Jan
3
The 2008 Hollywood Portfolio: Hitchcock Classics
Dial M for Murder, 1954
Charlize Theron. Photograph by Norman Jean Roy.
The scene in which Charles Alexander Swann (Dawson) attempts to strangle Margot Mary Wendice (Kelly), only to be himself stabbed with a pair of scissors, caused Hitchcock great anxiety. Although the entire film was shot in just 36 days, this single scene required a full week of rehearsals and multiple takes to get the choreography and timing right. After one failed take, Hitchcock complainded, “There wasn’t enough gleam to the scissors, and a murder without gleaming scissors is like asparagus without the hollandaise sauce—tasteless.”
The original still: Anthony Dawson and Grace Kelly.
