Dial M for Murder (1954)

[onyxlynx]

The first Friday of the month is Art Murmur, in which a mess of local galleries showcase their wares current exhibits and also lure prospective patronage with wine, cookies, crackers, and other goodies.  There's always at least one place with a walk-through installation and one place that's a bar with teeny pictures if one needs to renew a sense memory of the Lexington Avenue Express at rush hour.

I missed a large part of this month's crawl because I went to see Dial M for Murder.

Dial M for Murder was originally a stage play.  There are a few exterior scenes that are supposed to "open out" the action, but nine-tenths of the film takes place in a tchotchke-filled apartment.  There's Ray Milland as Grace Kelly's husband; there's Robert Cummings (of Love That Bob fame) as Grace Kelly's lover; there's Grace Kelly.  Both Mr. Milland and Mr. Cummings sport gleaming shellacked short hair.  Ms. Kelly's hair is glossy, wavy, curled, and held in place with hairspray and magic. (When she goes to prison, you can tell because her hair is lifeless.)  

Oh, the plot.

Hubby contracts out to murder wife.  Things Go Wrong.

Hitchcock did a good job, but I will probably not see this again.

(The Oakland Paramount, by the way, appears in Tucker:  The Man and His Dream.)