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By the mid-1950s, Alfred Hitchcock had firmly established himself as the master director of suspense films, but he still enjoyed experimenting with new technology (including 3-D) and collaborating with novice actresses. On May 29, 1954, he released “Dial M for Murder,” in which he incorporated some filmmaking fads of the day and made a star out of an actress whose short career begat a long-lasting legacy. Read on for more about the “Dial M for Murder” 70th anniversary.

The thriller was written by British playwright Frederick Knott, based on his successful stage play two years prior. When retired pro-tennis player Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) discovers his wealthy socialite wife Margot (Grace Kelly) is having an affair with their friend Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings), he decides her death would be much more profitable than a divorce. He blackmails old acquaintance Charles Swann (Anthony Dawson) to stage a break-in and murder his wife,...

Home invasion has been a part of horror movies practically from the beginning. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920), Nosferatu (1922), Dracula, and Frankenstein (1931) all included moments of attackers entering homes uninvited and terrorizing unsuspecting victims.

Home invasion as a sub-genre unto itself came a bit later, as the suburbs sprung up and a false sense of security rose in the United States along with fears of “the other” that have always been a key aspect of horror movies.

These ten movies may not all be the best of this sub-genre, but they all bring something different to the table and pushed it, in large and small ways, in new directions.

The Desperate Hours (1955)

It is practically impossible to pinpoint the exact moment that started any new genre or movement within film but a good candidate for the foundation of the home invasion movie is William Wyler’s The Desperate Hours. The...

After concluding April with discussions of Ciarán Foy’s Eli (listen) and David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ (listen), we kicked off May with a revisit of Stephen Sommers’ delightful 1999 film, The Mummy (listen).

Now we’re headed into the past with Terence Young‘s adaptation of Frederick Knott‘s “disabled woman in danger” play, Wait Until Dark (1967).

In the film, recently blind Susy (Audrey Hepburn) is menaced by a trio of strange men, including sexually perverse ring leader Roat (Alan Arkin), “nice guy” Talman (Richard Crenna) and portly Carlino (Jack Weston). The men are looking for a doll full of heroin, which is located somewhere in her apartment, but she doesn’t know where!

Can Susy figure out the scam with the help of upstairs neighbor girl Gloria (Julie Herrod) or will she wind up hanging in the closet like Roat’s poor accomplice Lisa (Samantha Jones)?

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Quentin Tarantino didn't always want to be a filmmaker. Not exclusively at least.

For a time, he harbored dreams of being an actor. As a teenager, he performed in plays with the Torrance Community Theater, and, as is the case with most creative folk, when the acting bug bites you, around the time you get your first ovation (no matter how small the part), it bites hard.

At the outset of the 1980s, Tarantino kept his options open and joined an acting school of note in the Toluca Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles. The company's proximity to the Hollywood dream factory no doubt titillated the burgeoning entertainer, but short of having a natural affinity for the craft like, say, Montgomery Clift, Meryl Streep, and Mickey Rourke, it takes a great deal of dedication and loads of scene study to hone your ability. You have to fail, more than once, and...

Sensory horror has had a steady place in the spotlight for the past few years; drop one of the five senses and the storytelling can go to some interesting places. "Bird Box" punishes its victims in that most Eldritch of ways, for looking: Witnessing its unseen creatures drives the beholder to suicidal madness. The apocalyptic beasts of "A Quiet Place" can't see you, but they'll bring a world of hurt if they hear you. Unfortunately for the bad guy of Mike Flanagan's "Hush," deaf-mute horror author Maddie Young (played by co-writer Kate Siegel) proves to be no easy target.

The 2016 horror movie continues to steadily make appearances on Netflix's trending section, forever finding audiences to thrill with Maddie's writing retreat from hell. Lacking vocal cord function and experiencing permanent hearing loss after a childhood illness, Maddie can't scream when The Man (John Gallagher Jr. of "10 Cloverfield Lane"), an armed,...

