a claustrophobic feel to it, as it is mostly filmed in the confined area of an apartment, and it still manages to entertain, proves why Hitchcock has always been known as the "master" of suspense.
4/5 Star Rating
