Shoot the Glass

Dial M for Murder (1954, Alfred Hitchcock)

I had never seen this movie, and let me tell you why: it wasn’t available on DVD for the longest time. I finally got my hands on it, and immediately sat down to watch it.

Right from the start, you can tell (if you didn’t know already) that it’s based on a play (written by Frederick Knott). Hitchcock stages it as such, never taking away the inherent construction of it. It’s very confined — it plays out almost entirely inside a small apartment (not unlike Rope, another Hitchcock I really love) — but not to the extent we feel trapped or claustrophobic about it.

As for performances, I have never been more impressed with Grace Kelly. In fact, I think her best two performances ever came out of working with Hitchcock — in this and in Rear Window. I was likewise very impressed with Ray Milland. How does one play a villain, yet be charming, likeable, and get the audience to root for you?

And that leads me to another thing I really enjoyed about this movie. The way Hitchcock directs it and the way Milland plays his part completely subverts our expectations. I defy anyone to watch this and not root — if only for a moment — for the villain. It’s ingenious. Milland is so slick, so calm about the whole thing, that you can’t help but kind of want him to succeed.

I won’t say much about the actual plot. It’s possible you have seen the infinitely inferior remake A Perfect Murder, but still, the way the suspense unfolds is something you really ought to experience for yourself. I will say though that it’s been a long time, a very long time, since I saw anything as tense, as nailbitingly suspenseful, as this movie.

There are also many interesting aspects about the making of this movie. Did you know, for example, that this was originally made for 3D? In the early-to-mid-50s, when TV came about and people could watch movies from the comfort of their own homes, the studios had to constantly come up with new and innovative ways to get people into the cinemas.

This explains why almost every scene in this movie has some object in the foreground, or things (and people) moving towards the camera. Hitchcock simply moved his actors, and not the camera, to get this effect. Another stroke of genius. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to see this in 3D, but I’m sure it would be a very interesting experience.

This movie has everything. If you’re a fan of Hitchcock, the theatre, suspense movies, or just simply a fan of movies, you have got to see this — no two ways about it.

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