Alfred Hitchcock is behind several decades' worth of celebrated films, but some of the English director's best works were adaptations of stage plays. "Dial M For Murder" was one such adaptation, based on Frederick Knott's Broadway hit concerning an affair, a murder plot, and the trial that followed. Meticulously plotted and visually sparse, the thriller has one of the most satisfying endings of any of Hitchcock's films.

"Dial M For Murder" came to him from one of his previous players. "Notorious" star Cary Grant brought the project to the filmmaker with ambitions to play a hired killer, an appealing role after the suave menace he showed years earlier in Hitchcock's "Suspicion." At the time, Hitchcock was with Warner Bros., who paid thousands of British pounds for the film rights from filmmaker Alexander Korda (who had previously acquired the rights for much cheaper). After previously scrapping a feature adaptation...

Mitch Douglas, a literary agent who spent three decades at ICM and represented the likes of Tennessee Williams, Graham Greene, Arthur Miller, Lanford Wilson and Howard Koch, has died. He was 78.

Douglas died Nov. 5 of metastatic brain cancer at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, his friend and client Lawrence Leritz announced.

Other clients for the Kentucky native included Broadway duos John Kander & Fred Ebb and Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee; playwrights Robert Anderson (Tea and Sympathy), Frederick Knott (Dial M for Murder) and Reginald Rose (12 Angry Men); and novelists Manuel Puig (Kiss of the Spider ...

Mitch Douglas, a literary agent who spent three decades at ICM and represented the likes of Tennessee Williams, Graham Greene, Arthur Miller, Lanford Wilson and Howard Koch, has died. He was 78.

Douglas died Nov. 5 of metastatic brain cancer at Calvary Hospital in the Bronx, his friend and client Lawrence Leritz announced.

Other clients for the Kentucky native included Broadway duos John Kander & Fred Ebb and Jerome Lawrence & Robert E. Lee; playwrights Robert Anderson (Tea and Sympathy), Frederick Knott (Dial M for Murder) and Reginald Rose (12 Angry Men); and novelists Manuel Puig (Kiss of the Spider ...

I once suggested that Hollywood should remake Dial M For Murder, playwright Frederick Knott’s dynamite stage play which was famously adapted into a movie by Alfred Hitchcock in 1954. Three years later, my suggestion is finally being heeded: a remake is being developed for television, with Academy Award winner Alicia Vikander executive producing and potentially starring in the […]

The post ‘Dial M For Murder’ TV Show Being Developed as Anthology Series, May Star Alicia Vikander appeared first on /Film.

A “Dial M for Murder” anthology series from Alicia Vikander and Terence Winter is in development at MGM/UA Television, TheWrap has learned.

Winter will executive produce the series, based on the 1952 Frederick Knott play and subsequent Alfred Hitchcock film adaptation. The series is said to retell the crime drama from a female perspective, with Vikander eyed to star.

“Vinyl” alum Michael Mitnick is writer and creator on the series, with Winter overseeing.

Charles Collier of Vikander’s Vikarious Film banner will also executive produce alongside Andrew Mittman of 1.21 and Lloyd Braun.

Knott previously adapted his own play for Hitchcock’s 1954 film adaptation, which starred Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, Anthony Dawson, and John Williams. NBC previously aired a feature adaptation starring the original Broadway cast in 1958, and ABC produced its own version in 1968. No network is attached to the new anthology.

Should Vikander star in the series herself, it...

Normally, we’d look at a remake of “Dial M For Murder” and ask, “Why?” The original play and subsequent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock are classics. So, why mess with a good thing? Well, when you have talent like Terence Winter and Alicia Vikander on board, that makes the justification a bit easier to understand.

Read More: ‘Boardwalk Empire’ Creator Terence Winter Writing New True Crime Series About Corrupt Detectives

According to THR, Winter is set to develop and produce a new anthology series, “Dial M for Murder,” based on Frederick Knott’s play and the 1954 film of the same name.

