Dial M for Murder is a 1954 American thriller film adapted from a successful stage play by
Frederick KnottFrederick Major Paull Knott was an English playwright, best known for writing the London-based stage thriller Dial M for Murder, which was later filmed in Hollywood by Alfred Hitchcock....
, directed by
Alfred HitchcockSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
and starring
Ray MillandRay Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...
,
Grace KellyGrace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
, and
Robert CummingsCharles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings , mostly known professionally as Robert Cummings but sometimes as Bob Cummings, was an American film and television actor....
. The movie was released by the
Warner Bros.Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
studio.
The screenplay and the stage play on which it was based were both written by English playwright Frederick Knott, whose work often focused on women who innocently become the potential victims of sinister plots. The play premiered in 1952 on
BBC televisionBBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
, before being performed on the stage in the same year in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's
West EndWest End theatre is a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London's 'Theatreland', the West End. Along with New York's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English speaking...
in June, and then
New York'sNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
BroadwayBroadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
in October.
The single setting in the stage play is the living-room of the Wendices' flat in
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
(61A Charrington Gardens,
Maida ValeMaida Vale is a residential district in West London between St John's Wood and Kilburn. It is part of the City of Westminster. The area is mostly residential, and mainly affluent, consisting of many large late Victorian and Edwardian blocks of mansion flats...
). Hitchcock's film adds a second setting in a gentleman's club, a few views of the street outside, and a stylized courtroom montage. Having seen the play on Broadway,
Cary GrantArchibald Alexander Leach , better known by his stage name Cary Grant, was an English actor who later took U.S. citizenship...
was keen to play the role of Tony Wendice, but studio chiefs did not feel the public would accept him as a man who arranges to have his wife murdered.
In June 2008, the
American Film InstituteThe American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
revealed its "
Ten Top TenAFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
" list—the best ten films in ten "classic" American film genres—after polling over 1,500 people from the creative community. Dial M for Murder was ranked the ninth best film in the mystery genre.
Plot
Tony Wendice (Milland) is an ex-professional
tennisTennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...
player who lives in a London flat with his wealthy wife, Margot (Kelly). Tony retired after Margot complained about his busy schedule, and she began an affair with American crime-fiction writer Mark Halliday (Cummings), which Tony secretly discovered. Motivated by resentment, jealousy, and greed, Tony devised a plan to have Margot murdered.
When Mark visits England, Margot introduces him to Tony as a casual acquaintance. After sending the two lovers out for the evening, Tony makes an excuse to meet at the flat with petty criminal C.A. Swann (Dawson), an old acquaintance from
CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. Tony has been following Swann in order to
blackmailIn common usage, blackmail is a crime involving threats to reveal substantially true or false information about a person to the public, a family member, or associates unless a demand is met. It may be defined as coercion involving threats of physical harm, threat of criminal prosecution, or threats...
him into committing the murder. Tony tells Swann of Margot's affair, including a love letter from Mark which she once kept in her handbag. Six months ago, Tony stole the handbag and anonymously blackmailed her. After tricking Swann into leaving his fingerprints on the letter, Tony offers to pay him £1,000 to kill Margot. If he refuses, Tony will turn him in to the police as the blackmailer.
When Swann agrees, Tony explains his plan. He will take Mark to a party, leaving Margot at home and hiding her
latchkeyLatchkey or Latch-key is a term that may refer to:*A key used to open a latch.*Latchkey kid, a child who returns from school to an empty home because his or her parents are away at work...
under the carpet on the staircase outside the front door of the flat. Swann is to sneak into the flat after Margot goes to bed and hide behind the curtains in front of the French doors leading to the garden. When Tony telephones from the party, Margot will go to the phone. Swann is to kill her from behind, open the French doors, and leave signs suggesting a burglary gone wrong, then exit through the front door, again hiding the key under the staircase carpet.
