Hitchcock Retrospective – Dial M for Murder Review

This is The Brain, and you're listening to the

GeekCast Radio Network. Yes! Hello, welcome to

episode 209 of The Cinema Geeks. I am one of

your Cinema Geeks, Optimus Solo, and joining

me today as the Uj, the Comic Concierge. Dan,

hello. Hey, how's it going? Going well. And today

we're going to just keep on trucking through

the filmography of Alfred Hitchcock. So you've

heard us talk about the 39 steps notorious rope

and strangers on a train. And now we are going

to be talking about the 1954 American crime thriller,

Dial M for Murder, obviously directed by Alfred

Hitchcock, starring Ray Milan, Grace Kelly, Robert

Cummings, Anthony Dawson and John Williams. among

some other minor roles. The plot here is that

we have a, as usual for a Hitchcock film, we

have a murder or a plan for a murder involved

in the story here. And some individuals that

are either trying to get away with murder, trying

to frame somebody with murder. It is dial -in

for murder. So it makes sense that we're going

to talk about that a lot. So Dan, I know you

said you had watched this once. I think it was

like maybe 13 years ago. Yes, it was a very long

time ago. Gotcha. And then this is the first

rewatch since then. So what was your first reaction

to Dial M for Murder on this rewatch? First,

I was surprised how much I remembered. Like,

with Strangers on a Train, some of it clicked

with me. But with Dial M for Murder, once I started

watching it, I was like, OK. I remembered a good

amount of it. I was like, OK, a lot of it stuck

with me. Honestly, there's a lot of similarities

between it's just like between this and This

and strangers on a train as well as rope, you

know like rope it takes it's based on stage play

It takes place primarily in one location And

then also like uh strangers on a train it has

a situation where someone's trying to commit

the perfect murder per se Uh, and I really like

this once again, I think Even though I didn't

like Rope as much, I felt like this felt more

claustrophobic than Rope, even though with Rope

we are in one room the entire time, almost always

with one shot. And I also really like the cat

and mouse game that's being played here. You

have this individual who is angry with his wife,

who is having an affair, so he wants to kill

her, and he goes through this elaborate Try to

uh concept of trying to get that done by going

to like an old college friend that he tracks

down and follows in some really creepy ways,

but You know try to blackmail him to do it. He

think he thinks he has the perfect plan, but

I just I loved how Seeing this guy who thinks

he has everything figured out um, and how it

kind of falls apart but like him trying to like

trying to put the pieces back again and then

I don't know I just found that that The machinations

of the plot similar to the way I really liked

about fingers on a train like you were felt like

I understood everything that was happening and

the reasoning behind it and it was it was just

a really well constructed concept the same thing

here and Having it all take place in one location

Obviously being placed based on a play you can

kind of tell that but for whatever reason it

felt I don't know like we get a little bit of

shots outside of it and we get a couple shots

in other locations But I don't know it I ended

up really liking it. How about yourself? Yeah,

so this one again, this was a first time watch

for me So I'd never seen this one before knew

nothing about it Went in completely blind and

I'm really not familiar too much with The cast

as well. Like I know probably I guess you could

say grace Kelly's the most Famous person we have

here Yeah, I would assume the most well -known

and I don't know if I've ever seen her in a movie.

I don't have her filmography like Yeah, you know

memorized. Well, I guess I've seen her in rear

window So like that's obviously that's another

Hitchcock film But besides that like I've no

I don't think I've ever seen her hardly in any

other film So it was almost like an introduction

to her in a way but a lot of it has the things

that I like, you know, like I like limited set

I like Unlimited amount of characters. I like

something that's going to be driven a lot on

dialogue Which is what you get a lot of times

when you have a play that's being you know Transitioned

into a film what and I and I think you pointed

out a lot of good parallels between this and

some of the other Hitchcock films we've talked

about whether it be Rope or Strangers on Train

probably the most specific ones because Clearly

Hitchcock was interested in exploring this whole

idea or aspect of, you know, I use the word murder

a lot in kind of the first couple sentences I

said on the podcast here, but it's not just a

murder. He's like, he's very intrigued or interested

in looking at this whole idea of a perfect murder.