Continue reading Alicia Vikander To Star In Terence Winter’s ‘Dial M For Murder’ Anthology Series at The Playlist.

Alicia Vikander is picking up the phone and is about to dial.

The actor is developing a “Dial M For Murder” anthology series at MGM/UA Television with “Boardwalk Empire” and “The Sopranos” alum Terence Winter, Variety has confirmed.

Vikander is eyeing a central role in the project which is based on Frederick Knott’s play and the Alfred Hitchcock film of the same name. The prospective series is said to re-imagine the thriller from a female point of view.

Vikander is also on board to executive produce via her Vikarious Film banner, alongside the banner’s top exec Charlies Collier. Michael Mitnick, who previously worked with Winter on HBO’s “Vinyl,” is on board to create and write the show. Winter and Andrew Mittman of 1.21 and Lloyd Braun are both signed on as exec producers.

Should the series find a network and Vikander sign on the dotted line for a role,...

MGM/UA Television is developing limited series Dial M For Murder, based on the 1952 play of the same name by Frederick Knott, which was adapted into the 1954 Alfred Hitchcock movie.

Oscar winner Alicia Vikander is executive producing through her Vikarious Film banner with an eye to potentially star in the series, which reimagines the classic suspense thriller story from the female perspective. In Hitchcock’s film, the role was played by Grace Kelly.

Michael Mitnick (The Giver) is creating and writing the series with Boardwalk Empire creator Terence Winter overseeing. Mitnick is a playwright-screenwriter whose sole previous TV series writing credit was on HBO’s Vinyl, co-created and executive produced by Winter.

Winter executive produces alongside Vikander and Charles Collier via Vikarious Film. Andrew Mittman of 1.21, who has a deal at MGM/UA TV, and Lloyd Braun will also serve as executive producers.

Dial M For Murder is being developed as...

Dial M for Murder is getting a refresh.

Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos) and Alicia Vikander are teaming with MGM/UA Television to develop an anthology drama based on Frederick Knott’s play and subsequent feature film of the same name. Vikander is being eyed to star in the series as well as exec produce. A network is not yet attached.

Designed as an anthology series that will reset each season, the new take reimagines Knott’s 1952 play and 1954 Alfred Hitchcock feature and will tell the crime thriller from the female perspective. Both

Michael Mitnick, who previously worked with ...

Dial M for Murder is getting a refresh.

Terence Winter (Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos) and Alicia Vikander are teaming with MGM/UA Television to develop an anthology drama based on Frederick Knott’s play and subsequent feature film of the same name. Vikander is being eyed to star in the series as well as exec produce. A network is not yet attached.

Designed as an anthology series that will reset each season, the new take reimagines Knott’s 1952 play and 1954 Alfred Hitchcock feature and will tell the crime thriller from the female perspective. Both

Michael Mitnick, who previously worked with ...

On Nov. 8, Norman Lloyd will celebrate his 106th birthday, which is just one more accomplishment for a man whose nearly-100-year career is filled with amazing milestones. Lloyd worked as an actor, director and/or producer in theater, the early days of radio, film and TV. He wasn’t a household name, but he has always been well known and respected within the industry — not only for his work, but for the people he worked with. That list includes Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Elia Kazan, Jean Renoir, Robin Williams, Martin Scorsese, Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon, Cameron Diaz, Judd Apatow and Amy Schumer.

As his contemporary Karl Malden summed up in 2007, “He is the history of our industry.”

Lloyd was born Norman Perlmutter Nov. 8, 1914, in Jersey City, N.J. He took singing and dancing lessons and was a paid professional by the age of 9. He performed with...

[This Halloween season, we're paying tribute to classic horror cinema by celebrating films released before 1970! Check back on Daily Dead this month for more retrospectives on classic horror films, and visit our online hub to catch up on all of our Halloween 2019 special features!]