The plan works until Tony phones the flat. Swann tries to strangle Margot with a scarf, but she stabs and kills him with a pair of scissors, then picks up the telephone receiver and pleads for help. Realizing the plan has gone wrong, Tony tells her not to do anything. At home, he finds what he assumes is Margot's latchkey in Swann's pocket and puts it in her handbag, then calls the police, sends Margot to bed, plants Mark's letter on Swann, and replaces Swann's scarf with one of Margot's stockings. He also persuades Margot to hide the fact that he told her not to call the police. The next day, Chief Inspector Hubbard (Williams) questions the Wendices and Margot makes several conflicting statements. When Hubbard explains that Swann must have entered through the front door, Tony falsely claims to have seen Swann after Margot's handbag was stolen and suggests that Swann made a copy of her key. Hubbard arrests Margot after concluding that she killed Swann for blackmailing her with Mark's letter when he came to collect.
Margot is
sentenced to deathCapital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
for murder. On the day before her scheduled execution, Mark tries to persuade Tony to save her by telling the police that he hired Swann to kill her, not realizing that this is what actually happened. Tony refuses, insisting the story is too unrealistic, just before Hubbard arrives. With Mark hiding in the bedroom, Hubbard asks Tony about money he has been spending lately, tricks him into revealing that his latchkey is in his raincoat, and asks him about an attaché case. Tony claims to have lost the case, but Mark notices it on the bed, full of cash. Realizing his story is true, Mark stops Hubbard from leaving and explains his theory. Hubbard claims to prefer Tony's story that Margot gathered the money to pay Swann before deciding to kill him, but after Mark leaves, Hubbard discreetly swaps his own raincoat with Tony's, and as soon as Tony has left, he uses Tony's key to re-enter the flat. He really does suspect Tony, having discovered that the key in Margot's handbag was Swann's.
Mark returns after seeing Tony leave. Meanwhile, on Hubbard's orders, police officers release Margot outside. She tries to unlock the door with the key in her purse, then enters through the garden, proving she is unaware of the hidden key. Hubbard has the handbag returned to the police station, where Tony retrieves it after discovering that he has no key. When he is unable to unlock the front door with the key from the bag, he takes Margot's key from the staircase and opens the door, proving his guilt. With his escape routes blocked by Hubbard and another policeman, Tony makes himself a drink.
Cast
- Ray Milland
Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...
as Tony Wendice
- Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
as Margot Mary Wendice
- Robert Cummings
Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings , mostly known professionally as Robert Cummings but sometimes as Bob Cummings, was an American film and television actor....
as Mark Halliday
- John Williams
John Williams was an English stage, film and television actor. He is remembered for his role as chief inspector Hubbard in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder, and as portraying the second "Mr...
as Chief Inspector Hubbard
- Anthony Dawson
Anthony Dawson was a Scottish-born actor, best known for his supporting roles in British films.Born in Edinburgh, he made his film debut in 1943's They Met in the Dark, going on to appear in such classic British films as The Way to the Stars , The Queen of Spades , and The Wooden Horse , before...
as Captain Lesgate aka Charles Alexander Swann
- Leo Britt as the storyteller
- Patrick Allen
John Keith Patrick Allen was a British film, television and voice actor.-Life and career:Allen was born in Nyasaland , where his father was a tobacco farmer. After his parents returned to Britain, he was evacuated to Canada during World War II where he remained to finish his education at McGill...
as Detective Pearson
- George Leigh as Detective Williams
- George Alderson as First Detective
- Robin Hughes
Robin Hughes was a film and television actor-Background:Robin Hughes was born June 7, 1920 in Buenos Aires, Argentina to English parents...
as Police Sergeant
All cast members are deceased.
Production
After 1953's
I ConfessI Confess is a drama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, and starring Montgomery Clift as Fr. Michael William Logan, a Catholic priest, Anne Baxter as Ruth Grandfort, and Karl Malden as Inspector Larrue. This was the only film Hitchcock made with these three actors...