And so what we get in a number of these films

is a little bit unlike what we see more today,

where there's a lot of stuff that is more after

the fact. So it's more about like when you watch

a lot of TV series or or movies that deal with

crime and murder and stuff like that I feel like

a lot of it's more on the other side like it's

solving the crime. It's Trying to figure out

the aftermath of it whereas we get a lot in a

couple of these films about the planning of it

and the setting up of it and the Talking our

way through it and trying to think of all the

different ways that we're gonna protect ourselves

against getting caught or whatever the case may

be so I think that's kind of an interesting thing

that he's explored and I think again what this

one does that strangers on a train did as well

to me that separates both of those films a little

bit from rope is is the thrilling aspect or the

suspense aspect I think is again on point here

much like we talked about last episode of strangers

on a train because This one had me really not

sure what was going to happen next. You know,

I wasn't predicting any way that the story was

going to go. You know, at one point you're wondering

if the murder is going to happen or not. Later

on, you're wondering if he's going to get away

with it or not. And. It just had just enough

of like not knowing exactly how this is going

to resolve, not knowing how all the pieces are

going to come together and who's going to. Is

she going to get in trouble? or you're found

guilty of this is the You know the affair the

love affair with the the gentleman is he gonna

be involved and get blamed as the rightful person

gonna get blamed so like there is a lot of that

that just kind of Lends itself to some natural

tension and suspense, which I definitely appreciated

from that And the rest of the cast I really just

I didn't know a lot of them Like I don't know

if I've seen Ray Milan in anything I don't know

if I've seen Robert Cummings in anything, but

I loved Robert Cummings in this Um, who plays

Mark Halliday, who is the, uh, the lover, I guess

you could say of Grace Kelly's character, not

the husband. Um, and I thought he did phenomenal.

Like every time he was on screen, I wanted to

see more of him and just see it. You can clearly

see a dynamic between the two guys here. You

said a little bit of a cat and mouse, but it

like basically, yeah, the cat and mouse between

those two, as far as who's going to get the upper

hand and who's going to like. Mark how they obviously

comes across as someone who's intelligent. He's

a He's a right would correct me if I'm wrong.

He's a writer of or Viewer he deals with crime

stories in a way and so it gives him like an

Expertise but like an inner knowledge, I guess

of like in his mind like the things that You

need to look for it in order to solve a mystery

because he's written about him or reviewed It

was either a writer himself of books. Yeah, he

he was a crime. He was like writer and author

Yeah of crime stories, so you could even say

like it, you know, I don't not like ever it's

in search of Elbert Hitchcock, but certainly

like one where you could see some parallels because

he There's almost like a meta aspect of some

of the stuff he was saying obviously like where

he was talking about You know how things ever

go right in like how like things seem a lot easier

in the movies And then of course he's like well

in real life things, you know Every little small

things would happen that want to go with the

way you're expecting and then right after that

is exactly what ends up happening You know, we

see right from from her not wanting to stay home

that night and like issues with the key Yeah,

you know I like like that what I mean I you know

being mad at breaking the fourth walls and was

wasn't super uncommon like Bob Hope did all the

time during this era but I thought it added a

little bit something that we Haven't at least

we haven't seen in this retrospective in a hedgehog

film yet Yeah, and it's interesting because like

when Tony which is the character played by Ray

Milan He's like the main he's her husband When

he's laying out his plan for exactly how this

is going to go, which is, you know, it's right

in front of us. He's literally telling somebody

else step by step what you need to do, what's

going to happen, when it's going to happen, like

all this other stuff. And when he's telling that

whole story, it's so easy to just follow the

dots that he's laying out and think that he has

conceived of maybe a perfect plan or that like,

this is actually going to be super easy. And

it's interesting because his performance and

the way he portrays that it's you just buy into

it you're like yeah he's thought he's thought

of everything this is how it's gonna work and

for me like I didn't even like think of the plan

and in the way that Mark Halliday probably would

have and be like it's gonna take the most minute

thing that you have no control over to make this

plan go wrong like and for some reason you don't

pick up on that as he's playing it all out at

least I didn't Like that it could be something

as simple as like she doesn't want to stay home

and then your whole plan is ruined. Yeah. And

there's like a series of maybe like a half a

dozen things that go, maybe not a half a dozen,

but there's a number of things that are going

wrong or have the potential to go wrong that

we just like immediately see like one after the

other. And it's like, Oh, that whole plan that

sounded genius. Wasn't even close. Like so many

ways to go wrong. Watch goes stops working. There's

someone in the phone booths when he goes out,

you know, right and then the person that he relies

everything and counts on is clearly not Capable

of doing what he was asking him to do in a way.

