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Features: DVD
When American writer Mark Halliday visits the very married Margot Wendice in London, he unknowingly sets off a chain of blackmail and murder. After sensing Margot's affections for Halliday, her husband, Tony Wendice, fears divorce and disinheritance, and plots her death. Knowing former school chum Captain Lesgate is involved in illegal activities, Tony blackmails him into conspiring to kill Margot. When she kills Lesgate in self-defense, Tony implicates her as being guilty of premeditated murder. Halliday must out-stratagize Tony to save Margot's live.
"...a fabulous murder mystery..." Crazy For Cinema Review
"...a rare and accomplished example of the work of Hitchcock the Minimalist." culturevulture.net
Editor's Note
Alfred Hitchcock had already begun work on REAR WINDOW when he took on the project to direct DIAL M FOR MURDER, based on the successful play by Frederick Knott. For the film, Hitchcock chose to cast his favorite leading lady of the time, Grace Kelly, as the embattled Margot Wendice. Kelly would also star in REAR WINDOW and Hitchcock's subsequent TO CATCH A THIEF. It wasn't Hitchcock's preference to shoot DIAL M FOR MURDER in Warnercolor 3D (the cameras were large and unwieldly), and the film is seldom screened in 3D, but Hitchcock's use of the technique is notable for its service to the story rather than just being a gimmick. In the film Margot Wendice is a wealthy heiress whose playboy husband, Tony (Ray Milland), recognizes his dependence on his wife's fortune. When Tony begins to suspect he is losing Margot's affection to writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings), he also begins to fear he will lose her wealth. This leads the callous husband to craft a plan for his wife's death. However, when the plan goes awry, Tony is quick to turn circumstance into a second opportunity to destroy his wife.
Plot Summary
DIAL M FOR MURDER is Alfred Hitchcock's intriguing cinematic adaptation of Frederick Knott's play about a woman who slowly comes to realize that her husband is trying to murder her. In order to get his hands on his wife Margot's fortune, Tony Wendice hires a hit man to "break into" their apartment and kill her. But when things don't go according to plan, the scheming husband turns circumstances into a second chance to be rid of his wife.
| Features | Audio: English Mono; French Mono | | Interactive Menus | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish |
| Entertainment Reviews
 | Dial M for Murder - DVD Review By: David Bezanson - filmcritic.com DVD Reviews Published on: 8/21/2009 2:42 PM | |
M stands for murder and also for mindjob in this, one of Hitchcock's best films. Based on a stage play by Frederick Knott (whose credits also include another great thriller, Wait Until Dark), Dial M For Murder includes one of the most intricate plots of any murder mystery as well as maximum amounts of Hitchcock's trademark suspense. A quietly evil Ray Milland plays a cold fish who plots to kill his wife (Grace Kelly) for her insurance money. As he explains at the beginning of the movie, he also wants to commit the “perfect murder” – i.e. one that is complicated and dangerous, yet foolproof and never suspected. John Williams is the Scotland Yard inspector who may be onto him....read the full review |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner |
| Release Date: 8/29/2006 |
| Running Time: 105 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1954 | | Catalog ID: 11156 | | UPC: 00085391115625 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English [CC], English, French Dubbed | | Available Subtitles: French, Spanish | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Standard 1.33:1 [4:3] |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
British Academy Awards (1955) | | | Grace Kelly, Nominee, Best Foreign Actress |
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| | Professional Reviews | Chicago Sun-Times
"...Besides historic charm, the movie also sports droll humor....It's a cinema-history treat..." 05/19/2000 p.30USA Today
"Well-acted, un-stagy and with a huge third-act boost from John Williams..." 09/10/2004 p.6D Los Angeles Times
"[T]aut, terrifying..." 08/29/2004 p.E11 |
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