, Hitchcock planned to film The Bramble Bush based on the 1948 novel by
David DuncanDavid Duncan, an American screenwriter and novelist, was born February 17, 1913 and died December 27, 1999 in Everett, Washington. He began writing professionally at the age of 33 after about ten years in government. His screenwriting career began in 1953 with the release of his first film and...
as a
Transatlantic PicturesTransatlantic Pictures was founded by Alfred Hitchcock and longtime associate Sidney Bernstein at the end of World War II in preparation for the end of Hitchcock's contract with David O. Selznick in 1947...
production with partner Sidney Bernstein. However, there were problems with the script and budget, Hitchcock and Bernstein decided to dissolve their partnership, and Warner Bros. allowed Hitchcock to scrap The Bramble Bush and begin production on Dial M for Murder.
Margot and Mark's names were changed for the film. In the original play, they were Shelia Mary Wendice and Max Halliday.
Alfred Hitchcock's cameo is a signature occurrence in most of his films. In Dial M for Murder, he can be seen thirteen minutes into the film in a black-and-white reunion photograph sitting at a banquet table among former students and faculty.
3-D release
The 1954 film was shot with M.L. Gunzberg's Natural Vision
3-D cameraA 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
rig. This rig was notable for being the same rig that started the 3-D craze of 1953 with
Bwana DevilBwana Devil is a 1952 drama based on the true story of the Tsavo maneaters. It was written, directed, and produced by Arch Oboler, and is considered the first color, American 3-D feature. It started the 3-D boom in the U.S. film making industry from 1952 to 1954...
and
House of WaxHouse of Wax is a 1953 American horror film starring Vincent Price. It is a remake of Warners' Mystery of the Wax Museum without the comic relief featured in the earlier film, and was directed by André de Toth...
. Intended originally to be shown in dual strip polarized 3-D, the film played in most theaters in normal 2-D due to the loss of interest in the 3-D process by the time of its release.
In February 1980, the dual-strip system was used for the revival of the film in 3-D at the York Theater in San Francisco. This revival did so well that Warner Bros. re-released the film in the single-strip system 3-D version in February 1982.
Similar films and remakes
Dial M for Murder is sometimes confused with a film with a similar setting and subject-matter,
Midnight LaceMidnight Lace is a 1960 American mystery-thriller film starring Doris Day and Rex Harrison, directed by David Miller. The screenplay by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts is based on the play Matilda Shouted Fire by Janet Green....
(US; David Miller, 1960), starring
Rex HarrisonSir Reginald Carey “Rex” Harrison was an English actor of stage and screen. Harrison won an Academy Award and two Tony Awards.-Youth and stage career:...
and
Doris DayDoris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
. In this film, a woman (Day) receives harassing telephone calls that escalate until she is in physical danger. In the end, the culprit turns out to be her own husband (Harrison). There is also a police inspector around (in both cases played by
John WilliamsJohn Williams was an English stage, film and television actor. He is remembered for his role as chief inspector Hubbard in Alfred Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder, and as portraying the second "Mr...
), and additionally the setting is very British.
Being one of the classic examples of a stage thriller, it has been revived a number of times since, including a US TV movie in 1981 with
Angie DickinsonAngie Dickinson is an American actress. She has appeared in more than fifty films, including Rio Bravo, Ocean's Eleven, Dressed to Kill and Pay It Forward, and starred on television as Sergeant Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson on the 1970s crime series Police Woman.-Early life:Dickinson, the second of...
and
Christopher PlummerArthur Christopher Orne Plummer, CC is a Canadian theatre, film and television actor. He made his film debut in 1957's Stage Struck, and notable early film performances include Night of the Generals, The Return of the Pink Panther and The Man Who Would Be King.In a career that spans over five...