Yeah, you know Yeah, did you did you notice like

I didn't honestly even on rewatch I didn't realize

he put the key back under the carpet. I I guess

it was no I did not notice at all, but it was

It was weird because I'm watching this for the

first time and he's doing the sequence and he

gets in the room and all of that. And when Tony

comes back, like obviously he is looking for

the key. And I'm thinking to myself, like the

whole plan, like if I'm that guy, like the plan

should have been to open that and put that key

right back. Like you shouldn't have brought the

key in with you. This whole could have been avoided

if you just put it put the key back I'm like

This is something they didn't think of and I

had no idea that that was actually going to be

part of the plot the rest of the way Yeah, it's

like oh like he did exactly what I thought he

should have done But I totally didn't pick up

on the fact that he actually did that so that

was kind of interesting And I just think I don't

know I I do like the the way the story unfolds

I Like the way that it's like slowly revealed

each thing that could go wrong and then at one

point Like the chief inspector in this is an

interesting character Yeah, I don't know a hundred

percent how I feel about him as a character or

as the performance because he had me going in

different directions like I was like, oh this

character is awful and Like completely incompetent,

but then at the other point you're like, oh,

he's a genius But then he's not being played

as a genius like he was almost like the Columbo

of this where like he's totally throwing everybody

off by coming across as someone who's not really

on top of it so like we basically have Columbo

in the chief inspector and I guess you could

call Mark Halliday like Jessica Fletcher like

for murder she wrote the writer that like is

gonna be able to solve everything so it's interesting

like that you have sort of those types of structures

of characters involved here not that That was

obviously this came way before all of that So

but it was an interesting dynamic and I don't

know what your take of the inspectors character

was But he had me kind of all over the place

throughout this movie on on if I liked him didn't

like him thought He was doing a good job thought

he was doing a bad job. Like what was your take

on him? I didn't like the fact he was he was

very antagonistic but like in an interesting

way like he Kind of asking all those questions

And like not taking anything. I didn't feel like

the way that they were so accepting that she

murdered him without like just without, you know,

like with not buying your story. I was like,

I don't know. Like it seems like they're really

out to like get her for murder. But I also like

thought it made sense in the way they put the

pieces together. Like it's like, oh, like, you

know, and he of course didn't help much. Yeah,

I do think though he just kind of come around

and it does become a bit convenient. You know,

there are elements of that, of course. But I

thought he was at least Good foil and I thought

in the way he seems to be having fun with it

in a way He was very I don't say cartoonish,

but certainly like well, I mean based on that

shot Yeah, well, yeah, maybe with the yeah what

he does. He does got the great mustache. I got

to give him that so I Yeah, so I thought no his

character was certainly there To be the person

that kind of move things around and he does make

a show of everything And in a lot of ways, which

I thought was kind of interesting, but the way

that Mark Halliday is like, it caught me off

guard because he explained something to me. Like,

obviously it's I guess you have to make the leap

that he actually has put together exactly what

has happened and is just right on as he's explaining,

like to Tony, like this is what you should tell

him. And it's like exactly what happened. But

like his whole story, though, and then when they.

