
Because while it's true this may not be great Hitchcock, Dial M for Murder is a great stage play — a masterpiece of suspense and surprise — and Hitchcock did a fine job of adapting it to the screen.
The play was written by Frederick Knott and it is considered one of the all time great stage thrillers, listed by Ira Levin in Deathtrap as being up there with Sleuth and Angel Street (aka Gaslight) — and, I should add, Deathtrap itself.

Not to mention Agatha Christie's masterpieces, The Mousetrap, Witness for the Prosecution and Go Back for Murder.
I've been making a study of these classic theatrical thrillers and Dial M for Murder was next on my list. I'm looking to get a copy to read, but meanwhile I wanted to see Hitchcock's film, so I ordered the Blu-Ray.

But, more importantly, it had a very useful documentary detailing the origins of Dial M for Murder.
I'd always thought it was an American play and had originated on Broadway. Far from it...

Because Dial M for Murder began its long life as television play on the BBC TV anthology series Sunday Night Theatre in March 1952.

Within three months of appearing on television, the play was on stage at the Westminster Theatre in London — and four months later it was on Broadway.

Nice going, Frederick Knott. (And screw you, Seven Stupid Producers.)
It's difficult to discuss too much about Dial M without revealing the fantastic, twisting snake's-nest of a plot devised by Knott (a perfect name for this writer, by the way).

But very little is what it seems as Frederick Knott unleashes a serpentine series of plot twists involving blackmail, murder, a deadly phone call, a crucially important housekey and a miscarriage of justice...

Or to put it differently, it's the story of a perfect murder which almost succeeds...
When I wasn't squirming with suspense, I was laughing out loud with pleasure.

And Hitchcock's approach with successful plays was to do the very minimum to make them filmic... essentially he wanted to preserve the nature of the stage experience.
A very smart move, because Frederick Knott's play is simply brilliant.

Knott would go on to write very little else — notably two other suspense thrillers for the stage, Write Me a Murder in 1960 and Wait Until Dark, another massive hit, in 1966.
I remember the movie of Wait Until Dark scaring the heck out of me on TV when I was a little kid.
I may have to watch that next.

I love the actual murder sequence. The stocking. The way we see his face behind hers. The scissors... And the mechanical telephone exchange. Before Mrs T privatised the phones the Post Office had open days to encourage us to buy shares and I remember seeing a massive enormous room of such machines clicking away... It's such a good plot device too that she saves herself only to become... It's a bit like Columbo... We know who did it the tension is in will they get away with it.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. And the retro phone technology is just one more reason to like this film! Thank you for commenting!
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