"Dial M for Murder"'s main assets are its intricate but faultless plot, and fluid camera work in the limited area of a small and crowded flat... which does not leave much credit for Hitchcock !. So you can easily believe he told François Truffaut it was not an interesting film. Still you have to recognize that the murder attempt is very impressive and that having reduced Grace Kelly 's trial to one sequence of some ten seconds expedites matters very conveniently ( the old master's hand ! ). But the casting is uneven and reflects Hitchcock's probable lack of interest for the film: he appears to have temporarily lost his fascination for his goddess Grace Kelly ( perhaps because of the affair she is said having then with Milland ); so she is lovely but ill at ease( except in the murder scene )as the unfaithful wife; Robert Cummings is completely wooden, and his adulterous couple with Kelly shows no passion, not even warmth, whatsoever and attracts no sympathy. Ray Milland is better, but has sometimes a tendency to overplay. The best performances are to be credited to Anthony Dawson, aptly sinister as the would-be murderer, and John Williams, a delight as the Inspector.
Review of Dial M for Murder
