When looking at his great reputation as an auteur, Alfred Hitchcock’s lack of an ambitious vision for Dial M for Murder comes as a huge surprise. Needless to say, Hitchcock didn’t become known as one of the greatest movie directors of all time by making average or “safe” films. However, it would appear – by his own admission – that the filmmaker has indeed taken that approach in the past. One such example was Dial M for Murder, one of the three movies made with frequent Alfred Hitchcock collaborator Grace Kelly.

Before making Rear Window and To Catch a Thief with the actress, Hitchcock cast Grace Kelly as the female lead in Dial M for Murder, a 1954 thriller that saw her share the screen with veteran Hollywood stars Ray Milland and Robert Cummings. In Dial M for Murder, Grace Kelly stars as a married heiress enjoying an affair with Robert Cummings’ character, unaware that her husband plans to use their dalliance as part of his plan to murder her and ensure that he inherits her wealth. If the plot makes it sound like just another suspense movie from Hitchcock, that doesn’t seem to be far off from how the director saw it as well.

Several Alfred Hitchcock Movies Released Before Dial M For Murder Were Disappointments

Alfred Hitchcock Needed A Win, Even If It Wasn’t A Huge Or Ground-Breaking Hit

The direction that Alfred Hitchcock took with Dial M for Murder was shaped largely by how several of his recent films had turned out. When Dial M for Murder hit theaters in 1954, he hadn’t had a mᴀssive hit on his hands in eight years. Hitchcock made one of his best movies ever when he directed Notorious in 1946, but it took until 1954 – when he made Dial M for Murder and Rear Window – for the director to return to a film of its caliber.

That’s not to say he was making bad films, per se, as there are certainly good things to say about Strangers on a Train, Rope, and several of the others, but it’s important to note that most – like The Paradine Case, Under Capricorn, and Stage Fright – either failed to turn a profit at the box office or didn’t earn respect from audiences until long after their releases. Such was the case with Alfred Hitchcock and James Stewart’s Rope, which even the filmmaker himself has admitted was an experiment that didn’t go as well as he had hoped.

Alfred Hitchcock Was Trying To Make A “Safe” Movie When He Directed Dial M For Murder

The Source Material Was A Well-Received Play That Didn’t Require Much Improving

Evidently, dissatisfaction with these films heavily influenced his thought process ahead of his work on Dial M for Murder. In an interview, the director laid out his reasoning for making the movie, which was based on a British stage play of the same name. As Hitchcock recounted in a 1963 interview, he was “running for cover” when he made the film, comparing his atтιтude to feeling like, “your batteries have run dry, when you are out creatively.” Yet, Hitchcock had no choice but to make another movie, because he was currently under contract to Warner Bros [via The Hitchcock Zone].

I was running for cover. When your batteries run dry, when you are out creatively, and you have to go on, that’s what I call running for cover. Take a comparatively successful play that requires no great creative effort on your part and make it. Keep your hand in, that’s all. . If you have to make a film — as I was under contract to Warners at the time — play safe. Go get a play and make an average movie — pH๏τographs of people talking. It’s ordinary craftsmanship.

Because of the situation he was in, Hitchcock found himself in this mindset when it came to Dial M for Murder: “Take a comparatively successful play that requires no great creative effort on your part and make it. Keep your hand in, that’s all.” To that end, he decided to bring the stage play to the big screen, believing that its proven success in the theater made it a suitable choice for him to make a film where he could “play safe.” As Hitchcock explained, “When you’re in this business, don’t make anything unless it looks like it’s going to promise something.”

Despite Hitchcock’s Plan, Dial M For Murder Was Not An “Average” Movie

Dial M For Murder Is Considered One Of Alfred Hitchcock’s Best Movies

Making an “average movie” may have been the idea Hitchcock had in mind when he stepped into the director’s chair, but that’s not a fair description of the finished project. The quality of the film far exceeded the expectations Hitchcock had seemingly set for himself. This is made apparent by its 90% score on Rotten Tomatoes and the American Film Insтιтute (AFI) placing it at #9 on its list of Top 10 Mysteries.

Part of this can be attributed to Hitchcock’s approach to adapting a beloved stage play. The director smartly didn’t try to reinvent it for a theatrical experience. He acknowledged in the same interview that “confinement within the proscenium” is the base concept of a play, and one that he didn’t try to go against for Dial M for Murder. Hitchcock correctly pointed out that many movie adaptations of stage plays often “open up” their stories, expanding them beyond the limits of a stage, but Hitchcock got around this by avoiding outdoor scenes. In this way, he was able to ensure that Dial M for Murder lost as little magic as possible in the translation.

In fact, sticking with the stage-like format was to the film’s benefit. Similar to how Rear Window built intensity through long takes and a story that rarely strayed from one single place, Dial M for Murder used this feeling of confinement to create a great atmosphere for its suspense-filled narrative.

Regardless of the level of “creative effort” put into the film by Hitchcock, Dial M for Murder was a brilliant exercise in suspense, utilizing a potentially career-best performance from Ray Milland and a clever script to deliver a gripping story that keeps the viewer invested in the fate of Grace Kelly’s character. What Hitchcock accomplished with Dial M for Murder is a true testament to his directorial prowess. Even when intentionally setting out to make nothing more than a “safe” film, Alfred Hitchcock couldn’t help but deliver yet another masterpiece.