A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.A former tennis star arranges the murder of his adulterous wife.
- Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award
- 5 wins & 3 nominations total
Richard Bender
- Banquet Member
- (uncredited)
Robin Sanders Clark
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Jack Cunningham
- Bobby Outside Flat
- (uncredited)
Robert Dobson
- Police Photographer
- (uncredited)
Guy Doleman
- Detective
- (uncredited)
Bess Flowers
- Woman Departing Ship
- (uncredited)
Robert Garvin
- Banquet Member
- (uncredited)
Herschel Graham
- Banquet Member
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaSir Alfred Hitchcock wanted Cary Grant to star, but Warner Brothers felt that he would be miscast as a villain.
- Goofs(at around 24 mins) Wendice throws a £100 bundle on a pink armchair. The money falls right at the back of the seat. A few minutes later, Swann takes the money which is now right in front of the armchair.
- Quotes
Tony Wendice: It's funny to think that just a year ago, I sat in that Knightsbridge Pub actually planning to murder her. And I might have done it, if I hadn't seen something that changed my mind.
C.A. Swan: Well? What did you see?
Tony Wendice: I saw you.
- Crazy creditsThe title is shown on a background of a British telephone dial; its MNO marking is replaced by a single large M which forms the single M of the title.
- Alternate versionsThe film had an intermission in its original 3-D release, although it is less than two hours in length.
- ConnectionsEdited into Histoire(s) du cinéma: Le contrôle de l'univers (1999)
Featured review
One of Hitchcock's best thrillers.
1954 was a big year for Grace Kelly. She played in Hitchcock's classic "Rear window" and she won an Oscar for best actress in "The country girl" and most people tend to forget that she starred in yet another classic, "Dial M for murder". Starring Grace Kelly, Ray Milland, and Robert Cummings, it is simply one of Hitchcock's finest movies of all-time. In fact, I would consider it to be my second favorite Hitchcock movie ever, my first being "Psycho" (although I haven't seen "Rear window" yet).
Margot (Grace Kelly) is married to Tony Wendice (Ray Milland), an ex-tennis player. However, she has been seeing another man named Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). Mark writes crime stories. The two of them think that Tony doesn't know about their relationship but they're wrong; Tony has known about this relationship for one year and seems to have had enough of it. So when Mark, who lives in New-York, comes to London to see Margot, Tony wants to go out with Mark and his wife. But the night of the event, Tony is unable to go. So he tells Margot to take Mark out and to have a good time. The only problem is that Tony doesn't really have something that's keeping him from going out with Margot and Mark. He has another plan, the plan being to blackmail one of his old college friends that has become a small time crook into murdering his wife.
What follows this is pure entertainment at its best. As usual, Hitchcock masterfully directs this movie and has the right actors to do the job. Ray Milland and Grace Kelly deliver very good performances and surprisingly enough, Robert Cummings does a rather good job in his role of Mark Halliday, the American crime novel writer who accidentally stumbles on the answer. But it is John Williams who steals the show with his great performance as Inspector Hubbard, the detective who holds the key to the whole mistery. He is simply excellent and pretty funny when he is supposed to be. Another of his great performances is in "Witness for the prosecution" where he played Brogan Moore, Charles Laughton's very good friend and seconding lawyer in the case. As for "Dial M for murder", well it's one of those movies that anyone should see at pretty much any cost.
Margot (Grace Kelly) is married to Tony Wendice (Ray Milland), an ex-tennis player. However, she has been seeing another man named Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). Mark writes crime stories. The two of them think that Tony doesn't know about their relationship but they're wrong; Tony has known about this relationship for one year and seems to have had enough of it. So when Mark, who lives in New-York, comes to London to see Margot, Tony wants to go out with Mark and his wife. But the night of the event, Tony is unable to go. So he tells Margot to take Mark out and to have a good time. The only problem is that Tony doesn't really have something that's keeping him from going out with Margot and Mark. He has another plan, the plan being to blackmail one of his old college friends that has become a small time crook into murdering his wife.
What follows this is pure entertainment at its best. As usual, Hitchcock masterfully directs this movie and has the right actors to do the job. Ray Milland and Grace Kelly deliver very good performances and surprisingly enough, Robert Cummings does a rather good job in his role of Mark Halliday, the American crime novel writer who accidentally stumbles on the answer. But it is John Williams who steals the show with his great performance as Inspector Hubbard, the detective who holds the key to the whole mistery. He is simply excellent and pretty funny when he is supposed to be. Another of his great performances is in "Witness for the prosecution" where he played Brogan Moore, Charles Laughton's very good friend and seconding lawyer in the case. As for "Dial M for murder", well it's one of those movies that anyone should see at pretty much any cost.
helpful•10245
- Chuck-149
- Sep 14, 1999
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for Murder
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,400,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $24,845
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $12,562
- Apr 11, 1999
- Gross worldwide
- $43,308
- Runtime1 hour 45 minutes
- Color
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1
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