Looking for more intrigue and thrills than shrieks and blood spills this Halloween season? We know that our readers have varying tastes in movie watching, and with only four more days left until the big day, may I suggest Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder (1954)? The film is just as over the top (in the best way) as the title suggests. It's got attempted murder, a double-crossing, a back-stabbing spouse, and it will keep you guessing from start to finish—all the makings of a good film noir crime drama.

In the 1950s, the effects of World War II were still felt by everyone involved, so it comes as no surprise that film in that time period would be changed as well. Cinematic subject matter got darker and more cynical as well as the performances in films. Film noir or "dark film" flourished throughout the 1940s and '50s...

Grace Kelly would’ve celebrated her 89th birthday on November 12, 2018. The Oscar-winning actress made just a handful of movies before transforming from a Hollywood princess into a real life one following her marriage to Prince Rainier of Monaco in 1956. In honor of her birthday, let’s take a look back in the photo gallery above of all 11 of her films, ranked worst to best.

Kelly got her start performing onstage and in television before being drafted by Hollywood to appear in Henry Hathaway‘s ripped-from-the-headlines nail-biter “Fourteen Hours” (1951) when she was just 22-years-old. The next year found her starring as the concerned wife to an imperiled town marshal (Gary Cooper) in the landmark western “High Noon” (1952).

She got her first Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actress for John Ford‘s adventure yarn “Mogambo” (1953), playing one of two love interests (along with Ava Gardner) to big game hunter Clark Gable. The next year,...

Alfred Hitchcock celebrates his 119th birthday on August 13. Born in 1899, the director has long been revered as one of the most influential filmmakers of all time. He also holds the unfortunate distinction of being one of Oscar’s biggest losers, with five Best Director nominations and no wins. Still, who needs an Oscar when you’ve impacted world cinema as significantly as “Hitch” has? In honor of his birthday, let’s take a look back at 25 of his greatest films, ranked from worst to best.

Known as “the Master of Suspense,” Hitchcock cut his teeth directing silent movies in his native England. With films like “The Lodger” (1927), he gained a reputation for helming tense and stylish psychological thrillers. With the invention of sound came an added element to Hitchcock’s work: a sly sense of humor.

He moved to America in 1940 to direct two films that earned Best Picture nominations: “Foreign Correspondent” and “Rebecca,...

Is this a genuine classic? I think so. Sure, it’s the old story of the blind girl in jeopardy, but it’s been worked out so well. Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna and Jack Weston shine in a keen adaptation of Frederick Knott’s play, which could be titled, Dial C for Can’t See Nuthin’.

Wait Until Dark

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1967 / Color / 1:85 widescreen / 108 min. / Street Date January 24, 2016 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring Audrey Hepburn, Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Jack Weston, Julie Herrod, Samantha Jones.

Cinematography Charles Lang

Art Direction George Jenkins

Film Editor Gene Milford

Original Music Henry Mancini

Written by Robert Howard-Carrington & Jane Howard-Carrington

from the play by Frederick Knott

Produced by Mel Ferrer

Directed by Terence Young

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

This old-fashioned, semi- stage bound thriller is a real keeper: I must have seen it six times...

Special Mention: C’est arrivé près de chez vous (Man Bites Dog)

Written by André Bonzel, Benoît Poelvoorde, Rémy Belvaux and Vincent Tavier

Directed by André Bonzel and Benoît Poelvoorde

France, 1992

Rémy Belvaux, André Bonzel, and Benoît Poelvoorde set out to make their first feature film with little resources and little money. In the tradition of filmmakers who can’t afford much film stock, the trio settled for a faux-documentary-style approach – the result is a high-concept satire of media violence that would spoof documentaries by following around a fictitious sociopath named Ben as he exercises his lethal craft. While the cinematic tradition of presenting villains as suave, charming, attractive, and intelligent individuals is nothing new, Man Bites Dog was still ahead of its time. Much like the great Hitchcockian villains such as Joseph Cotten in Shadow of a Doubt, Ben is a man of action and ideas. He expounds on art,...