the the a little bit more suspicious over the

fact that Like he know because he knew about

the letter so he kind of knew his wife and him

were having that affair And he's just like yeah,

we're still friends though, right? We're just

gonna it's like he would be completely unaware

though of the Animosity that would exist just

because of what was happening. It's like yeah,

like you'd want to kill her because of this happening

It's like yeah, that probably would be a good

reason Yeah, you put those pieces together so

what did you think of the interaction between

Tony who's obviously again, you know We're talking

about the main, the husband, the main antagonist

in this film, I guess you'd call him. What did

you think about his scene with, uh, Anthony Dawson's

character who plays, uh, Charles Swan, who is

who he. Hires to do this murder. Then they have

a interesting sequence where he invites him over

to the whatever we're calling this, the apartment,

the flat, the house, whatever they're staying

at. And under the, um, auspices of he's trying

to buy a car from him and then kind of weaves

his way to like almost entrap him into like forcing

him to be a part of this plan and it's a similar

dynamic to obviously in strangers on a train

where we have one person trying to convince another

person to be a part of this but it's not the

main character it's like a side character he's

trying to convince and it's a pretty elongated

sequence a little bit of Sometimes you'd get

in trouble for that like these days where it's

like too much of the plot being told between

the two characters I guess but what did you think

about that whole sequence between those two characters

and how it's all laid out Yeah, I mean this is

I mean this could easily just be an audio play

on it like because it's everything is sold through

dialogue like you could Not even like watch the

screen and like you can get everything because

everything is very direct I thought like but

I think it works because you have good performances

and Whole soliloquy of him going through everything

it does made a very conniving and I do there's

also this running thread of a lot of the movies

where I feel like Hitchcock doesn't like this

type of intellectual intellectual Feels like

they're the smartest person in the room and is

always talking down to everyone because you see

those characters a lot in this In his movies

thus far that we've gone over and they're often,

you know, you they have this Me that seems like

they are highfalutin but obviously really awful

human beings we saw of course with rope even

saw those changes on the train and now this of

course cuz you know Tony is like you know he's

a tennis pro he's and But I thought that I thought

it was a good well constructed scene it put all

the pieces again everything made sense and it

was the direction of it was It's a lot happening

there, right? Cause like you said, it's a lot

of dialogue. It's going through a lot of backstory.

It's tell, you know, it's the opposite of showdow

towel. It's telling you not really showing you

much, but I thought the actors made it work.

And even Hitchcock, you know, using not overusing,

you know, cavern movements, keeping never became

an distraction. Like you felt you were in the

room with them. So I think that's, yeah, go ahead.

I think it also helped because we, Not only are

convinced because of Tony's. Kind of. Delivery

of like how much he's thought of this, but then

it also then brings in this swan character who

is raising his own questions like have you thought

of this or you forgot about this or this details

going to screw you up. So it even adds another

layer to convince you that like this is almost

foolproof. Just to completely deconstruct that

immediately like 17 times in the next like 10

minutes after that so it's like You know like

they did that I think that sequence does a good

job of just like cementing that this is actually

a legit fail safe plan that all of the contingencies

have been thought of and I bought into a hook

line and sinker like an idiot Not even like thinking

like how many holes there was and I so I thought

it was like a genius way to kind of like It's

not just one guy that thinks he knows all the

answers We have another guy that's then questioning

him and they're still showing that like everything's

been thought of. And I thought that was an interesting

way to kind of like build that up in a way that

like as it gets deconstructed, it makes it like

even that much more effective to me, I think.

Yeah, that's a good point. Yeah, I think it it

that was a good way of approaching it. And I

think that scene, it has to work because if it

doesn't work, nothing that comes next is going

to it. Right. And they kind of set the stage

and. And that really is a scene in this movie

is really like three scenes for the most part

You mean you get the opening you dad that is

the bulk of the film and then of course you have

the murder scene and then the follow -out and

With the bird is vector. Yeah. Yeah, it is a

lot of long prolonged scenes And it's just interesting

watching this after robe and how we both didn't

like it as much and they're just trying to figure

out like what worked here more I think it again.

It just came down to the characters and the dynamic

it being a bit more compelling and obviously

the feeling like There was the Direction like

maybe feel more part of the film where I wasn't

distracted Yeah, right. It didn't and I never

felt like it movie never made itself aware make

it like self aware it was movie even though it

did have like some of the kind of out close to

meta jokes when it came to like, you know the

author talking about How you do crime film, but

it's just there. Yeah clearly a lot of connecting

tissue between all the movies we've gotten so

far Well, and it's also interesting because so

far in in all three of those films. Well, really

I'm in every film except for notorious every

film has had the one of the main I guess murders

or deaths happen very quickly yeah even 39 steps

the girls killed in the apartment like in the

first quarter of the film right like that sets

up the stage for everything rope we it's like

the opening sequence uh strangers on a train

it happens in the first third This one that happens,

you know, probably right around the third mark

So it's interesting how they do that But then

each film has a completely different way to then

navigate the rest of the story or the rest of

the film Yeah, I think that's why one of the

main reasons why for rope It doesn't work for

me as much as it has and these other ones was

because and that one they killed the person immediately

Which is the quickest out of all the films so

we don't have any really build up to the actual

action. It just happens without warning and without

any thought of, you know, character build or

the situation build or anything. So that's the

one. But then I think the other one is Rope for

the most part then ignores the death for the

better part of the film, right? Like, you know,

the two characters know about it. Nobody else

does. Nobody's trying to solve anything necessarily.

