“Dial M For Murder” is a devilishly good thriller from Alfred Hitchcock (“North By Northwest”, “Vertigo”). It reminded me a lot of his films “Rope” and “Rear Window”. Hitchcock knows how to reel in his audience and keep them fully engaged with very little action.

In this film, Tony Wendice (Ray Milland “The Big Clock”, “The Lost Weekend”) wants his unfaithful wife (Grace Kelly “High Noon”) murdered. He pays an old acquittance (Anthony Dawson “Dr. No”) to carry out the crime but things do not go exactly to plan. It quickly descends into a game of wits but Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams “Sabrina”) will not be easily fooled.

A lot of the film takes place within one room (similar to “Rope”) so it’s quite interesting to see the characters contained in such a small space. If you are going to do that then you need the characters to be interesting and the performances to be captivating and I can safely say that Ray Milland, Grace Kelly and John Williams are all terrific. However, I think Robert Cummings (“The Black Book”) could have been better as Mark Halliday, who is having an affair with Grace Kelly’s Margot Wendice. Many of the interactions between the characters are quite frankly fascinating.

It’s not a perfect Hitchcock film but it is remarkably entertaining. The fact that the majority of it only takes place within one room helps create a real sense of tension as there are only a few brief moments that take place away from the main setting. I seriously enjoyed all the great twists and turns that the story takes and it reaches a rather satisfying conclusion. If you are a fan of Hitchcock or the crime thriller genre then I strongly urge you to check out “Dial M For Murder”.