Another favourite from my youth. The remake had none of the dramatic build up of this original.
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Alfred Hitchcock was – even more than Cecil B De Mille – cinema’s greatest showman. He was also its finest-ever technician. This is what makes his films endlessly re-watchable, even when you know the plot and the MacGuffins and the twists and who did what and why.
Dial M For Murder (1954), based on a successful stage play, stars Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings and John Williams (outstanding as the policeman who uncovers the plot).
Tony Wendice (Milland), a retired tennis pro, decides to bump off his wife Margot (Grace) for the insurance money and because he suspects she’s been having an affair. He enlists/blackmails an old college chum (Anthony Dawson) to get rid of her with a seemingly perfect murder scheme. But things get complicated – not only is Margot perhaps still involved with her former lover Mark (Cummings) but the plot goes awry; Tony however has a way out that will conveniently send Margot to the gallows. Or does he?
It’s a very ‘stagey’ piece, quite ‘talky’ and slow too, mostly set in just a couple of rooms – but what keeps you watching (or re-watching) is the fluidity and dynamism of Hitch’s camera, his mastery of mise-en-scène, his playfulness and perversity. I love that Hitch is so popular, so famous, and that he’s many people’s gateway into “proper” cinema, working within the confines of British – and later classic Hollywood– movie-making, but nearly always managing to do something a little bit radical, a little bit different.
Curiously, Dial M For Murder was made in 3-D (Hitchcock’s only foray into that format) but mostly shown in 2-D, as the public, not to mention cinema owners, had completely lost interest in this rather pointless gimmick by the time the picture was released. Hitch himself said of 3D: "It’s a nine-day wonder, and I came in on the ninth day”.
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A great film but, for me, lacking on one important credibility point: what husband in their right mind would want to be rid of Grace Kelly?!!!
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Based on a 1974 best-selling novel, this Sydney Pollack-helmed spy thriller was released in 1975. It stars Robert Redford (in his 1970s pomp and in great form) as a CIA researcher who returns from his lunch break only to find that everyone in his office has been murdered. By whom? And why? And is whoever did this after him too?
It’s a fantastic Cold War paranoia game of cat-and-mouse across DC and NYC, directed with real zip by Pollack, and the supporting cast (Faye Dunaway as Redford’s at first unwilling accomplice; Max von Sydow as a hired killer; Cliff Robertson as a slippery CIA man, John Houseman as the ruthless CIA boss) are all superb.
It’s one of those pictures that really draws you in and after a while you’re really rooting for Redford and Dunaway - and by the end, even von Sydow’s assassin. The use of locations is spot on, and you’ll have real fun spotting all the 1970s New York landmarks. The score by Dave Grusin is suitably gritty, a real departure from his usual easy-listening jazz fare.
The fact that this was released just after the Watergate and the CIA “Family Jewels” dirty tricks sacandals lends it a relevance and timeliness that still resonates today.
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Great film Kev. Was it on disc or stream?
The Eureka Entertainment Master of Cinema Blu-ray is pretty good but I see that Kino Lorber have a new 4K release out that could offer a significant step up in PQ.
On a Eureka blu-ray (I borrowed a whole stack of movies off a mate) Richard. To be honest I don’t get too hung up on the whole PQ/SQ thing on movies. Of course I want a good quality print, properly transferred, and something above VHS or DVD standard if possible.
But as with music, the quality of the transfer is more important than the format. I remember buying the first 4K release of Escape From New York and it was actually worse than the original blu-ray! The most important thing for me is that the film-makers’ original intent is preserved, and that any restoration or upgrading is done with care.
A lot of big studio 4K transfers have not been done well in the past, but indies like Criterion and Indicator (and indeed Kino Lorber) do a good job.
Also my Oppo 205 is in storage right now, (I’m using a second hand Sony UBP-X500) and my telly isn’t that big or that good, so it’s hard for me to tell sometimes when one version is better than another). But as long as I can watch movies I’m happy!