Grace Kelly is an actress that I haven’t spent nearly enough time with. Thankfully, that will soon change thanks to Warner Bros. Home Entertainment. Here is a portion of the news release …

On July 29, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment (Wbhe) will remember one of Hollywood’s most glamorous film stars with the debut of the Grace Kelly Collection. The Collection includes six of the iconic screen legend’s most popular films. She stars with some of Hollywood’s finest leading men, including Clark Gable, Cary Grant, William Holden, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

About the Films

Mogambo (1953)

Kelly received her first Academy Award nomination (Best Actress in a Supporting Role) in this remake of 1932’s Red Dust, in which Gable originally starred with Jean Harlow. He stars here with Kelly and the sizzling Ava Gardner, who was also nominated for her performance. Directed by John Ford, and shot on location in Africa,...

A Perfect Murder

Written by Patrick Smith Kelly

Directed by Andrew Davis

USA, 1998

In a makeshift loft apartment in one of Manhattan’s forgotten districts, two lovers, Emily and David (Gwyneth Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen) embrace passionately under the bed sheets amidst a collection of amateur paintings. Emily is a successful aid to the United States ambassador at the United Nations, while David is a struggling artist hoping to catch a break in the New York art scene. The glitch in their happiness is that Emily is married to another man, Steven Taylor (Michael Douglas), an investor. Steven, perceptive and driven by the suspicion that his wife may be cheating on him, quickly collects all the information necessary to confirm his suspicions and some dirty secrets about David’s past. Rather than threaten David with murderous rage, Steven makes the artist an offer: murder Emily and earn $500,000 in the process.

Every year, we here at Sound On Sight celebrate the month of October with 31 Days of Horror; and every year, I update the list of my favourite horror films ever made. Last year, I released a list that included 150 picks. This year, I’ll be upgrading the list, making minor alterations, changing the rankings, adding new entries, and possibly removing a few titles. I’ve also decided to publish each post backwards this time for one reason: the new additions appear lower on my list, whereas my top 50 haven’t changed much, except for maybe in ranking. I am including documentaries, short films and mini series, only as special mentions – along with a few features that can qualify as horror, but barely do.

Come Back Tonight To See My List Of The 200 Best!

****

Special Mention:

Wait until Dark

Directed by Terence Young

Written by Robert Carrington

USA, 1967

Directed by Terence Young,...

Recently blinded Susan (Alison Pill, of The Newsroom) is first manipulated and then terrorized in her basement apartment by three con men searching for a lost doll of great value that had been unknowingly slipped to her absent husband. Insecure and not a little bitter, the vulnerable Susan must muster her resources to outmaneuver her tormentors, turn her disability to advantage, and survive. This 1966 success by Frederick Knott (Dial M for Murder) originally starred Lee Remick and Robert Duvall under the direction of Arthur Penn (just before he started work on Bonnie and Clyde). It was filmed the following

read more...

Made in 1953 during Hollywood's first, brief flirtation with 3D, Dial M for Murder is a version of Frederick Knott's popular West End and Broadway thriller that Hitchcock took on as a technical exercise to fulfil a contract at Warner Brothers. Sadly the vogue for 3D was over by the time it could be released (there was an embargo that forced Warners to wait until the end of the Broadway run), so it only came out in the UK on the flat screen. Apart from a brief 1984 showing at the Ica, this newly struck print is the first 3D release here.

It's a variation on Strangers on a Train in which two men discuss (first playfully, then seriously) the murder of the other's spouse, and a companion piece to Rope, another British play about psychopathic killers. But where Rope was shot in real time on a single set in what...

Made in 1953 during Hollywood's first, brief flirtation with 3D, Dial M for Murder is a version of Frederick Knott's popular West End and Broadway thriller that Hitchcock took on as a technical exercise to fulfil a contract at Warner Brothers. Sadly the vogue for 3D was over by the time it could be released (there was an embargo that forced Warners to wait until the end of the Broadway run), so it only came out in the UK on the flat screen. Apart from a brief 1984 showing at the Ica, this newly struck print is the first 3D release here.

