#Frederick Knott

[gracie-bird]

Behind the scenes of Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M for a Murder (1953).

Rare slices from Frederick Knott's personal estate.

[thepillovvbook]

DIAL 'M' FOR MURDER (1954)

Dir. Alfred Hitchcock Scr. Frederick Knott

[adamwatchesmovies]

Dial M for Murder (1954)

Dial M for Murder plays like a film you might’ve seen before but in reverse, which makes it feel brand new. Director Alfred Hitchcock maintains a consistent level of suspense throughout, adapts the play to the screen marvelously - with help from the author, Frederick Knott, who also wrote the screenplay - and the actors are all clearly having a great time helping tie our stomachs in knots.

Margot Wendice (Grace Kelly) has been having an affair with American crime-fiction writer Mark Halliday (Robert Cumings). He’s coming to visit. They don't realize her husband, Tony (Ray Milland) knows of her infidelity. He plans on having her assassinated as revenge. As her husband, this means her money will continue to keep him comfortable long after she's dead.

You know the rule in heist movies, where if they tell you what the plan is, it isn’t going to work, and if they don’t tell you, it will? This film takes this rule and turns it on its head. We know what Tony has planned for Margot. He’s been setting the machine in motion for a while now. It doesn’t seem like much could go wrong, but it does. Now, you’re torn. Much more back in the ‘50s but today, you don’t exactly sympathize 100% with Margot. She’s been having an affair, after all. Not that you sympathize with the would-be murderer instead, but he’s got something she doesn’t. As the scheming, vengeful husband, Ray Milland is excellent. He’s charming and appealing even before proving how resourceful he can be when things go wrong. You admire his ability to improvise and adapt. You don’t want the plan to go so awry that he’ll get caught - this would cause the movie to end. You kind of want it to go off without a hitch… but not too well.

Seeing the pieces fall into place is suspenseful and darkly fun. You put yourself in the shoes of all of the characters but primarily, in Tony’s. Everyone’s seen those true-crime TV series that tell you what the villain had planned and how they got caught. We’ve all taken mental notes about the mistakes those people made just in case. Not that you'd ever want to kill anyone, but if you did, you'd want it to be the same kind of perfect crime as Tony's. Unfortunately, there are so many things that could go wrong, it seems impossible… but then again, maybe it isn’t. Either way, it’s been quite the ride.

Dial M for Murder contains many gasp-worthy surprises to maintain the intrigue and suspense. You’ll hardly notice the limited number of locations - a clear giveaway this was originally made to be a play. Certain key shots break the usual moves we’d seen on a stage at just the right spots to show off a key detail - usually an indicator that something’s gone wrong. The marvellous black-and-white photography strips away all the distractions you’d get if it were in colour. It’s all about the scheme and the people involved. It makes for a memorable film. Perhaps not as flashy as some of Hitchcock’s best-known pictures, but excellent nonetheless. You’ll be shocked by how quickly the whole thing flies by.

I had seen Dial M for Murder before and I can’t explain why I didn’t fall in love with it at first sight. It’s delightfully twisted, magnificently performed, tightly written and it’ll keep you giddily nervous up until the very end. (April 9, 2021)

[moorheadthanyoucanhandle]

REDIALING

Check out my review, online at Phoenix Magazine, of Arizona Theatre Company's production of Dial M for Murder...

...which plays through November 3 at Tempe Center for the Arts. I was fascinated to see ATC's production, which is revised for a contemporary audience by playwright Jeffrey Hatcher.

I've always had a soft spot for this show, having played Inspector Hubbard in it back in the '80s at the Peak'n Peek Dinner Theatre in Clymer, New York, directed by the late lamented Ben Agresti. It wasn't necessarily the best show I ever did, but it was certainly one of the most fun.

[adaptations-polls]

Which version of this do you prefer?

[byneddiedingo]

The Honey Pot (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1967)

Cast: Rex Harrison, Cliff Robertson, Susan Hayward, Capucine, Edie Adams, Maggie Smith, Adolfo Celi. Screenplay: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, based on a play by Frederick Knott, a novel by Thomas Sterling, and a play by Ben Jonson. Cinematography: Gianni D. Venanzo. Production design: John DeCuir. Film editing: David Bretherton. Music: John Addison.    

