Dial M For Murder (1954)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams

Have I Seen it Before: Never. I know. I’ll admit I’ve seen the scene of Wendice (Milland) coming back after nearly getting away with it, as it’s playing in the background of The West Wing episode “Ellie.” I didn’t even really intend to do a double-featue of this and Rear Window (1954), but here we are.

Did I Like It: Dial M is certainly on a smaller scale of Hitchcock movies than Rear Window. One might even complain that it is on such a small scale that it is relying on its plot to make magic. That might be considered a note against it, but I maintain that’s not the case. In years past, I’ve been a sucker for a byzantine plot, and as years go on I’m less impressed by plot alone. Maybe I’m becoming a sentimentalist, but the human element needs to be there, too.

The human element might be a little slight here, mainly because all of the characters to seem to be depressingly void of much human warmth, stretching from the bored and unfaithful Mrs. Wendice (Kelly) to the downright psychopathic Tony (Milland). The magic of the film comes in the expert deploying of its suspense. There’s never a point as Chief Inspector Hubbard (Williams) begins picking at the characters various stories that I feel absolutely certain how this is going to end. In the early portions of the film, it seems like Tony’s plan might work out as he seems to have planned, and he’ll have to spend the rest of the fim dealing with Swann (Anthony Dawson) in a variation on Strangers on a Train (1951). When the plan goes haywire (or maybe this was the plan all along; Tony is devious that way) I spend the rest of the fim thinking that the film will be content to send Grace Kelly to the electric chair and have Ray Milland whistle off into the sunset, or perhaps have the rope of the law close in on him as his story falls apart.

One of those ends up being the answer, you should probably watch it yourself. Go do it now.

To Catch a Thief (1955)

Director: Alfred Hitchcock

Cast: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis. John Williams

Have I Seen it Before: Never. I know, I’m not very happy with myself, either. Luckily, tripping over it during a rainy Santa Fe day (they exist, I assure you) on vacation recorded from TCM was something of a coup, as this one is somehow missing from all the Hitchcock collections I can’t help buying.

Did I Like It: Even the master has to have a weak one, right? I start a Hitchcock film expecting it to be a finely tuned plot machine designed to deliver thrill after thrill. That’s just not the case here. Grant and Kelly are nice to look at, and nice to see play off of one another. The locations are the kind of pure movie escapism that usually keep the worst of the James Bond films from being complete bores. But is the movie thrilling? Does it insist you look at the story without blinking for fear of missing something key to set up the surprises that are to come? Is there even that much jewel thievery going on?

The film is charming, but low on thrills. One wonders how Hitchcock got through the exercise, relying solely on the charms of his two leads to get the film over the hump. I would say watch the film, but marshal expectations. Or maybe opt for North by Northwest (1959). It’s got all the charm and all the thrills. You don’t have to settle for one or the other.

And now I would be remiss if I didn’t say a word about motion blurring. As a movie seen at my parents’ house, the movie played less like a Vistavision wonder of the 50s, and more like an Eastern European soap opera shot sometime earlier that afternoon. Normally, I would have made a stink about the matter. I merely asked if they knew about motion blurring, they said they didn’t, and I let the matter lie there. Be nice to your parents, but if they’re not involved, turn off your motion blurring, would ya?