Il delitto perfetto

This is truly a brilliant flawless masterpiece. One thing I admire from this film is the astonishing dialogues throughout the film and all "what if" thoughts are very much explained for the viewers and produce logical explanations thus makes it flawless.

Hands down the father of noir-film.

A treat for the eyes and exercise for the brain, "Dial M For Murder" is Hitchcock's second "drawing-room perfect murder" movie, after "Rope", the latter a darker and more sinister affair altogether. Hitchcock himself in interviews played down the quality of this movie, amongst other other things indicating that it was treated almost as a warm-up for the more ambitious "Rear Window" which immediately followed it in his career.

However. it actually has a lot going for it, being beautifully shot in luminous colour, extremely well acted in almost every role and peppered throughout with those eye-catching and brain-satisfying flourishes which so distinguished the director from the rest.

Yes, it is very set-bound, betraying its stage origins and likewise very talky, especially on exposition, but it keeps the viewer alert throughout and delivers a neatly satisfying conclusion. I do wish Hitchcock could have done better with his back-projection unit (an old-fashioned, jarring trait he still hadn't grown out of by "Marnie" some 10 years later) and I occasionally found the constant too frivolous background music an intrusion, but it's well paced throughout, helped considerably by an on-form cast.

Ray Milland is excellent in a kind of darker Cary Grant type persona, Grace Kelly (who'd want to murder her?) goes convincingly from loveliness to wretchedness while it's pleasing to see Robert Cumming to the fore, recalled by Hitch for the first time in over a decade (since "Saboteur" in 1942). The actors playing the would be murderer and nosey police inspector are just fine too.

About those flourishes..., perhaps the most famous being the changing spotlight on Grace Kelly's doomed face as her trial is condensed into just a few terse minutes and of course the murder scene itself, even if one can't imagine her extended stabbing gesture being strong enough to cut through Swann's jacket far less kill him stone dead, but I also enjoyed the raised tracking shot looking down on Milland as he explains his plot to Swann and particularly the parting shadows of lovers Cumming and Kelly at Milland's unexpected approach.

Yes, it's old fashioned Hollywood movie-making, but it's old-fashioned Hollywood movie-making at its best and in my opinion an unjustly overlooked effort from the Master.

I had forgotten that most if not all of it happens in one single room. The planning of it is a display of extraordinary craftsmanship. Not a lagging moment. I was riveted to the, let's face it, preposterous plot from beginning to end. Ray Milland is a credible monster in elegant and civilized clothing. Grace Kelly, a peach as the unfaithful wife who stays home to cut newspaper clippings of her husband's past glories. Yeah, right. Robert Cummings has always been a mystery to me. A popular leading man with a long career. He only exudes a campy, if lightweight vibe that almost works in comedies and when he's in a supporting role - My Geisha and What A Way To Go with Shirley MacLaine are good examples. Here as Grace Kelly's secret lover, I don't know what to say. John Williams. very funny again as the Scotland Yard inspector, the same character to a T he played in Midnight Lace with Doris Day or was it his twin brother? In any case, no Hitchcock fan can afford to miss this filmed play, filmed by one of the undisputed greats.

Retired tennis star Tony Wendice decides to do away with his wife Margot. Tony is aware that his wife has been having an affair with a friend of theirs, Mark Halliday. Tony concocts the 'perfect murder.'

I'm working my way through Hitchcock's tremendous catalogue of films, I've kept this one til the end purposely, as I regard it as one of his best. It's suspenseful, it's intriguing, but best if all, it's clever.

Dial M for Murder has a genius plot, it is so clever, the plot is intricate and complicated, it never fails to impress me, so many details, and a spider's web that few could imagine.

I've been lucky enough to see this on stage a few times, it lends itself very well to The Theatre, this is one film I'd love to see retold.

I'm glad Ray Milland was cast as Tony, he's perfect in the role, he's charming and respectable, but has a wolfish like quality, the kind of guy that would shake your hand, then give you a black eye later on. Grace Kelly and Robert Cummings are terrific.

It's been adapted a few times, one version I quite enjoyed is a Perfect Murder, featuring Michael Douglas, it's not a patch on this, but it's very good.

I love that there's an intermission in it, it's a shame the third Lord of The Rings film didn't follow suit.

9/10.

It takes place almost entirely in one room, and the dialogue, acting and direction is fantastic throughout.

Time has not diminished this gem and it deserves its fame and status.