. The
American Broadcasting Company (ABC)The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
produced a two-hour color version in 1968 featuring
Laurence HarveyLaurence Harvey was a Lithuanian-born actor who achieved fame in British and American films.- Early life :Harvey maintained throughout his life that his birth name was Laruschka Mischa Skikne. However, his legal name was Zvi Mosheh Skikne. He was the youngest of three boys born to Ber "Boris" and...
as Tony,
Diane CilentoDiane Cilento was an Australian theatre and film actress and author.-Biography:Cilento's parents, Sir Raphael Cilento and Lady Phyllis Cilento, were both distinguished medical practitioners....
as Margot and
Hugh O'BrianHugh O'Brian is an American actor, known for his starring role in the ABC television series The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp .-Early years and career:...
as Max.
A Perfect MurderA Perfect Murder is a 1998 American thriller film directed by Andrew Davis and starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow and Viggo Mortensen. It is a modern remake of Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film, Dial M for Murder, though the characters' names are all changed, and over half the plot is completely...
is a 1998
remakeA remake is a piece of media based primarily on an earlier work of the same medium.-Film:The term "remake" is generally used in reference to a movie which uses an earlier movie as the main source material, rather than in reference to a second, later movie based on the same source...
directed by
Andrew DavisAndrew Davis is an American film director, producer and cinematographer, noted for the action films Code of Silence, The Fugitive, Chain Reaction, Collateral Damage, Above the Law, The Guardian and Under Siege.-Biography:Born on the south side of Chicago, Illinois, Davis has directed several films...
and starring
Michael DouglasMichael Kirk Douglas is an American actor and producer, primarily in movies and television. He has won three Golden Globes and two Academy Awards; first as producer of 1975's Best Picture, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and as Best Actor in 1987 for his role in Wall Street. Douglas received the...
and
Gwyneth PaltrowGwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...
in which the characters of Halliday and Lesgate are combined, with the husband (Douglas) hiring, or rather coercing, his wife's lover (played by
Viggo MortensenViggo Peter Mortensen, Jr. is a Danish-American actor, poet, musician, photographer and painter. He made his film debut in Peter Weir's 1985 thriller Witness, and subsequently appeared in many notable films of the 1990s, including The Indian Runner , Carlito's Way , Crimson Tide , Daylight , The...
) into a scheme to kill her. However, the lover hatches a revenge plot against the husband. Things go disastrously wrong for both of them, bringing in the cold, smoothly dogged police inspector (
David SuchetDavid Suchet, CBE, is an English actor, known for his work on British television. He is recognised for his RTS- and BPG award-winning performance as Augustus Melmotte in the 2001 British TV mini-drama The Way We Live Now, alongside Matthew Macfadyen and Paloma Baeza, and a 1991 British Academy...
) whose role is also much reduced from Dial M. It's Gwyneth Paltrow's character (as the wife) who unravels much of the mystery.
Robert CummingsCharles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings , mostly known professionally as Robert Cummings but sometimes as Bob Cummings, was an American film and television actor....
' character, TV crime writer Mark Halliday, was originally called "Max Halliday" in the stage play. In the 1956 US TV series
Alfred Hitchcock PresentsAlfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
, there is an episode called "Portrait of Jocelyn" that features a man called Mark Halliday, who murders his wife.
The original play was also adapted in
Soviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
in 1981 under the title Tony Wendice's Mistake .
The film was remade in
BollywoodBollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
in 1985 as
AitbaarAitbaar is a 1985 Hindi film, directed by Mukul Anand and starring Raj Babbar, Dimple Kapadia, Suresh Oberoi, Danny Denzongpa and Sharat Saxena...
, starring
Raj BabbarRaj Babbar is a Hindi & Punjabi film actor since 1977 and the current Member of Parliament from Firozabad which he won by defeating Dimple Yadav, wife of Akhilesh Yadav & daughter-in-law of Mulayam Singh Yadav. This is his fourth term as MP, in previous terms he was the part of Samajwadi...
