Comments on: Hitchcock can get away with murder.

Hitchcock can get away with murder.

shakespeherian — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 13:20:13 -0800

Hitchcock frets not at his narrow room. David Bordwell takes a look at Dial M for Murder, its roots in filmed theater and its dealing of the conventions of 3D filmmaking.

By: carsonb

carsonb — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 14:29:12 -0800

So... here's my excuse to watch Dial M For Murder tonight!

By: griphus

griphus — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:42:54 -0800

Oh, this is awesome. Also probably one of the best endings in cinema.

By: CCBC

CCBC — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 02:32:54 -0800

Okay, but no mention of the gun. IIRC, there was a monster gun created (no, I am not thinking of Spellbound) so as to keep it all in depth of field.

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 08:33:05 -0800

This is probably the only 3-D film I would willingly go to a theater to see, if the opportunity would ever arise in my area. What's interesting is how well the compositions and photography hold-up in 2-D, unlike so many 3-D films where shots stick out painfully as "ooooo! 3-D!!!". Really, in Dial M, only the hand holding the key (and maybe the hand reaching for the scissors) hit you as completely transparent "3-D for 3-d's sake" shots. Sure, you can watch it and note that all those damned lamps in the foreground of so many shots are taking advantage of 3-D, but they also work as framing devices. And, to me, they also create the sense that this is a small, real-life apartment, cluttered with the stuff people really have scattered about...like lamps.

By: Elsa

Elsa — Sun, 09 Sep 2012 11:08:28 -0800

all those damned lamps in the foreground of so many shots are taking advantage of 3-D The objects in the foreground are certainly intended to emphasize the 3D, sure, but the foregrounded objects also subtly reinforce a major motif of the film: flowers for the lovers, trophies for Tony Wendice. I wrote about it briefly here:

Despite Hitchcock's claim that he simply transferred a successful play to the screen, Dial M shows Hitchcock's gift for using subtle elements of the set design to mirror the interpersonal dynamics. The lovers sit amid flowers (in vases, inlaid on a cabinet, on the upholstery, in a splashy still-life) in the background and foreground, while Tony's scenes draw the eye to the shelves of trophies from his tennis career, those trophies echoed in the shapes of lamps and vases throughout the set, in the carved backs of wooden chairs and the swooping curves of his wing chair, and again in the headboard of the bed prominently foregrounded in the last act.

Examine the screenshots at the David Bordwell link above and you'll see the trophy shapes repeated over and over again when Ray Milland is onscreen. The trophy motif (and Wendice's pacing, pouncing bearing and delivery) reminds us, consciously or unconsciously that though Margo is a faithless wife and a fluent liar, her husband is the worse spouse. He's a master manipulator who has come to view his marriage as a zero-sum game, a match where he can win by delivering the killing blow --- first, to his wife at the hands of his handpicked blackmailed murderer-to-be, then, when that shot fails, at the hands of the state.

By: griphus

griphus — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 09:53:42 -0800

Not sure if anyone is still paying attention to this, but Film Forum (in NYC) is playing Dial M for Murder in 3D from 9/26-10/4.