Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 27
Fresh: 22 | Rotten: 5
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 6.8/10
Critic Reviews: 6
Fresh: 5 | Rotten: 1
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.9/5
User Ratings: 33,943
Based on the popular mystery play by Frederick Knott, Dial M For Murder is more talky and stagebound than most Hitchcock films, but no less enjoyable. British tennis pro Ray Milland suspects that his wealthy wife Grace Kelly is fooling around with handsome American Robert Cummings. Milland blackmails a disgraced former army comrade (Anthony Dawson) into murdering Kelly and making it look like the work of a burglar. But Milland's carefully mapped-out scheme does not take into account the notion
May 29, 1954 Wide
Sep 7, 2004
Warner Bros. Pictures
All Critics (27) | Top Critics (6) | Fresh (24) | Rotten (5) | DVD (13)
The fun of Dial M lies in its duel of wits...
Top CriticDial M is less a filmed play than a highly cinematic investigation of theatricality.
Dial M remains more of a filmed play than a motion picture, unfortunately revealed as a conversation piece about murder which talks up much more suspense than it actually delivers.
The screenplay tends to constrain rather than liberate Hitchcock's thematic thrust, but there is much of technical value in his geometric survey of the scene and the elaborate strategies employed to transfer audience sympathy among the main characters.
[Hitchcock] tried once before, in Rope, to build up a whole continuous drama in one set. He wasn't as successful in that venture. Dial M has all the space it needs.
Was by far the most visually compelling of studio stereoscopic movies.
Hitchcock thriller is tense, but not graphic.
In Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder, even the innocent have poker faces.
The film is about creating and maintaining suspense, which Hitchcock manages quite effectively. (TCM Greatest Classic Films: Murder Mysteries)
A modest thriller in comparison to Hitchcock's later works, but one that's nonetheless taut and cleverly managed.
Lower case Hitch, but diverting and sleek.
It all moves along in a rather efficient if lifeless fashion, with only John Williams shining as a canny police detective.
While it's true that Hitchcock left most of the play's dialogue intact and kept the single setting of the play's apartment, he did quite a bit more to bring the story to life.
Critics seem to prefer the more theatrical, psychological melodramas to the brainy whodunits. But pay no attention - this film is definitely a classic
Mildly enjoyable.
Hitchcock at his best.
June 24, 2011Super Reviewer
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