,
Dimple KapadiaDimple Chunnibhai Kapadia is an Indian film actress. She made her acting debut at the age of 16, playing the title role in Raj Kapoor's teen romance Bobby . In that same year she married Indian actor Rajesh Khanna, and retired from acting. Kapadia returned to films in 1984 after her separation...
, and
Suresh OberoiSuresh Oberoi is an Indian actor who is also father of Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi. He was born in Quetta, now Pakistan and is a recipient of 1987 National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor...
.
AitbaarAitbaar is a 1985 Hindi film, directed by Mukul Anand and starring Raj Babbar, Dimple Kapadia, Suresh Oberoi, Danny Denzongpa and Sharat Saxena...
was later remade that same year in Tamil as Chaavi with
SathyarajSathyaraj is a Tamil film actor and media personality in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. A Tamil activist and a political influence, he has acted in over 150 films, ranging from action and drama to comedy. In 2007, he played the role of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in the Tamil Nadu government-sponsored...
,
SarithaSaritha is a South Indian actress. She has acted in at least 141 feature films, and was cast in the television serial Selvi in 2005. Her mainstream career spanned from 1979 to 1989, when she took a break to marry Indian actor and producer Mukesh and raise their two sons...
, and Nizhalkal Ravi. Another Bollywood film,
HumraazHumraaz is a 2002 Bollywood romantic thriller film directed by duo Abbas-Mustan and produced under Venus Movies banner...
(2002), starring
Bobby DeolBobby Deol is a Bollywood actor. Deol is the son of the acclaimed Bollywood actor Dharmendra and the brother of Sunny Deol, also a successful actor in the Mumbai based Indian film industry....
,
Akshaye KhannaAkshaye Khanna is a critically acclaimed Indian film actor who works in Hindi cinema. Known for his impeccable acting talent and flawless diction, Khanna has worked with the best names in Indian cinema.- Background :...
, and
Amisha PatelAmeesha Patel is an Indian actress who appears in mainly Bollywood movies. Making her acting debut in the blockbuster Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai , Patel won critical praise for her performance in Gadar: Ek Prem Katha , which became one of the biggest hits in the history of Hindi cinema, earning her a ...
, is inspired by both this film as well as A Perfect Murder.
Awards and honors
American Film Institute
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Thrills – placed #48
- AFI's 100 Years...100 Heroes and Villains – nominated villain: Tony Wendice
- AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores
Part of the AFI 100 Years… series, AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores is a list of the top 25 film scores in American cinema. The list was unveiled by the American Film Institute in 2005.-The List:-External links:**...
– nominated
- AFI's 10 Top 10
AFI's 10 Top 10 honors the ten greatest American films in ten classic film genres. Presented by the American Film Institute , the lists were unveiled on a television special broadcast by CBS on June 17, 2008....
– placed #9 mystery film
Alternate titles
- Disque M para Matar – Brazilian
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
title (translation: Dial M to Kill)
- Telefonen Ringer Klokken 23 – Danish
Danish is a North Germanic language spoken by around six million people, principally in the country of Denmark. It is also spoken by 50,000 Germans of Danish ethnicity in the northern parts of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where it holds the status of minority language...
title (translation: The Phone Rings at 11 pm)
- U spreekt met uw moordenaar – Dutch
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
title (translation: You are Talking to your Killer)
- Le Crime était presque parfait – French
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
title (translation: The Crime was Almost Perfect)
- Bei Anruf Mord – German
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
title (translation: Murder by Phone)
- Τηλεφωνήσατε στην Ασφάλεια Αμέσου Δράσεως – Greek
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
title (translation: Call 991)
- Alibi – Hebrew title
- Gyilkosság telefonhívásra – Hungarian
Hungarian is a Uralic language, part of the Ugric group. With some 14 million speakers, it is one of the most widely spoken non-Indo-European languages in Europe....
title (translation: Murder for a Phonecall)
- Il delitto perfetto – Italian
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
title (translation: The Perfect Crime)
- Chamada para a Morte – Portugal
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
title (translation: Call to Death)
- Pozovi M radi ubistva – Serbian
Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....
