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USA: Roman Polanski, 1968

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Original title: La Morte ha Fatto l'Uovo
Italy/France: Giulio Questi, 1968

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USA/UK: Tim Burton, 2005

(Watched with In-Movie Experience)

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UK/USA: Mike Johnson/Tim Burton, 2005

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USA: Art Stevens/Ted Berman/Richard Rich, 1981

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USA/UK: Tim Burton, 2005

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USA: Alfred Hitchcock, 1954

Most people have a favourite Hitchcock film. If you have any interest in cinema - hell, provided you own a television - you cannot have failed to come into contact with several of his masterpieces. Ask anyone which is their favourite Hitchcock film, and chances are they'll name one of the following: Rebecca, Notorious, North by Northwest, Rear Window, The Birds, Psycho, Vertigo. Broadly speaking, I like all of these films, and would consider a number of them to be among the best ever created. My personal favourite Hitchcock, however, is a little unusual, in that it's one of Hitchcock's least Hitchcockian efforts: Dial M for Murder.

I first came into contact with this film as part of the Media Studies class I took in my final year at school. When it started, I initially thought "Oh no, not a crummy 1950s drama" (I was rather set in my ways regarding movie-watching preferences back then). But, as the minutes ticked by, I found myself getting drawn into the narrative in a way that really hadn't happened to me before. More than anything else, I was struck by the intelligence of the script as Ray Milland, in the most wonderful gleeful bastard mode, reeled the hapless Anthony Dawson into his diabolically twisted plan. The script is ingenious: a backwards whodunit in which we are told verbally, in extreme detail, precisely how a murder is going to be committed, before showing it happening and going horribly wrong, despite the fact that its instigator thinks he's covered every possible angle.

Hitchcock isn't really doing anything hugely revolutionary with the camera here, although the film is noteworthy for being designed to be projected in 3D, a choice made all the more bizarre by the very static, stage-confined nature of the script (based on a play). As such, this film doesn't cry out for attention in the manner of Vertigo or The Birds, both of which featured major technical innovations. Instead, it's quietly confident and decidedly dependent on the writing and acting, both of which are top-notch.

One of these days, I'm going to write a full-blown review of this film. Until then, I just want to reiterate how great I think this film is. No, it doesn't really stretch any boundaries, and I can't really imagine it having been much of a stretch for Hitchcock to direct. But I've probably watched it more than any of his other films and, despite having seen it so many times, I still enjoy it just as much every time I dig it out and watch it again as I did when I first saw it back in 2000. Excellent stuff.

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Original title: Sette Note in Nero
Italy: Lucio Fulci, 1977

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USA: Francis Lawrence, 2005

(Watched with commentary by Kevin Brodbin and Frank Cappello)

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UK/West Germany: Peter Sykes, 1976

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