Dial M For Murder Is More Constrained But No Less Thrilling Hitchcock Feature

This review originally appeared on The-Solute as part of their Year of the Month series.

Like Jackass 3D or Hoodwinked Too!: Hood vs. Evil, Dial M for Murder was made in 3D. The brief 3D craze of the 1950s included this Alfred Hitchcock directorial effort, though, apparently, test audiences reacted so negatively to the 3D that it was primarily shown in 2D. It’s odd to watch Dial M For Murder and imagine it being thought of as ideal for the process of 3D. Rarely do objects come towards the camera or other similar gimmicky moments associated with 3D movies of this era, it’s all mostly a restrained dialogue-reliant affair that would seem ill-suited for this format. After all, a crackling thriller like Dial M for Murder doesn’t need a gimmick like 3D to be extremely immersive!

Strangers on a Train See's Chilling Chaos Emerge From Murderous Conversations

Murder is usually afoot in an Alfred Hitchcock movie and Strangers on a Train is no exception. The murder here starts out as merely a conversation between tennis player Guy Haines (Farley Granger) and an obsessive fan by the name of Bruno Atony (Robert Walker), one that occurs by total chance on a train ride the two men are sharing. While they exchange low-key chit-chat, Bruno brings up this idea he's had of a pair of people deciding who in their lives they'd most want to see murdered and then have the other person commit that murder. That way, nobody would suspect the actual culprit of these grisly crimes! Guy brushes it off as just quirky talk from a quirky man but he quickly realizes it's far more than that when his estranged wife, Miriam (Laura Elliot), turns up dead at an amusement park.