Continuity mistake: Before Tony leaves he closes the drapes. He then says he won't go out and will stay home. She says to go out, and he agrees, so he goes to the drapes and closes them again.
Dial M for Murder (1954)
Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock
Starring: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams
Revealing mistake: Just before Anthony Dawson is going to be stabbed to death by Grace Kelly with a pair of scissors, you can see for a very short moment that the scissors are already attached to his back.
Continuity mistake: When Tony throws the 100 pounds down-payment across the room to Swan, watch the chair in which it lands. It has a low back one in one shot, then a high back (probably to provide a bigger target for the throw), then a low back again.
Trivia: Alfred Hitchcock wanted the film to look as natural as possible, with the camera at eye level with the actors. Since movie cameras were large (especially 3D cameras), Hitch had a small trench built into the soundstage floor, so that the camera lens was, roughly, at eye level.
Trivia: This was filmed in 3-D, but was not originally released in 3-D. It wasn't until after Hitchcock died that it was released in its original 3-D form.
Trivia: Alfred Hitchcock's cameo in this film is one of the harder ones to spot: he appears in the photograph of Tony and Lesgate's Cambridge class reunion.
Margot Mary Wendice: Oh, there you are. We thought you were never coming. What have you been up to?
Tony Wendice: I'm sorry darling, but the boss came in just as I was leaving.
Margot Mary Wendice: Tony, this is Mark Halliday.
Tony Wendice: Hello Mark.
Mark Halliday: Hello.
Margot Mary Wendice: How long have you known this?
Chief Insp. Hubbard: Did you suspect it yourself?
Margot Mary Wendice: No, never. And yet... What's the matter with me, Mark? I don't seem able to feel anything.
Mark Halliday: What is all this?
Chief Insp. Hubbard: They talk about flat-footed policemen. May the saints protect us from the gifted amateur.
Question: Who is in the photograph on the liquor table in the beginning?
Join the mailing list
Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.
Chosen answer: It's mostly so the audience can see more of Tony's underlying character. This is Margo's bed, and Tony wanted it separate from the bedroom that they shared as husband and wife. Tony is "emotionally divorcing" himself from Margo as he is about to start a new life as a single man. Leaving the bed in the bedroom would serve as a reminder of his guilt in framing his innocent wife for a murder she did not commit. The bed is likely parked there until he can get rid of it.
raywest ★