Dial M for Murder

Dial M for Murder. 1955 Warner Bros. Pictures.
Starring: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams, Anthony Dawson
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Amazon.com listings: Available as a single DVD, or as part of the Alfred Hitchcock Signature Collection.

Alfred Hitchcock directed the film adaptation of Frederick Knott's stage play, choosing to deliberately stick with a smaller scale film after filming several other ambitious films, including Strangers on a Train.

Tony Wendice (Millard) is a former tennis player who now sells sports equipment, which he did to please his wife Margot (Kelly), who he married partly for her money. Margot at one time was involved with a novelist named Mark Halliday (Cummings), but hadn't been in any contact him for quite some time.

For a year, Tony is carefully planning Margot's murder. Margot has no idea that Tony knows about her past relationship with Mark, and Tony has even disguised himself as an anonymous blackmailer to find out if Margot would pay for a stolen bag containing one of Mark's letters (she would, but Tony only asked for fifty pounds). Collecting a thousand pounds in used, one-pound notes, Tony hires a former acquaintance to commit the crime. C.A. Swann, alias "Captain Lesgate" (Dawson) is a career criminal who Tony has found out enough about to blackmail him into killing Margot.

Tony believes he has committed the perfect crime, but he never considered for a moment that Margot would be strong enough to fend off and kill her attacker. When that happens, Tony has to think fast and comes up with a plan to make it look like Margot has killed Swann in cold blood instead of killing him in self-defense. While this plan works initially, and it sends Margot off to prison, there's more enough evidence to show that the entire situation has reason to be doubted. The question is, how long can Tony maintain this charade before he gives himself away?

Recommended movie.

Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is thirteen minutes into the film, he is in a photograph taken at a class reunion, seated at a table with former students and faculty.