History Film / DialMForMurder

* BlackAndGrayMorality: Margot demands her husband to end his career, to spend more time with her. Still not happy, she has an affair with his friend. This provokes Tony to hire Swann to murder her.

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: For all four main characters. Swann is a con-man who attempts murder, which has him killed in self-defense. Margot starts out as a spoilt upper-class lady who cheats on his husband; she survives attempted murder and death row, but gets redemption in the end (and probably reparations for miscarriage of justice), and gets rid of Tony. Tony is rightfully indicted for having plotted the murder of his wife, and tried to set her up for murder. Mark betrays Tony, but is otherwise an honest man, who solves the case in the end, and will probably end up as Margot's companion.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: For all four main characters. Swann is a con-man who attempts murder, which gets him killed by his victim. Margot starts out as a spoilt upper-class lady who cheats on his husband; she survives attempted murder and death row, but gets redemption in the end, and probably reparations for wrongful detention, and gets rid of Tony. Tony is rightfully indicted for having plotted the murder of his wife, and tried to set her up for murder. Mark betrays Tony, but is otherwise an honest man, who solves the case in the end, and will probably end up as Margot's companion.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: For all four main characters. Swann is a con-man who attempts murder, which gets him killed by his victim. Margot starts out as a spoilt upper-class lady who cheats on his husband; she survives attempted murder and death row through lots of trouble, she gets redemption in the end. Tony is rightfully indicted for having ordered the murder of his wife. Mark betrays Tony, but is otherwise an honest man, who solves the case in the end, and will probably end up as Margot's companion.]]

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: Swann is a criminal who attempts murder, and gets killed in self-defense. Margot is cheating, and not very likeable in the beginning of the film; she survives attempted murder and death row through lots of trouble, she gets redemption in the end. Tony is rightfully indicted for having ordered the murder of his wife.]]

The film was remade in 1998, with the title ''APerfectMurder''.

Retired tennis player Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) discovers that his wealthy wife, Margot (Creator/GraceKelly) is cheating on him with crime author Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). Tony decides to have her murdered, because if she would divorce him he'd lose her money. With a mixture of blackmail and reward, he gives the task to Swann (Anthony Dawson), an old classmate of his, whom he knows to be a crook. Tony creates a plan which he thinks to be perfect; however, things go wrong, when Margot manages to kill Swann. Tony, however, is able to use the situation to his own advantage, making things look as if Margot killed Swann because he was blackmailing her. It appears to be working, except Mark doesn't believe she's guilty and the police uncover a few anomalies...

* ThreeDMovie: ''Dial M For Murder'' was filmed in 3D, but by the time of its release, the 3D fad was dying out, so it had only a brief original release in 3D, followed by a conventional, "flat" release.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: Margot wears bright colors at the start of the film, then progressively darker ones as time goes on.

* GracefulLoser: Tony. After a brief moment of shock when he's eventually caught, he calmly congratulates everyone and pours them some wine.

* LingerieScene: Margot is in her nightgown when she's attacked. In the original script, she was to put a robe on, but Grace Kelly argued that a woman who thinks she's alone would have no reason to do that.
* MiscarriageOfJustice: Margot is found guilty and sentenced to death.

* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted; the police officers at first seem to fall for Tony's manipulations and arrest Margot, but Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams) eventually solves the case. Near the film's climax, he even scolds Mark for nearly blowing the case.

* SarcasticConfession: Tony gets overconfident and makes the mistake of giving one to a policeman.

* SpeechCentricWork: Most of the film consists of people talking.

* XanatosSpeedChess: One of the great film examples.

'''''Dial M for Murder''''' is a 1954 thriller directed by Creator/AlfredHitchcock, based on a play by Frederick Knott, who also wrote the screenplay of the movie.

* FakeBrit: Grace Kelly (the story is set in London).

!!Contains examples of:

''Dial M for Murder'' is a 1954 thriller directed by Creator/AlfredHitchcock, based on a play by Frederick Knott, who also wrote the screenplay of the movie.

* PoliceAreUseless: Subverted; while the police officers at first seem to fall for Tony's manipulations and arrest Margot, Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams) eventually solves the case. Near the film's climax, he even scolds Mark for nearly blowing the case.

* BreakTheCutie: Poor, poor Margot. She's almost strangled, then convicted of murder and sentenced to death, then discovers her husband (for whom she had started to renew her love) was the one trying to kill her.

Retired tennis player Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) discovers that his wealthy wife, Margot (GraceKelly) is cheating on him with crime author Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). Tony decides to have her murdered, because if she would divorce him he'd lose her money. With a mixture of blackmail and reward, he gives the task to Swann (Anthony Dawson), an old classmate of his, whom he knows to be a crook. Tony creates a plan which he thinks to be perfect; however, things go wrong, when Margot manages to kill Swann. Tony, however, is able to use the situation to his own advantage, making things look as if Margot killed Swann because he was blackmailing her. It appears to be working, except Mark doesn't believe she's guilty and the police uncover a few anomalies...

* GracefulLoser: Tony. After a brief moment of shock when he's eventually caught, he calmly congratulates everyone and pours them some wine.

** And he was trying to strangle her with a stocking.

* [[ThreeDMovie 3D Movie]]: ''Dial M For Murder'' was filmed in 3D, but by the time of its release, the 3D fad was dying out, so it had only a brief original release in 3D, followed by a conventional, "flat" release.