[twittercomfrnklin2001-blog]

Dial M for Murder

With Jack Arnold’s IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953), Alfred Hitchcock’s DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954, TCM, Tubi) is one of the only films from the early 3D craze to use the format artistically. Both avoid arbitrarily shoving objects in the audience’s faces (how many of us have nightmares about that damned paddleball in HOUSE OF WAX?). But where Arnold uses 3D to emphasize the vast emptiness of the desert, Hitchcock uses it to underline his film’s claustrophobic action, set almost entirely in the flat shared by retired tennis pro Ray Milland and his heiress wife, Grace Kelly. This account of a jealous husband plotting the perfect crime twice to keep control of his wife’s estate may not be the perfect thriller, but with Hitchcock directing, it’s hard to spot any plot holes (feel free to suggest them in the comments). The only noticeable instance of his shoving something at the audience is Kelly’s outstretched hand as she’s being strangled, and who could object to getting that close to those lovely digits as long as she’s not reaching for an Oscar she didn’t deserve. We’re so used to thinking of Hitchcock in terms of his great, near silent montages it’s a revelation to see how well he breaks up long dialog scenes, particularly Milland’s blackmailing former school chum Anthony Dawson into killing Kelly for him. Milland wisely plays against the villainy of the role. He brings his years of experience doing light comedy to bear on the role, and it works. He’s matched by John Williams’ droll playing as the chief inspector on the case. As Kelly’s secret lover, Robert Cummings has some light romantic moments, but he’s got a little more heavy drama to pull off, and to his credit, he doesn’t overdo it. Kelly’s best moments are silent. She looks delicious, but her big breakdown after the killing has dated badly. There’s a fascinating artificial quality to the film, partly because Hitchcock and Frederick Knott, who wrote the original play and the screenplay, haven’t done much to open up the material. There are some bad process shots on the few exteriors, like Cummings’ arrival by ocean liner, that fit into this. There’s also a cheery quality to Dimitri Tiomkin’s opening title music that seems to be telling us that we’re not about to see anything resembling real life. As a work of artifice, highlighting the plot’s mechanical construction (every important prop is painstakingly planted so even the dimmest audience members can’t miss it), the film seems to suggest that the beauty of the well-made plot is an illusion to disguise the chaotic nature of existence so prevalent in Hitchcock’s films.

[nitrateglow]

Here's an interesting little August 21, 1966 interview with Frederick Knott from the Associated Press drama critic William Glover. It goes over Knott's unorthodox writing methods.

[horrorbulletin]

Wait Until Dark (1967)

Directed by Terence Young Written by Frederick Knott, Robert Carrington, Jane-Howard Hammerstein Stars Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Efrem Zombalist Jr.  Run Time: 1 Hour, 48 Minutes Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKeTME_tRUI Spoiler-free Judgment Zone The suspense in this one builds nicely once it gets going. The cast was excellent and all played off each other…

[jfradioshow]

04/25/2023 PODCAST Episode #585-587 - Guests: David Penn, Rich McCormick, Paul Dans, David DesRoches, Nicole Tsai, Ben Knotts + America Speaks - YOUR CALLS! at 1-888-480-JOHN (5646) and GETTR Live! @jfradioshow #GodzillaOfTruth #TruckingTheTruth

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[gracie-bird]

Grace Kelly in a scene of Dial M for a Murder (1953).

Slice from Frederick Knott's personal estate.

[thepillovvbook]

DIAL 'M' FOR MURDER (1954)

Dir. Alfred Hitchcock Scr. Frederick Knott

[likesaly]

Last Song - The Reason by Hoobastank

Favorite Color - Purple

Currently Reading - Dial M For Murder by Frederick Knott, I don't want to Kill You by Dan Wells & The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides (I haven't gotten that far too busy w school D:)

Currently Watching - Dead Boy Detectives (Left off on EP4 or smth)

Last Movie - ??? (I don't remember what the last movie I watched was)

Sweet / Savory / Spicy - Sweet!!!

Current Obsessions - Master Detectives Archives: Rain Code (Eurydice has been hearing me yap all summer about it :3)

Tea or Coffee - Coffee (I put ten shots of espresso in my Latte for the grindd (hw at night)

Last thing you googled - Morir (I NEED THIS FOR MY SPANISH HW-)

Tagging: @eurydices-carnation774

tag nine people you want to get to know better!

tagged by @classicbarbie!

last song: come inside of my heart

favorite color: pink

currently reading: crooked house - agatha christie

currently watching: nichijou. I've also been getting entire episodes of mlp as youtube ads does that count

last movie: rewatched the (old) beetlejuice recently

sweet / spicy / savory: terrible sweet tooth. I'm one step away from inhaling pure sugar

relationship status: single

current obsessions: been getting into dungeon meshi lately

tea or coffee: coffee

last thing you googled: color trail ae

tagging @likesaly

[movie--posters]

[movie-titlecards]

A Perfect Murder (1998)

My rating: 6/10

Back before Gwyneth Paltrow fully embraced the snake oil, she did a pretty good job playing the woman everybody wants dead in this rather overdone, but entertaining, 90s thriller. Plus she got to kill a guy with a meat thermometer, so that's fun.

[jerichopalms]

*Wait Until Dark (1967, dir. by Terence Young)