It's a variation on Strangers on a Train in which two men discuss (first playfully, then seriously) the murder of the other's spouse, and a companion piece to Rope, another British play about psychopathic killers. But where Rope was shot in real time on a single set in what...

Hitchcock's sole foray into 3D gains nothing from the technology, but there are some classic, thrilling touches

In the early 1950s, 3D cinema was coming to the end of its first wave, and Alfred Hitchcock decided to make a movie in the new technology: Dial M for Murder. Later, he wryly described it as coming in on the last day of a nine-day wonder. Now this is being re-released, in 3D of course. What 3D nowadays tends to mean is theme-park-style aeronautics: whooshing through the skies, action and adventure. But Hitchcock chose a theatre adaptation for his 3D excursion, a static, drawing-room thriller by Frederick Knott, which he hardly opened out at all. Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap is surely the only extant survivor of this style. Perhaps Hitchcock figured the theatre was the essential 3D medium. The result is a rather stagey film whose back projections look quaint, with...

If you're wondering what inspired Baz Luhrmann's use of 3D in his theatrical and tricksy Great Gatsby, look no further. Luhrmann saw Dial M For Murder "many years ago" and noted Hitchcock's use of 3D to crank up the human drama of "actors standing in a room doing an eight-page scene". The original 3D game-changer is back on the big screen in July and has a new stereoscopic poster to let everyone know. Note how the tagline isn't "Hitchcock phones it in!" here.It may not be quite as exalted as Vertigo and Psycho, but with its nasty brand of double-dealing and Hitch's sure sense of the macabre, Dial M endures as one of the best of his straight-up thrillers. Like Rope, with its one-room set-up, it's adapted from a stage play - also by its screenwriter Frederick Knott - and it afforded the Master the opportunity to experiment with a new filmmaking format.

Dial M For Murder

Stars: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, John Williams, Anthony Dawson | Written by Frederick Knott | Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

It’s easy to say that Alfred Hitchcock was a true master of his art. We can talk for hours about the little tricks he employed to tell a story to the audience and even get down to the technical details of how he did it, and why he was so good. The real joy of Hitchcock though is to watch his films and actually enjoy just how he did it, to look for his cheeky little cameos and to just be thankful that we had a man of such talent to make such an impact on film and television. Dial M for Murder is quite a curiosity, filmed for 3D and made in 1954 it is an example of just how the gimmick can be used in a subtle way,...

Throughout the month of October, Editor-in-Chief and resident Horror expert Ricky D, will be posting a list of his favorite Horror films of all time. The list will be posted in six parts. Click here to see every entry.

As with all lists, this is personal and nobody will agree with every choice – and if you do, that would be incredibly disturbing. It was almost impossible for me to rank them in order, but I tried and eventually gave up.

****

Special Mention:

American Psycho

Directed by Mary Harrron

Written by Mary Harron

2000, USA

Bret Easton Ellis’s dark and violent satire of America in the 1980s was brought to the big screen by director Mary Harron. Initially slapped with the MPAA’s kiss of death (an Nc-17 rating), American Psycho was later re-edited and reduced to a more commercially dependable “R”. Perhaps the film works best as a slick satire about misogyny,...

Chicago – Two of Alfred Hitchcock’s most respected thrillers were recently released on Blu-ray as something of a warning shot to the gigantic box set of 15 films being released by Universal next week. Warner Bros. still owns “Dial M For Murder” and “Strangers on a Train,” and so they are the latest classic films inducted into the HD catalog.

