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.

The star of this film is Ray Milland, though Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings and John Williams are there to provide support. The marriage between Milland and Kelly is on the rocks, though neither is letting this on to the other. Grace has been cheating on him and Milland, who knows this, is planning on killing her. Why kill her instead of a divorce? Well, Kelly is wealthy and Milland wants to remain in the lifestyle to which he's become accustomed.

Originally Milland's plan is just to have her killed by an old college associate who's gone bad, but when Grace miraculously survives this attack, his plans quickly change and he tries to make it look like she murdered the assassin. While clearly self-defense, Milland is very clever and seems to have thought of just about everything in order to get her convicted of murder. However, the plan is perhaps too clever and too well thought-out and in the end, there is a terrific confrontation with the police investigator and Milland's plans unravel.

Probably the most memorable and amazing scene in the movie is the scene where Kelly kills the would-be murderer. It was done very vividly--particularly when he fell backwards--further driving the scissors into his body. This was a brilliant scene and it made me wince. In fact, throughout the film, there were many well-constructed and executed scenes that make it obvious the script writers and director were in top form. While not among his most famous films, this is one of Hitchcock's better movies and he has a very deft hand in creating a fascinating and literate murder mystery.

Alfred Hitchcock is a wonderful director, directing classics such as Psycho, North by Northwest and Rebecca. While not his best, Dial M For Murder has so much to recommend it. First of all, is the breathtaking cinematography, which is nearly always the best thing in a Hitchcock film. The script is a gem, showing that you are capable of anything, and most of the time, it is very tense and rarely slips. That said, my only complaint, is that one or two scenes such as the ending do fall flat, compared to the rest of the film. However, the film also has a wonderful music score, and fantastic performances from the entire cast. Ray Milland, an actor I really want to get more familiar with, is excellent as Tony Wendice, the husband planning to murder his wife, and make it a perfect murder. As Margot, the beautiful Grace Kelly is the picture of beauty and vulnerability in a wonderful understated performance, perhaps outshining her co-star. Everyone else acquitted themselves well too, even Robert Cummings as Mark Halliday and John Williams as Inspector Hubbard. Overall, an excellent film, not Hitchcock's best, but well looking out for. 9/10 Bethany Cox.