And it just kind of like continues on with like

not the death being like the main Crux I think

for me whereas all these other ones it has been

like the one you know in 39 steps He's trying

to prove his innocence. He's on the run like

it's a big part of the rest of the film in strangers

on a train like it sets up the whole dynamic

between these two characters and The cat and

mouse between them and trying to get him to do

another murder To you know, pretty repay the

favor and then this one obviously we're trying

to figure out who's gonna get Blamed for it.

Who's gonna get you know? Found guilty for it.

So I think I don't know it works so much better

in all these other ones for me And I think that's

one of the things that makes it way more suspenseful

and more of a thriller Not that I want to keep

like pilot on rope. It's not like a the worst

movie ever or anything like that. No, it's just

Yeah, it's definitely it just it's just because

it's the you know Ugly duckling although what

we watch so far, but it just it's just interesting

comparing it But it's also interesting like with

all the murders that that are are such a central

focus Is that what they're being well 39 steps

was probably the murder that had the most stakes

because it was dealing with espionage and I guess

The Taurus didn't necessarily have a central

murder. But like the other ones it's not over

money It's not you know, it's always based upon

love affairs and that it's always that that is

leading to the murder thus far. It is never,

you know, what just, you know, because you think

of, this is the time of a lot of crime films

and things like that, but all these murders are

based upon personal relationships or, in the

case of Rope, just the desire to do it. Like,

it's the murder itself, what that is, that kind

of, they're trying to achieve rather not necessarily

out of something that is like... More materialistic

so yeah and it makes it harder to relate to in

a way to cuz you're like I can't relate to the

college. keeping the holding them ransom from

moving on with their life or, you know, things

of that nature. So I think it's harder, you know,

on one just to like relate and like put yourself

in that story. It seems like it's artificial

from the get go in a way, unless you're talking

about something like, you know, a true. Like

it seems like that only works if you're dealing

with somebody that's like a serial killer or

something like that, where there's no like, you

know, like a silence of the lambs or something

like, you know, then it's a whole different ballgame.

But I do find it interesting how he's. played

with the idea of a perfect murder from a couple

different angles here and try to see if it does

it you know if it if it's a thing does it exist

can you achieve it type thing he was obviously

curious or founded as an interesting subject

matter for a number of his film so far so it's

kind of interesting to see him explore it I guess

and get another different way and dial in for

murder yeah what what did you think of the so

obviously we do have the inspector and we do

have the swan character who commits the murder

or Attempts to commit the murder. I guess I could

say What did you think of the main three though?

So we have Tony and Margo and mark as like the

main three characters It's like a trio there

not just in the love triangle aspect But in the

fact that they are in every every scene has one

of them in it And how do you think that trio?

Do you think they work together? Do you think

their chemistry was there? Do you think they

kind of balanced each other out? Did one stand

out more than another for you? Or kind of how

did you feel like from the the main three actors

and actress how they worked? I thought Greece

Kelly and Robert Cummings had pretty good chemistry

like we always you know, we see them in that

opening scene together and They do feel like

you know, they're really you can see you know,

they feel like two people that Could possibly

be in love and then even when they're in the

scene and uh, they're with uh Tony ray, uh, uh

in that scene together where they're sitting

on the couch and he's behind them. It's just

there's this Even though it's not really directed.

There's this weird tension like where you can

you could just Like everyone in the room knows

what the situation is And I thought they kind

of played that well I do wish Grace Kelly got

a bit more to do obviously she's absent for a

good chunk of the film because she ends up getting

arrested and whatnot but I thought like she was

she gave you that that I mean it obviously you

know it's this time where the woman's always

a victim but that is the case here where she's

but she also I think you know seeing her being

able to You know overcome the perfect murder

because you know, she literally takes it things

into her own hands So I thought the chemistry

was good where it shouldn't have been and she

didn't really have much chemistry with Tony at

all But that was purposeful. Of course. They

didn't feel like they I don't know that they

didn't connect whatsoever So I thought I thought

them together was again a big part of what worked

for me Yeah, I think you're you hit it right

in the head and I didn't even think about that

beforehand but the chemistry between Kelly and

Cummings like They made that 100 % believable

that that was a true relationship and that each

one truly felt for the other person and that

there was like a love connection, which makes

that work because you're. Always trying to. Figure

out like from Mark, the Mark Halliday character

standpoint, how he's going to walk the line in

all of these sequences where he's in the same

room or out, you know. in a social setting with

Tony, hearing about things that's happening to

Margo. He can't overplay his hand necessarily.