How do they hold up against other Hitch Bd releases? Not so great. The fact is that we’ve been a little spoiled. Those of us who love the work of arguably the best director of all time have been lucky enough to experience his work on Criterion (“The Lady Vanishes”) or with lavish special editions (“Psycho,” “North by Northwest”). Neither of the transfers here compare to what we’re used to lately with “Strangers” particularly looking sub-par compared to recent WB releases. “Strangers” has some decent special features but “Dial...

With its romping plot and glorious villain, it's surprising that this tale of a bungled killing is one the director all but disowned

According to Hitchcock, his filmography contained only a few "Hitchcock films". Rear Window was a Hitchcock film, Psycho was a Hitchcock film, The Lodger was the first Hitchcock film. Dial M for Murder should have made the cut.

It's a film based on a hit play by a writer, Frederick Knott, who hated writing and made by a director who said his batteries were running dry. When discussing the film (officially his 45th) in Francois Truffaut's A Definitive Study of Alfred Hitchcock – a book-length transcription of 50 hours of conversation between the directors – Hitchcock said the picture was an example of him "coasting, playing it safe". In the book they're done with the film within three pages: "There isn't very much we can say about that one,...

With its romping plot and glorious villain, it's surprising that this tale of a bungled killing is one the director all but disowned

According to Hitchcock, his filmography contained only a few "Hitchcock films". Rear Window was a Hitchcock film, Psycho was a Hitchcock film, The Lodger was the first Hitchcock film. Dial M for Murder should have made the cut.

It's a film based on a hit play by a writer, Frederick Knott, who hated writing and made by a director who said his batteries were running dry. When discussing the film (officially his 45th) in Francois Truffaut's A Definitive Study of Alfred Hitchcock – a book-length transcription of 50 hours of conversation between the directors – Hitchcock said the picture was an example of him "coasting, playing it safe". In the book they're done with the film within three pages: "There isn't very much we can say about that one,...

Actor of poise and beauty who enjoyed a rich and productive career on both sides of the Atlantic

Faith Brook, who has died aged 90, was an actor of remarkable elegance, poise and beauty. She was the daughter of Clive Brook, a pillar of the so-called Hollywood Raj, the British acting community that settled in Los Angeles in the 1930s. He appeared opposite Marlene Dietrich in Shanghai Express. Even if she was never a star on the scale of her father, Faith enjoyed a rich and productive career in theatre, film and television on both sides of the Atlantic.

She was born in York and moved with Clive and her mother, Mildred, to California, where her father had already put down roots. Her brother, Lyndon, was born four years after Faith and also became a successful actor.

She was educated in Los Angeles, London and Gstaad, Switzerland. She made her stage...

When it comes to actresses, the movie business has always had an eye for beautiful faces. Unfortunately, it has often only been an afterthought as to whether or not that beautiful face could do anything other than be beautiful. Leaf through the archives of any of the movie glamour magazines from long ago and you’ll find them a cemetery of beautiful faces primped and hyped by the Hollywood PR machine to be The Next Great Thing. Some never made it past a screen test, while others managed to survive a few screen roles, but through lack of talent, charisma, the right roles — whatever mysterious magic it is that causes a performer to click with an audience — soon disappeared, never to be heard of again. It’s a long, looong casualty list of forgotten pretties like Merrilyn Grix, Eleanor Counts, Kathy Marlowe, Myrna Dell, Sandra Giles, Jean Colleran, Sunnie O’Dea,...

Court Theatre continues its 2008-09 season with Frederick Knott's classic thriller Wait Until Dark, directed by Resident Artist Ron Oj Parson. The production will run at Court Theatre, 5535 S Ellis Avenue, March 5 - April 5, 2009. The press opening is Saturday, March 14, 2009 at 8:00 p.m. A cool-as-ice psychopath smooth talks his way into the home of an unsuspecting blind woman. Unbeknownst to Susie, she's harboring a dangerous prize, and he'll use every trick to get it. Spend an evening on the edge of your seat with the genre Hitchcock made classic. This psychological thriller probes which frightens us more - the evil you can see coming, or the one you can't?...