title (translation: Dial M for Murder)
- Crimen perfecto – Spanish
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
title (translation: Perfect Crime)
- Slå Nollan Till Polisen – Swedish
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
title (translation: Dial Zero for the Police)
- Cinayet Var—Turkish
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
title (translation: There is a Murder)
- "Ring Politiet—Norwegian
Norwegian is a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Norway, where it is the official language. Together with Swedish and Danish, Norwegian forms a continuum of more or less mutually intelligible local and regional variants .These Scandinavian languages together with the Faroese language...
title (translation: "Call The Police")
In popular culture
- The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
references the film on at least four separate episodes:
- In "Mr. Plow
"Mr. Plow" is the ninth episode of The Simpsons fourth season, which originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 19, 1992. In the episode, Homer buys a snow plow and starts a business plowing driveways. It is a huge success, and inspired by this, Barney Gumble starts a...
" a film is titled Dial M for Murderousness
- In "Treehouse of Horror XX
"Treehouse of Horror XX" is the fourth episode of The Simpsons twenty-first season. The episode first aired on October 18, 2009 on Fox. This is the twentieth "Treehouse of Horror" installment, containing three self-contained stories: In "Dial 'M' for Murder or Press '#' to Return to Main Menu,"...
", "Dial 'M' for Murder or Press '#' to Return to Main Menu" is mentioned
- "Dial 'N' for Nerder
"Dial 'N' for Nerder", also known as "N is for Nerder", is the fourteenth episode of The Simpsons nineteenth season, and was originally broadcast on March 9, 2008. After a prank gone wrong, Bart and Lisa believe they have accidentally killed Martin Prince. Meanwhile, Marge hires a TV show called...
" was an episode title
- "In Treehouse of Horror III
"Treehouse of Horror III" is the fifth episode of The Simpsons fourth season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on October 29, 1992. In the third annual Treehouse of Horror episode, Homer buys Bart an evil talking Krusty doll, King Homer is captured by Mr. Burns, and Bart...
" one of the segments was titled Dial Z for Zombies
- "In the video game The Simpsons Hit & Run
The Simpsons Hit & Run is an action-adventure video game based on the animated sitcom The Simpsons. It was released for the GameCube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and Windows in North America on September 16, 2003, In Europe and Australia on October 31, 2003 and in Japan on December 25, 2003...
, the Level 2 bonus mission is called Dial B for Blood
- Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
contains a segment on "Anthology of Interest I"Anthology of Interest I" is episode sixteen in season two of Futurama. It originally aired in North America on May 21, 2000. This episode, as well as the later "Anthology of Interest II", serves to showcase three "imaginary" stories, in a manner similar to the "Treehouse of Horror" episodes of...
" called Dial L for Leela
- "Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
" has an episode called "Dial M for Martin"
- Dexter's Laboratory
Dexter's Laboratory is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky and produced by Cartoon Network Studios . The show is about a boy named Dexter who has an enormous secret laboratory filled with an endless collection of his inventions...
has a segment called "Dial M for Monkey"
- Season 8
Family Guy eighth season first aired on the Fox network in twenty episodes from September 27, 2009 to May 23, 2010 before being released as two DVD box sets and in syndication. It ran on Sunday nights between May and July 2010 on BBC Three in the UK...
of Family GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
includes an episode "Dial Meg for Murder"Dial Meg for Murder" is the eleventh episode of season eight of the animated comedy series Family Guy. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 31, 2010 . The episode follows teenager Meg as she dates and falls in love with an inmate at the local prison...
"
- Season 1 of Archer
Archer is an American animated television series created by Adam Reed for the FX network. A preview of the series aired on September 17, 2009. The first season premiered on January 14, 2010. The show carries a TV-MA-LSV rating....
includes an episode "Dial M for Mother"
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