Like he can't do what he probably wants to do

inside to make sure she's okay and to like do

all these different things. So it's like an interesting

way that he's playing that. And I think it makes

it like a hundred percent believable because

you can like see it in his face. Like even when

Tony leaves the stag party or whatever you called

it and you know, Mark can kind of tell that something's

wrong. But he also and you can tell that he like

wants to know and wants to be there for her but

at the same time, you know He knows he has to

play his part at this point. And so I thought

that was an interesting dynamic and I think it

really worked like you said like because you

could see the that there if there had been chemistry

between Margo and Tony's character, they don't

play it in this See ya because at that point,

you know, the love is gone between those two

So I thought they did a nice job of making that

all very believable You know what he was making

her like when he like she was doing the clippings

was she like cutting out stories about him in

the paper like and collecting them because like

that is That is kind of a crummy thing to do

is like, okay wife you stay here collect stories

cut out newspaper articles about me I'm gonna

go out and have fun with my friends like that,

you know, it's like man. You are a jerk man Yeah,

that whole sequence where he's like freaking

out because she's not wanting to stay home it

was a hard one because you're like, how are you

going to get through this because it's weird

when your only play is stay home and flip these

things out. It was a weird sell. Then she went

for it because I guess it's a movie and she has

to. I don't know if that was the most convincing

pitch you just gave her on why she should stay

home. At first it had me thinking, did she and

Mark have something planned? That's why she wanted

to go out like that almost like the way she was

so insistent about it was like was she thinking

about I don't know but it was again it just showed

it went back to that speech about how like every

little thing could go wrong and it just hinted

at things are not going as planned and Nice little

bit of foreshadowing right and I felt dumb because

that obviously the whole idea of a key Factors

into this movie like ten times Like there's so

many different sequences where we're talking

about a key, looking at a key, trying to figure

out which key is where, who's got what key and

whatnot. And through that whole thing, I still

didn't, even though I had decided in my head

if I was in that position, I would have put it

right back on the steps. I still never connected

the dots as to that being important later, or

as that being like a crux of this story and how

it resolves itself. Like it totally blindsided

me in a cool way. I was like, oh yeah. that the

Yes, the smoking gun. Thank you. I was like,

it's got a gun in it. The phrase I'm looking

for has a gun in it. Is this the most Hitchcockian

film we've seen so far? So what I'm saying by

that is I think outside of having a mother involved,

it hits almost everything else. So we have the

Hitchcock blonde here. We have the person that

is being thought of as guilty who is not. It's

a little bit of a different take on that because

she's guilty and then taken out of the movie

for a minute And it's somebody else that's trying

to like Show her innocence. So that's I guess

a slight variation on that. We have the idea

of strangling and murder and the perfect murder

like There's so many different aspects that we've

seen in all these other movies that I feel like

they're all here except for a mom character Yeah,

although I'm I bet that Only has mama shoes.

I just connect that I'm just gonna assume It

was like he might so but it is interesting because

they do hit a lot of it We do get you know, like

I said, it's in every murder has to be there

has to be a rope involved or a Yeah strangling

as always string. Yeah. Yeah, it's always strangulation

like I guess, you know, we'll get obviously get

to You know when people are using stabbing, but

yeah, it's always true. I guess I'm guessing

because it's Don't know if that was a sensor

thing as well, or it's just more dramatic But

and they did show a scissors to the back so they

did that was pretty brutal. I was in like Yeah,

it was like oh it went it went deeper And they

did seem like they somehow did that with the

like the way they filmed that looked like it

actually did go deeper Yeah, like I don't know

and even though you can't see I'm guessing maybe

it was a dummy or I think maybe the jacket had

padding on it or something like that would be

my guess. It was interesting. I did not see that

coming at first. And there was a nice little

line too, but I thought there'd be more blood.

And I was like, I wonder if that's like Hitchcock

saying, you know, speaking about, you know, the

censorship of the day where it's like they were

very limited. Like if he showed more blood, they

wouldn't let him make it. And I don't know if

that was like, if that was a purposeful line

or if that was just to throw away. I don't know.

Yeah. It definitely seems like, I don't know.

Feel like this movie From beginning to end Just

feels I don't know it feels like a complete movie

to me not that the other ones aren't they all

are but like something about this one just felt

like I Don't know like everything was exactly

how it was supposed to be and it felt like you

know I made a comment. I think when we were watching

Strangers on a train that I felt like we had

leveled up to like a new quality of movies I

feel like this one does the same thing. Like

it's like, this is a movie through and through.

