Dial M For MURDER!!! in 3D

Last night myself and a friend went to our local cinema to watch a special screening of Dial M For Murder in miraculous 3D. I had seen the film previously but jumped at a chance to watch it on the big screen. There weren't that many people in the cinema which was a disappointment as i presumed there would be more fans of the Hitchcock masterpiece that would be ecstatic to experience such a thing. There were many elderly couples going to watch the film which made me happy and content with thinking that they may have seen it on the big screen the first time around and watching it now is like revisiting their youth and reliving history.


Dial M For Murder is a 1954 film by Alfred Hitchcock, the film revolves around a not-so-happily-but-happily married couple Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) and Margot Mary Wendice (Grace Kelly). Margot is having an affair and is being blackmailed for it by a mysterious being, Tony is infact this mysterious being and blackmailed her to try to make her confess when she doesn't he blackmails a criminal in killing her with the perfect murder that he has planned down to the very last detail and has been for months. When the "perfect" murder is being carried out and Margot is being strangled she manages to grab a pair of scissors from the desk and stab her attacker. Tony tries to cover his tracks as the police get involved and start to point the finger at Margot saying that she killed the attacker because he was blackmailing her about the affair, she is sent to jail and will be executed. Conveniently the day before her execution the detective does more snooping and starts suspecting Tony and then there is a whole kerfuffle with keys and different keys and his key and her key and the killers key and the key on the stairs etc it boils down to who let themselves in with the right key is the real criminal.

The 3D in this film wasn't so great because it only really added layers to the film of which there already were because of set have a what looked like a green screen background. The only scene of which stood out because of the 3D to me was the scene is this picture with the hand coming out of the screen to grab for anything that may help save her life.....it was brilliant to see that.




I do belive it was the entire reason that they chose this film to make into 3D and all because of that hand.The atmosphere from the cinema was amazing, everyone was laughing and silently screaming all at the same time. Watching the film the second time around was a lot more interesting because you pick up on a lot more of the little quirks and details put into the film, you also spend a lot more time thinking about the brilliance of the murder and just how cunning Tony is rather that thinking about how they came to the final conclusion and what slipped him up.

I never really noticed this before but the music for the opening credit is the complete antithesis of the actual film and rather makes it sound like a fun, bouncy comedy. I also took more time to appreciate the detective combing his mustache at the end, a quirk that I didn't really notice before.
There was also a real roar of laughter from the crowd when this "old college" photo came up.

Look at the three heads superimposed onto those bodies, it appears that Hitch had gone back to college.

I have never been Grace Kelly's biggest fan, I guess it was mostly because of Kelly's win at the academy awards rather than Judy Garland my fave and the favorite to win, I had also thought that her acting was perfectly average and that besides her beauty she never stood out and relied on other actors to carry the film. I have seen both The Country Girl and my beloved A Star Is Born and even though Kelly gave a fine performance, Garland had lived her role and put everything she had and had ever had into that role it had the basic structure of her life (if she had played James Masons role that is) I found it outrageous that she didn't win, it would have been the first academy award for best actress that she wold have won and it was not Kelly's fault I would have resented anyone that won against her. It was still like hollywood giving a middle finger to Garland's entire life's work. Due to my unfair dislike towards Kelly and the fact that I had started to rethink my views on her when I watched this film it made me think that out of all of the eleven films that she made I have only seen four and I should't judge her after only seeing four of her films, the films being:

• Rear Window
• Dial M For Murder
• To Carch a Thief
• High Society

I in fact own seven of her film but had never bothered to watch the other three so i decided that today I would watch all of the films of her that I had not seen these being:

• Fourteen Hours
• High Noon
• Mogambo
• The Country Girl
• Green Fire
• The Bridges at Toko-ri
• The Swan (I have been really excited to see this)

I am currently half-way through The Bridges at Toko-ri and have only The Swan to go and I am so excited. I am not sure whether I have changed my views on her but may make another post about this as this is just incredibly wordy and for that I am sorry.

I rate this Hitchcock thriller an 8.7 outta 10