Celebrated playwright Frederick Knott has died age 86. Responsible for the stage smashes Dial M For Murder and Wait Until Dark, Knott passed away in his New York home of unknown causes on Sunday. Born on August 28, 1916 in China to an English missionary family, Knott earned a law degree from Cambridge University and served in the British Army from 1939- 1946, achieving the rank of major. His third play, Write Me A Murder, opened on Broadway in 1961 and ran for 25 weeks.

Filling the shoes of those who came before you is never easy, especially when the footwear belonged to Alfred Hitchcock, Grace Kelly and Ray Milland.

Yet "A Perfect Murder" -- based loosely on Hitch's "Dial M for Murder", which was adapted from Frederick Knott's stage play of the same name -- succeeds admirably.

A smart, classy, near-perfect suspense thriller boasting crackling performances from Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow, it's director Andrew Davis' best work since "The Fugitive".

This is a yarn in which the perpetrator's identity is shared with the audience from the start, but the tautly executed cat-and-mouse maneuvers nevertheless keep it involving.

Filling an underserved niche, "A Perfect Murder" should yield Warner Bros. some of its best boxoffice numbers of the year.

Purists may find it sacrilege to say so, but Patrick Smith Kelly's clever screenplay, rather than simply updating the action from 1950s London to '90s Manhattan, actually improves on the Knott/Hitchcock original by creating a more treacherous dynamic between the two male points of the intriguing love-hate triangle.

When wealthy industrialist Steven Taylor (Douglas in full "Wall Street" Gordon Gekko mode) realizes that his prized possession -- coming-from-big-money, U.N. multilingual-translator wife Emily -- is having a torrid affair with struggling artist David Shaw (Viggo Mortensen), Taylor plots to critically hurt the one he loves.

Revealing his discovery to Shaw after digging up a considerable criminal portfolio on the career usurper of wealthy women, Taylor blackmails him into killing Emily.

Needless to say, despite elaborate preparations, the execution goes horribly awry as Emily manages to ward off her masked attacker by stabbing him -- no, not in the back with a pair of scissors (that may have worked in the tasteful '50s), but with a carefully aimed meat thermometer to the jugular.

To make matters worse for Taylor, the unintended murder victim doesn't turn out to be whom we expected. As Taylor frantically attempts to cover his tracks, Emily's suspicions are understandably heightened, as are those of Detective Mohamed Karaman (David Suchet), with whom Emily converses in his native Arabic.

Even Hitchcock would have approved of the casting. Douglas revels in playing the seamy, dark side that the late, great master of suspense used to enjoy eliciting from Hollywood good guys Cary Grant and James Stewart.

And while she's not exactly Grace Kelly (who is?), Paltrow brings an intelligent wiliness to her not-so-pitiful victim. Good also are Mortensen as an out-of-his-league counter-blackmailer and Suchet as the detective who answers to a much higher authority when making judgment calls.

Technical contributions are nothing short of superb.

A PERFECT MURDER

Warner Bros.

A Kopelson Entertainment production

An Andrew Davis film

Director: Andrew Davis

Producers: Arnold Kopelson

and Anne Kopelson, Christopher Mankiewicz, Peter Macgregor-Scott

Screenwriter: Patrick Smith Kelly

Based on the play "Dial M for Murder" by:

Frederick Knott

Executive producer: Stephen Brown

Director of photography: Dariusz Wolski

Production designer: Philip Rosenberg

Editors: Dennis Virkler, Dov Hoenig

Costume designer: Ellen Mirojnick

Music: James Newton Howard

Color/stereo

Cast:

Steven Taylor: Michael Douglas

Emily Bradford Taylor: Gwyneth Paltrow

David Shaw: Viggo Mortensen

Detective Mohamed Karaman: David Suchet

Raquel Martinez: Sarita Choudhury

Sandra Bradford: Constance Towers

Running time -- 107 minutes

MPAA rating: R...