Like I can see exactly how this would work at

that time period with everything that's involved.

Like, I don't know. Like I can't find a ton to

say in a negative manner for this one. I'm not

saying it's like the favorite one that I've watched

so far. I don't know. I'm still debating that

in my head, but like there wasn't a whole lot

of like things you could really nitpick outside

of the fact that it does come across a little

bit, especially with the professor or not the

professor, the inspector. Yeah. As if you're

watching someone on stage with, and you know,

typically when you're on a stage, you're going

to overact in certain ways or you're going to

be a little bit more melodramatic or, or that

type of thing. So you can see like some hints

of that, which I guess makes sense since being

adapted from a stage play. But what was your

kind of take on just the overall structure and

execution of the film as a film? I think it feels

very very confident in itself. Like it feels

like a movie that like it's Like I said, it's

it's all there's so much on the dialogue. There's

so much place on the actors and It's called trust

the actors to get it done And I think they if

you had lesser actors or people who worry and

the each character each actor I think was it's

also good great casting because I do feel like

they fit those roles well, and if even if it

was little not as strong in the any area at the

movie is a comes comes apart and is a lot of

it like we mentioned is you need those characters

have chemistry because if they don't have chemistry

early on like that then doesn't really have much

and you need kind of um grace kelly and ray miller

to have kind of an awkward relationship and that

comes to comes to play Um, and even um, you know

the actor who was the murderer he feels He like

it felt a bit like, you know, he felt like a

con man like the again and the way it was approached

so I thought it was Done like it isn't like it

is a lot of dialogue. It does take its time to

kind of explain everything and maybe it gets

a More complex and not more complex may not be

the white word, but it does you know it It's

maybe a little bit in love with itself a bit

and like I like to like explain everything but

I was I was fascinated by it I just I enjoyed

just the the creation of the like however they

came together and then all then trying to Find

a way to figure out actually what happened and

seeing everyone try to like approach it a different

way and how a Little thing like a key comes into

play. So I thought it it all all worked for me

I think it also did what a lot of the other films

have done for me so far which is it grabbed my

interest almost from you know the first scene

or the first like a type thing like it had my

attention and I think it worked at a pace where

I never thought about I never had a time where

I was like thinking about something else other

than the movie like it didn't have those like

lulls where you're out of the movie or where

something like I thought the pace was quick enough

and there was enough to like be interested in

that like once it hooked me I was just like the

the Effective score to like it there wasn't a

lot of score and bright, you know, cuz like I

mentioned it's a lot of conversations But especially,

you know when we see the murder take murder attempted

murder take place Well, I guess it like it it

came in at the right moments and it exonerated

those like those pieces as much as it should

so we even talked about scores a lot where with

this but right this one I thought I know I just

didn't really notice them that much but for this

I did because There was no much conversation

when it was quiet. It was a bit off and the score

became that much more noticeable. Totally get

that. Yeah. Um, and then it's somewhat surprising

to me. I think this is one of the lower rated

ones. Like on Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 90%,

which I know is still good. I want to say mostly

other ones have been higher than that. I don't

have them in front of me to like compare. Uh,

and then the consensus on that side is dial M

for murder, maybe slightly off peak Hitchcock.

Which is, it's surprising me that they hear that.

And then there's quite a few negative. the the

the the the If like if you watch if you were

to watch like North by Northwest and then nets

I could see like a feeling so but It's it's a

different type of film. It's not it's a movie.

That's more about the situation and You know

reasoning behind everything more so than the

thrills per se so I did not catch the Alfred

Hitchcock cameo in this one I had to look it

up. Did you I did yeah what he shows the yearbook?

Yeah Yeah, I saw that yeah, and I thought at

this time and I caught it for strangers on a

train jitters and trains a little easier Yeah,

it was pretty easy But this one it was it was

it in the yearbook and in the was it in the picture

on the wall? Was he one of the people out one

of the tables? Yes, that's it. It was not the

yearbook. It was a picture of the wall. Yes Yeah,

so I did not catch that because I was looking

for like a an actual like person that was moving

around and I'm like Well, there's nobody else

in this film like we've met everybody I guess

I was like, do I need to go back to that party

that they were at? They showed like a few tables

as you at there somewhere. But yeah, it's just

on the picture on the wall. So clever, clever

Hitchcock. You got me on that one. So any other

pieces of trivia or information that you had

found for this one or that we haven't got a chance

to talk about yet for dialing for murder? Well,

it's interesting. It was actually speaking. We

were talking about how it's a lot of conversation.