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Thanks Kev. Yes, I agree. No point in a 4k transfer if it’s either no improvement or, worse, a step backwards from the earlier 2k, and ultimately it’s a quality of the film that really counts.
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Gesundheit!
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I could watch Sir Michael Hordern all day long.
Adored his Ashe in The spy who came in from the cold. 
Tony
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Great make up 
Great film and I love Redford, but Max von Sydow steals every scene he’s in. I particularly like the reveal at the end. Marvellous.
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I love Carole Lombard, I really do. Along with Myrna Loy she’s my favourite female Golden Age star.
The greatest comedienne ever to grace the screen (though she could do serious stuff too), she had it all: supernatural talent, beauty, wit, charm, intelligence, glamour (few could carry off a 1930s gown as well as Lombard), marriage to two of the era’s leading leading men – William Powell and later, Clark Gable – business acumen… but sadly she was taken away far too early at the age of just 33. Apparently everyone who worked with or met her adored her. She combined sophistication with earthiness (she told filthy jokes and swore better than just about anyone else in Tinsel Town), could outdrink many of her male contemporaries, had a great sense of humour, etc. She was also the highest-paid actress of the late 1930s. What a girl!
Lombard left behind a peerless legacy of films from the 1930s and early ‘40s, and Nothing Sacred is one of the best. Made in 1937, it was Hollywood’s first Technicolor comedy and co-starred Fredric March, one of the Golden Age’s finest and most versatile actors. Even better, it’s directed by one of the great Old Masters, William Wellmann.
The title is apt, for this is a satirical screwball comedy about an unscrupulous reporter (March) who cynically (in order to boost his paper’s circulation and to revive his flagging career) makes a national star of a small-town Vermont woman, Hazel Flagg (Lombard) who is supposedly dying of radium poisoning.
When Hazel realises that her doctor is incompetent and that she is actually in perfect health, she keeps up the lie in order to blag a free trip to New York, leading to media hysteria. The seemingly doomed young woman is elevated to the status of a national heroine, an inspiration to all.
I won’t spoil the ending or reveal any more of the plot, but I’ll just say that the script was written by none other than Ben Hecht, with contributions from Dorothy Parker, Ring Lardner, Moss Hart and others, so there are plenty of brilliant one-liners for Queen Carole and March to get their teeth into. It’s an absolute hoot, and a joy too.
On Kino Lorber’s blu-ray (a good restoration by the way, apparently scanned from producer David O Selznick’s personal print)), the early Technicolor (the legendary W Howard Green was the cinematographer) is rendered beautifully, with just the right amount of film grain. A related fact: Nothing Sacred was the first colour film to use in-camera process effects, montage and rear screen projection.
The picture’s hard-boiled cynicism has aged really well too. “Lovely stuff”, as Shaky might say.
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Great to have you back posting again Kev; your musings such as the above have been sorely missed. It sounds like life has been more than a bit s**t so I hope things are back on the up.
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Thank you Paul x
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Completely agree.
I have stuck with my old wide screen 1080p Phillips TV.
In theory I am missing out on Dolby Vision etc. Frankly I an just buying and ripping media, before it is gone.
My Oppo died, I now use an nVidia Shield Pro, with an el cheapo bluray for the small number of BluEays that won’t rip.
P.S.
3 Days of the Condor, regular viewing here.
Max Von Sydow is superb.
It’s getting to be pricey finding old physical media.
Twenty years ago I used to visit a local second hand shop and pick up loads of DVDs for about £3 each. I’d get a stack every weekend. Many have never been released on Blu-ray. But I went back to the same shop a few months back and DVDs that were £3 are no more. The cheapest second hand disc is usually about £50 and some are closer to the £200 mark.
I consider myself a serious collector but I just can’t afford those. True, they are in superior condition. A few times I’ve tracked things down overseas for much less but the order either gets cancelled or a “like new” condition product outside of Japan is basically what I call garbage and leaves me sorry I bothered.
I feel like Hollywood and in fact studios the world over are perfectly happy to let their back catalogues die. The cynic in me says this is because they can remake things for the third time and now there will be nothing left to remind people it isn’t original.