History Film / DialMForMurder

* KickTheSonOfABitch: Tony blackmails Swann into trying to murder his wife, but Swann is a career criminal and murderer himself, so he's far from an innocent victim.

* DramaticIrony: After Margot is found guilty and sentenced to death, Mark comes to Tony with a plan to exonerate her; Tony will go to the police and confess to hiring Swann to murder Margot, clearing her and sending Tony to jail in her place. (Mark points out that while Margot is accused of premeditated murder, Tony would only be guilty of attempted murder, so he would likely get jail time instead of an execution.) What Mark doesn't know (but we and Tony do) is that ''this is precisely what happened'' -- which leads to the irony of Mark trying to convince Tony to confess to a crime (that Mark believes Tony didn't commit) to save his beloved wife (who Tony actually wants dead).

Tony creates a plan which he believes to be perfect; however, things go wrong, and Margot manages to kill Swann. Tony is still able to use the situation to his own advantage, making it look as if Margot murdered Swann because he was blackmailing her. It appears to be working, except that Mark doesn't believe she's guilty and the police, led by Chief Inspector Hubbard (John Williams), uncover a few anomalies...

In London, retired tennis player Tony Wendice (Creator/RayMilland) discovers that his wealthy wife Margot (Creator/GraceKelly) is cheating on him with crime author Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings). Tony decides to have her murdered, because he is the inheritor of her will, but if she were to divorce him he'd lose her money. With a mixture of blackmail and reward, he gives the task to Swann (Anthony Dawson), an old classmate of his, whom he knows to be a crook.

* BatmanGambit: Tony's plans.

* FourthWallPsych: The famous courtroom tableau where Margot stares straight at us in a tight close-up.

** Tony eventually fails, because he underestimates the intelligence of Swann. To elaborate, he expected Swann to keep the key to entering the office in his pocket, and he swiped it out when he was cleaning up after Margot's self-defense kill (to frame her). In reality, Swann placed the key back where he had found it and Tony took Swann's own house key instead, not finding out until it was too late.
** Margot ruins Tony's assassination plan, forcing him ([[XanatosSpeedChess even if rather smoothly]]) to frame her for Swann's murder instead when she manages to kill Swann.

* DramaticIrony: After Marlot is found guilty and sentenced to death, Mark comes to Tony with a plan to exonerate her; Tony will go to the police and confess to hiring Swann to murder Marlot, clearing her and sending Tony to jail in her place. (Mark points out that while Marlot is accused of premeditated murder, Tony would only be guilty of attempted murder, so he would likely get jail time instead of an execution.) What Mark doesn't know (but we and Tony do) is that ''this is precisely what happened'' -- which leads to the irony of Mark trying to convince Tony to confess to a crime (that Mark believes Tony didn't commit) to save his beloved wife (who Tony actually wants dead).

-->'''Tony:''' I was hoping sooner or later I might catch you at something and be able to...
-->'''Swann:''' Blackmail me?
-->'''Tony:''' ''Influence'' you.

* CreatorCameo: As usual for Hitchcock, but a particularly clever example--he is in the class reunion photo along with Swann and Tony.

* KeyUnderTheDoormat: The key under the staircase carpeting is a [[IncrediblyLamePun key]] plot point.

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: For all four main characters. Swann is a con-man who attempts murder, which gets him killed in self-defense. Margot starts out as a spoilt upper-class lady who cheats on her husband; she survives attempted murder and death row, but gets redemption in the end (and probably reparations for miscarriage of justice), and gets rid of Tony. Tony is rightfully indicted for having plotted the murder of his wife, and tried to set her up for murder. Though Mark has an affair with his friend's wife, he is the most honest character; he solves the case in the end, and will probably end up as Margot's companion.]]

* ShoutOut: A clever little one to ''Film/StrangersOnATrain'' (which Hitch made three years before, in 1951), when Mark is talking about how he would plot the perfect murder, and he alludes to a possible scenario involving a tennis champ (like Tony--or like Guy in ''Strangers'').

* ShearMenace: Margot manages to kill Swann by stabbing him with a pair of scissors.

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[spoiler: For all four main characters. Swann is a con-man who attempts murder, which gets him killed in self-defense. Margot starts out as a spoilt upper-class lady who cheats on his husband; she survives attempted murder and death row, but gets redemption in the end (and probably reparations for miscarriage of justice), and gets rid of Tony. Tony is rightfully indicted for having plotted the murder of his wife, and tried to set her up for murder. Though Mark has an affair with his friend's wife, he is the most honest character; he solves the case in the end, and will probably end up as Margot's companion.]]

''Dial M For Murder'' was [[UsefulNotes/ThreeDMovie filmed in 3D]], but by the time of its release, the 3D fad was dying out, so it had only a brief original release in 3D, followed by a conventional, "flat" release. Despite 3D being a gimmick, Hitchcock was able to employ it effectively, without too much distraction from the rest of the film.