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Poster for Dial M for Murder (3D)
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Dial M for Murder (3D)

Opens on September 24

Director: Alfred Hitchcock Run Time: 105 min. Format: DCP Release Year: 1954

Starring: Anthony Dawson, Grace Kelly, John Williams, Ray Milland, Robert Cummings

Join us on Tuesday, September 24 for a special presentation of the film DIAL M FOR MURDER (3D) and meet the cast and creatives of the Rep’s production of the play DIAL “M” FOR MURDER.

For more information on the Rep’s production of DIAL “M” FOR MURDER, visit https://www.repstl.org/events/detail/dialm

Based on a popular play by Frederick Knott, Dial M for Murder concerns a British tennis pro (Ray Milland) who suspects his wealthy, beautiful wife (Grace Kelly) of infidelity. In retaliation, he blackmails a disgraced former army comrade into murdering her and making it look like the work of a burglar. This being an Alfred Hitchcock film, the meticulously orchestrated scheme does not go as planned.

Like two other Hitchcock classics of the era, Rope (1948) and Rear Window (1954), Dial M for Murder is confined primarily to a single location, the couple’s apartment. Hitch relished the limitations, as it simplified production — he claimed to have adapted the play because he wanted to “recharge his batteries” — while also allowing him the delight of discovering inventive cinematic solutions to the problems posed by a single set. The resulting film is charming, suspense-filled (obviously), and ridiculously entertaining.

Dial M for Murder was also the first and only time he filmed a movie in 3D, which experienced a “golden era” between roughly 1952 and 1954. Despite the immense trouble Hitchcock had in using this cumbersome process — the 3D camera was reportedly as big as a star’s dressing room — Dial M For Murder was eventually released to movie theatres in a “flat” version. Warner Brothers gave the film a limited rerelease in 3D in the early 1980s; the restored version we’ll be showing premiered in 2012.

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