Dial M For Murder (1954)
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A desperate man hires a criminal to murder his wife, only to find himself entangled in a complex web of deception and police investigation.
The story
Tony Wendice, a retired tennis player, discovers his wealthy wife Margot is having an affair with a writer. Fearing he will be left penniless by a divorce, Tony plots to murder her and inherit her fortune. He recruits Charles Swann, a small-time confidence man, to carry out the deed. Tony provides Swann with a plan involving a staged burglary and a specific set of instructions to ensure the crime appears accidental. However, the plot begins to unravel as the police become involved, and the truth behind the arrangement becomes a dangerous game of cat and mouse between the conspirators and the authorities.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
Tony Wendice, a retired tennis player, discovers his wife Margot is having an affair with Mark Halliday. To secure his wealth, Tony hires a criminal named Swann to kill her. The plan involves a staged burglary and a specific signal over a telephone. During the attempted murder, Swann is killed by Margot, and Tony frames him to protect himself. When the police, led by Chief Inspector Hubbard, investigate, Tony manages to convince them that Swann was a blackmailer. However, Hubbard suspects Tony's true motives and sets a trap involving a hidden key. In the final confrontation, Tony's deception is exposed when he is forced to reveal the location of his key, proving he orchestrated the plot. The film concludes with Tony calmly accepting his fate as the police close in.
- First release year
- 1954
- Runtime (minutes)
- 105
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Alfred Hitchcock
- Writers
- Frederick Knott · screenplay
- Cast and characters
- Ray Milland · Tony Wendice; Grace Kelly · Margot; Robert Cummings · Mark Halliday; Anthony Dawson · Swann; John Williams · Hubbard
- Genres
- crime thriller; mystery
- Themes
- betrayal; deception; greed
- Tone and mood
- suspenseful; tense
- Premise and plot tags
- murder mystery; crime; noir
- Source material / true-story basis
- a stage play by Frederick Knott
- Reception
- The film received generally favorable reviews, praised for its technical mastery and performances, though some critics noted its slow pace due to heavy dialogue.
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 75 · scale: 100 · review count: 11
- Production trivia
- Originally intended for 3-D; Hitchcock's cameo
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
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