Dial M for Murder/A Perfect Murder

In my discussion of Open Your Eyes/Vanilla Sky I spoke a little about remakes.  To reiterate slightly, I think if there is a new take on existing material if it seems like a good idea I would generally support it.  All too often though remakes are a studio’s easy to way to try to make money off a familiar name (ie the 2011 Footloose adaptation which was very faithful to the original film-even much of the dialogue was the same- but cast a far less skilled actor for the lead leading to an uncomfortable comparison).  

In 1998 two remakes of Alfred Hitchcock films were released.  The first was A Perfect Murder, which was a remake of Dial M for Murder, which was originally released in 1954.  Both films are about a man trying to murder his wealthy and unfaithful wife.  The second was Psycho, which was a shot-for-shot remake.

Since this discussion is focused on Dial M for Murder I will only briefly address Psycho and its remake.  While Psycho is Hitchcock’s most successful film and by far his most terrifying I have never enjoyed it as any more than a fun suspenseful film.  Gus Van Sant is an accomplished director so I was curious to see his take on it.  In the end I was not offended by the remake as much as I saw nothing special in it.  It did seem a bit out of place for Anne Heche, playing a 1998 character, to be saying lines like ”I didn’t mean to sound uncaring” but that was probably due to the fact that Joseph Stefano, the screenwriter of the original, also scripted the remake.   Skip past the rest of this paragraph if you have not seen either version.  I felt Vince Vaughn’s height gave away the big twist at the end when you see his silhouette in the famous shower scene.  

Please note I will discuss the endings of both films.  Dial M for Murder, starring Ray Milland and Grace Kelly, as Tony and Margot, was an adaptation of a play, which is evident as the film begins to unspool as it contains many long scenes and is almost entirely set in the main characters’ apartment.  A Perfect Murder, which was directed by Andrew Davis, who a few years earlier directed the fantastic adaptation of the 1960s show The Fugitive, stars Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen,as Steven, Emily and David, respectively, is a loose adaptation that takes the main setup and has the same central scene (the attempted murder of the unfaithful wife), uses a house key as the final clue, but changes many of the other details.

The biggest contrast between the two versions is the locations.  Dial M for Murder is set in London with English characters.  A Perfect Murder used several key locations in Manhattan such as Wall Street, Soho, The Staten Island Ferry, Washington Square Park, and Penn Station.

In both films the audience becomes complicit in the murder since we are privy to the planning and are eager to see how it plays out.   The husband is also the best written character and has all of the best lines.  Both Milland and Douglas look like they are having a ball playing these schemers. In one scene Douglas indulges in a diabolically smoky cigar.  My favorite line of Douglas in A Perfect Murder is “You steal the crown jewel of a man’s soul and your only excuse is some candy assed Hallmark card sentiment… “ .

Although she is not killed, in Dial M for Murder, Grace Kelly’s character is punished for her infidelity by being forced to spend time in prison, apart from the attack.  There is a very memorable shot in which Margot is shown standing trial for the murder of her assailant.  In A Perfect Murder Emily is briefly traumatized from the attack but much of the story in the second half is shown from her point of view.  David, a key player in the first half, only appears sporadically in the second half.

A Perfect Murder is less plausible in two key areas.  Steven confronts David directly (and in David’s own home) about the affair, which Tony never did to Mark in Dial M for Murder, and blackmails him into killing Emily.  This action narrows the dramatic focus to the three leads. However,  it is not believable that Steven could have expected David to be able to in the moment kill Gwyneth Paltrow’s character, Emily since he did have some feelings for her.  

Also, although Emily’s character is stronger in that she figures out that Steven is behind the murder attempt, she starts doing the detective’s work for him for what feels like the sake of political correctness.  The film would have worked better if Emily and the detective had solved the puzzle together.

The lover is presented differently in each film.  Mark in Dial M for Murder is a bland novelist of crime thrillers.  David on the other hand is a con man who seduces rich women; he is almost as twisted as Steven, though less savvy.  David is presented as an artist with a messy loft and Emily is drawn to his apparent lack of pretension.

A Perfect Murder is shot, edited, and scored, especially in the opening scenes as the credits roll, somewhat similarly to Andrew Davis’ The Fugitive.  Davis, who used both the people and city of Chicago effectively in that film, does the same thing with New York here.

In the second half of a Perfect Murder, Steven is just trying to cover his back whereas in Dial M For Murder Tony actually finds another way to kill his wife within the system.

The feelings of the villain toward his wife vary a bit in the two versions.  In Dial M for Murder Tony is an ex-tennis pro and eagerly admits to the would-be assassin played by Anthony Dawson (who later played one of the first Bond henchmen in Dr No) that he married for money.  He does not seem particularly bothered that he his wife is having an affair and really just wants to get at her money.  Tony interacts quite civilly with Mark in the second half, with the “secret” of Mark’s affair with Margot pretty much out in the open.  In A Perfect Murder Steven is a crooked hedge fund manager who seems to see Emily as a prized possession that he has earned because he has made himself successful enough to be worthy of her.  Emily’s affair has distracted Steven enough that he has made some bad decisions that are about to cost him his fortune, which provides part of the motivation.  In Fatal Attraction, the film that made Douglas a superstar, involved him cheating on his wife so Emily’s betrayal of him here seems like a cinematic form of payback.

Dial M for Murder has a very British ending with Ray Milland’s character caught and, after a brief reaction, he composes himself and prepares himself a drink.  The way in which he turns the key into the inspector is the equivalent of two tennis players shaking hands after a match as Tony is acknowledging that he has lost this contest.  Mark and Margot even accept a drink as well to deal with the shock of realizing her husband plotted to kill her in a slightly comic moment.  The final shot comes immediately afterwards as Inspector Hubbard celebrates by calmly combing his moustache as he is calling the station, adding an even bigger laugh.

In the original ending of A Perfect Murder Emily commits “The Perfect Murder” by first confronting Steven with evidence that he planned her murder, then shooting Steven in cold blood, and then staging a fight so it looks like he attacked her.  In the final cut Emily confronts Steven (the dialogue between the two is the same but played at a higher pitch) and they have a struggle in which Emily shoots her husband dead in self-defense.  Interestingly in the following scene in which Emily is speaking to the police officer she has a mark on her left cheek which is explained in the original end (since she hurts herself) but not in the theatrical one in which she is not hit, but thrown to the ground, but lands on her right side and her face does not seem to hit the floor.

I prefer the more subtle ending of the original film in this case.  Steven did not need to die, just be caught. Although his character was so much fun to watch I would have been fine with it had he gotten away not with the murder but the attempt.

Which film is better?   I think Dial M for Murder reaches greater overall heights with some of the interplay between Tony and the Inspector but suffers a little for being stuck in one location.  It also benefits more from group viewing.  A Perfect Murder is a more breezy film but is also less memorable.

Dial M For Murder: ***
Perfect Murder: ***