Dial M for Murder (1954)

Film: Dial M for Murder (1954)

Stars: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

Each month, as part of our 2021 Saturdays with the Stars series, we highlight a different one Alfred Hitchcock's Leading Ladies.  This month, our focus is on Grace Kelly-click here to learn more about Ms. Kelly (and why I picked her), and click here for other Saturdays with the Stars articles.

Alfred Hitchcock, our mascot of this year's Saturday with the Stars, once called Grace Kelly his favorite leading woman, and indeed she appeared in three of his most iconic movies: Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief, the former of which I saw for the first time for this series (the other two I've seen previously, in Rear Window's case, multiple times).  We've talked multiple times about Hitchcock's obsession with his leading ladies & cruelty to them, and while that had happened before Kelly (he was vicious to Ruth Roman during Strangers on a Train's shoot, Joan Fontaine basically got gaslighted by Hitchcock throughout the production of Rebecca), she became a template for most of Hitchcock's future stars.

It's hard to grasp by modern standards how to treat Kelly's relationship with Hitchcock.  It seemed to be one of some respect-she worked with him three times, and even after she became a princess she actively considered taking the offer to be his leading lady in Marnie.  But Hitchcock became obsessed with Kelly, trying to control everything about her, a trait he'd bring to his relationship with multiple women in the following pictures, which we'll talk about a bit in the coming months.  While he liked her, he also messed with her head, and like he would with several of his later leading ladies (and like he did with Madeleine Carroll in Secret Agent), Hitchcock inflicted bodily harm on Kelly during the course of shooting.  In the famous attack scene in Dial M for Murder, Kelly shot the sequence for five days straight in order to get it exactly right for the 3-D technology...by Day 4, she was covered in bruises.  Kelly's treatment by Hitchcock is one of the many factors that have tarnished his legacy, a brilliant man (we're getting there in a second, but this is a very good movie) who tore up the boundaries of common decency in his quest to finish his movie.

(Spoilers Ahead) So let's discuss the movie at hand.  Dial M for Murder is about Tony Wendice (Milland), a former tennis ace who is well past his prime and is married to the wealthy Margot (Kelly), who is having an affair with Mark (Cummings), and will likely soon leave her for him.  Tony blackmails his old friend into murdering Margot, thereby getting her inheritance, but the plan goes awry when during the attack Margot kills the would-be assassin.  The film takes a turn for the twisted when afterward, Chief Inspector Hubbard (Williams) begins to suspect that Margot killed the assassin on-purpose, rather than in self-defense, as a result of him blackmailing her about the affair (which it turns out Tony had also done to get money from Margot).  This leads to Margot's arrest, and near execution, before Inspector Hubbard, with the help of Mark, finally cracks the case and the film ends with Mark & Margot together, Tony realizing the gig is up & that he will soon go to jail.

I said at the beginning of this month that Grace Kelly is a weird actress for me because despite seeing virtually all of her movies (I'll have maybe 1-2 that I haven't seen by the end of this month, but the rest I'll have seen), the only ones that I enjoy are Hitchcock's...but I genuinely enjoy her in those movies.  That still holds true after seeing her third collaboration with the director.  Dial M for Murder, is a smart, cheeky murder mystery that unfolds with us knowing the killer the whole time, but being genuinely perplexed as to how he'll be convicted (it's 1954-there's no way he's getting away with this), and Grace Kelly is good in it.  She brings a sort of misguided confidence to the role-she's a wealthy, beautiful woman, who has no real concept of the world around her being anything other than on a platter, and as that starts to crumble, she can't really handle it.  Some criticized this role for being a bit too thin at the time, but I don't buy that-I think Kelly is servicing the character well by having her play not just a blank slate for the audience, but also someone who has never really considered the consequences of her actions before (she is, after all, having an affair from the beginning of the picture).

But the men dominate this film.  This is the most fun I've ever had with Ray Milland, an actor I usually find bland but who sinks his teeth into the vain, erudite killer.  Even better is John Williams as the wily detective, getting his best Columbo quirks on in this picture.  This is not, for the record, famed composer John Williams, but instead you'd probably know him best as Audrey Hepburn's dad in Sabrina-Hitchcock always takes such good care of his supporting characters, giving them plum parts, and this is a doozy of one, as he lights up the second half of the movie, trying (in vain) to prove that there's clearly something wrong with this case.