It was actually originally slated to be a 3D

film. Like they wanted to make it. input in 3d

beat but like by the time it came out 3d was

kind of came and gone uh as if we kind of knew

that was going to happen yet again uh so that

like that was intriguing because it made me think

about like um like i don't know what 3d would

add to this maybe the only thing i could think

of is that scene with her holding her hand out

you know that's obviously on the poster but like

that but uh that that i found kind of interesting

is that um It was meant to be 3d and also like

when it came to graces Kelly's Costuming she

was able to kind of have a lot of decisions behind

it like when she came down to like answer the

phone Originally, she was supposed to wear like

a kind of this like really big robe and stuff

like that but she said that a woman wouldn't

put a huge robe on just to answer the phone and

Alfred Hitchcock just said alright, we'll go

with it and That's what they did. So I like it.

So, yep That is the, um, latest movie that we've

been talking about, which is dial M for murder.

And our thoughts on that, if you agree or disagree,

you can leave us comments on the website or in

any of our social media, which we'll get to in

a few minutes. Now, Dan, we are going into the

stage because this is what the fifth or sixth

film we've covered. I can't remember now. Um,

so 39 steps notorious, uh, strangers in the train

rope and dialing for murder. So this is number

five. So we're next going into what I think many

would consider be the big two. So the next one

on the schedule is going to be rear window. And

then after that is vertigo. So obviously we've

both seen both of those films. So it'll be interesting

because this will be the first time that we're

both doing, I guess, more recent rewatches of

this with some history to go along with it. So

I'm interested to see because I, I know. Leading

up to this I've always been someone who's championed

rear window over vertigo And I'm interested to

see if that holds true as we watch them the next

couple weeks or if I switch Have you been in

one camp or the other in the past or do you just

like both of them equally? I? Always been more

Rear window when I first watched vertigo. I wasn't

the biggest fan of it like I think neither would

I actually so that's interesting I think It's

also it's also because it's one of those things

when you like it's but like I think it was the

what is if if I stop movie of all time anytime

you kind of put that type of label on something

it's like it's almost like can you ever live

up but That was also again like 13 years ago.

So yeah, I mean I but I loved weird window when

I first saw it so I'm interested to see like

what it's like now rewatching it again especially

after Kind of going through some of these films

beforehand like how it compares what we saw so

far I'm very interested to watch them in this

context because once upon a time my mom and I

were trying to go through some of the AFI top

100 list and we watched a number of the classics

and we had watched I think that was the first

time I had watched vertigo and At first I was

like I don't get it As not that I don't get it,

but I didn't understand why it was as lauded

as much as it was and then we watched rear window

after that some at some point and I was like,

well, this is the one that should be in that.

This is the one that everybody should be talking

about. Like what are we doing here? So I'm very

interested to see if that holds true or not.

Cause it has definitely been at least a decade

since I've seen either one. Um, so I'm very interested

into that. And then if you want to know which

ones we're going to be finishing off with after

that, we're still going to be covering North

by Northwest psycho and the birds. So those are

the three that we'll be finishing up with. Dan,

why don't you tell everybody how they can get

in contact with you or leave comments for you

or find other content that you're creating? You

guys can just search for Comic Concierge on Facebook,

Twitter, TikTok. Hopefully, I haven't put out

video in a long time, but hopefully in a bit.

Hopefully, we'll be getting back to that soon

by the time this is coming out. Absolutely. You

can stay in touch with anything else I do, which

is not a lot right now on social media, but my

handle is at Optimus Solo. Or you can look at

some of the other content I've created at the

Geek Showcase on YouTube. And you can comment

to the actual show if you just find the Cinema

Geeks tag on Twitter or Facebook. We're on both

of those. I'll still call it Twitter. That's

fine. You can yell at me later. And so that's

the best way to do that. Then if you want to

also keep in touch with all the stuff the main

website does, you can search out GeekCastRadio.

network and they have all kinds of geeky content,

cartoons and video games and other movie talk

and all kinds of stuff like that. So you can

look for that as well. So that does it for this

episode. Tune in next time for another chance

to listen to more of the Cinema Geeks.