Dial M for Murder
A double dose of Hitchcock last Friday night, with two films based on plays that take place in a limited setting. First up, the star studded "Dial M for Murder" from 1954. Ray Milland, the Academy Award winning actor from a decade earlier in "The Lost Weekend", plays a retired English tennis player, married to a socialite American played by Grace Kelly, who would win the Academy Award this same year for another film. There is however a love triangle going on as she is still emotionally involved with a former paramour, played by Bob Cummings.
The plot involves an elaborate murder plot that goes awry and deepens the sinister nature of the crime. Tony is a conniving dilettante, who is unsatisfied with his life as a married man who has retired from his sport. He maneuvers an old school acquaintance into his plot through a blackmail threat. His goal is to do away with his wife, inherit her money and be safely alibied by his wife's former lover. Things don't go according to plan but Tony is a clever man if not an ethical one, he improvises a scenario that results in an even more solid cover for his crime.
The Paramount Program Director, Steven Jannise, correctly lauds Grace Kelly as the victimized woman in the story, but I am not sure you can say she steals the picture because Milland as the villain, is unctuous, quick footed, and capable of making the most seemingly innocent things look bad, while also explaining away his own bad actions in a reasonable manner. The part is very cleverly written and Milland handles it with aplomb. Kelly does the distraught wife and victim role well, but there needs to be a little more to her indignance at what transpires.
There are two supporting performances that deserve some attention away from the shade of the stars. John Williams portrays the suspicious Chief Inspector Hubbard, who follows a false trail at first and then doggedly pursues the truth on a last minute bit of subterfuge. Williams is brilliant in the part, side eying everyone and smiling at his own suspicions. It is exactly the kind of performance that makes a movie special. Also deserving some kudos is Anthony Dawson, who plays the shady schoolmate recruited by Tony to be his weapon. I hadn't recognized him immediately, and I should have, perhaps the moustache was in fact a perfect disguise. Dawson is the actor that plays Professor Dent in Dr. No. He is on the receiving end of James Bonds Walther, when his Smith and Wesson runs out of ammo. As
Charles Alexander Swann/Captain Lesgate, Dawson is sinister and charming as he loses a battle of wits with the well prepared Tony.
The film is set largely on the apartment of Tony and Margo, with brief exteriors in front of their building and a couple of scenes set in the police headquarters of Chief Inspector Hubbard. The part with the key switch was a memorable moment in "The West Wing" one of my favorite TV series. The President is screening "Dial M for Murder" and trying to connect with his middle daughter Elle, who is resisting his fatherly sense of humor. The resolution of the scene with the Hitchcock film in the background is one of the warm moments from the series.
Rope
The second feature was another movie based on a play, and it is a grand experiment for the master of suspense. Set entirely in the apartment of the two killers, "Rope" is a psychological tug of war between the killers and their former mentor, the head of their house at prep school. Jimmy Stewart was a frequent star in Hitchcock films, and this was his first foray into the thriller territory that Hitch was the ultimate authority in.
Pseudo intellectual entitled miscreants Brandon Hall and Phillip Morgan, murder a former classmate and friend as an intellectual exercise in power and superiority. They have taken the late night bull sessions with their teacher, way too seriously. Swallowing whole the philosophy of Nietzsche's "Superman", they kill as a way of affirming their own superiority. Brandon, a narcissist with a sadistic streak, secures the body of their victim in a wooden chest that he turns into a center piece at a party he is hosting with Phillip in their apartment. The dead man's father, Aunt and fiancé, as well as his former best friend are all in attendance. When Rupert Cadell, their school house head and mentor, comes to the party, the intellectual cat and mouse games begin. Jimmy Stewart as Cadell, starts to suspect his former students are guilty of something as the snarky Brandon drops hints of his intellectual pretensions while the unnerved Phillip, drinks himself into a morose shell of himself and practically confesses to the crime repeatedly.
The movie is shot in continuity, as if it is all one take. The transitions between the film cuts, necessitated by the limit of ten minutes worth of film at a time, are covered by fades into someone's back or shots cast into a shadow. The movie also plays out in real time, a brief eighty minutes of tense talk and camera movements limited by the setting. The conclusion is a little melodramatic but the film is a fascinating experiment and it features an interesting set of performances from the two villains. The idea that they are superior to a character like the decent Mr. Kentley , played by Cedric Hardwicke, is ultimately laughable. Their twisted self rationalizations are thin and not even convincing to the man they think they are taking inspiration from.
I've seen the film a couple of times, including a theatrical experience at a revival house back in the 1980s. I can't quite remember if it was at the Rialto in South Pasadena or at the New Beverly in West Hollywood. Regardless, it is a great way to see the film, but it may be one Hitchcock that is not diminished by viewing on a TV.
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