I like how the things mentioned in the movie were connected to one another. Something being mentioned now could be used later in the movie. You really need to pay attention to the dialogue or you'll miss out. Tony is good at meticulous planning, and he's also good at thinking on his feet. Thankfully, luck was on Margot's side. I also agree with Mark that "in stories, things turn out the way the author wants. And in real life, they don't - always."
I've always enjoyed this film because it was very smartly made which is why it's in my top 3 Hitchcock movies. The 'A Perfect Murder' remake in 1998 had some hilarious dialogue to it but it IMO was a bit messy when it came to the explaining.
I liked your analysis, thank you ! But I regret one little thing, you skipped what I consider the funniest line, when inspector Hubbard says about Mark : « They call us flatfoot policemen, may the saints preserve us from gifted amateurs ! » 😂 Greetings from France 🇫🇷
Ray Miland had an affair with Grace Kelly in real life, apparently. He nearly divorced his wife, but decided to end the affair....Grace seems to got involved with a few of her leading men.
Enjoyed your reaction, Henry. This isn't my favorite Hitchcock film, but it's still better than 90% of the stuff coming out today. Ray Milland was such a suave, cool villain. My favorite film with him is The Lost Weekend, directed by Billy Wilder, in which Milland, the lead, played an alcoholic writer. He won Best Actor for that role. I have to say that I'm not a fan of Robert Cummings. I think he was a mediocre actor, and I don't get why he was popular enough to get a TV series, "Love that Bob". But to each his own!
This isn't my favorite Hitchcock film, but it's still really good, if slightly stagey. I have the 3D blu-ray of this and it really adds nothing but is historically interesting as an example of the early 3D process.
This quite closely follows the play it is based on by Frederick Knott. Enjoyed your reaction. The "t" in Margot is silent, by the way, if you happen to come across it again in something. It's pronounced the same as Margo.
Hope you feel better now, 7 days after posting! 12:00 Tony could have forgotten to charge his phone if this were set in 2023! Since you enjoyed this, Henry, you'll like "Witness For The Prosecution" made just 3 years later in 1957. Director Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot) made a Hitchcock movie all his own. The last 5 minutes will blow you away with the plot twists. Plot lifted from a stage play by the same name, written by Agatha Christie, staring a host of excellent British and Hollywood actors.
True, there could always be a mistake made somewhere. Though the time was not his biggest mistake. Oh yes, someone suggested that movie too and I've recently added it to my list. Thanks! 😊
I found the comment you made about Margo being put to death interesting, and I wonder if, like me, you might have been cheering for Tony to get away with it .BTW I have seen this movie probably half a dozen times.
I admire Tony's meticulous planning and intelligence (not to mention quick thinking). I didn't want Margot to face the death penalty, but at the same time I kind of wanted to see if his "improvised" plan worked. Got me feeling a bit conflicted 😂
I only noticed this time in your video that before they go out and are discussing the perfect murder, Mark says “I’d make a stupid mistake and never realise til I found everybody was looking at me” which is exactly what happens to Tony when he uses the key at the end.
Great review of my favorite movie! Also, the bed being in the room is mentioned in the play but not the film: Tony moved it there because people kept trying to peak into the bedroom to get a glance during the trial.
Oh, so that's how it is. Mark said Tony couldn't even bear to sleep in the bedroom (presumably due to guilt), but it didn't seem to fit Tony's character. Now it makes sense. Thanks for clarifying 😊
I thought it was strange that they had house keys without a key ring on them. Just a single key with no other keys attached. I like Alfred Hitchcock, but he would have his characters do things that people did not do in real life not even during the time the movie was made.
Oh, it wasn't a norm to have a key without a key ring? I never questioned it because I assumed that was how it was back then 😂. There are even movies where doors are never locked! Yes, there are things movie characters would do, that we wouldn't do in real life. Though I sometimes need to remind myself that "truth is stranger than fiction"!
I love when Wendice says "I saw you" to Swann. It is a "Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound" type line and wonderfully delivered by Milland. A friend and I used to refer to Bob Cummings as "the poor man's Jimmy Stewart." He had some of the same qualities as Stewart but just not as much or as good. Still, he had a successful career including two Hitchcock movies.
One additional thing - the camera was technically not up to it to film in close enough for the dial, so where you see a finger dialing the "M" was actually a giant dial and finger which Hitchcock had to make for this effect. I think there is some promotional shot of Hitchcock standing next to this. On a rotary dial like here, when you dial each number, the speed at which you do that can vary. But if I understand it, it is the return motion which is constant, which interrupts the circuit, and the number of interruptions tells the system what was just dialed. If you are good, you can dial such a phone by tapping on the button which turns off the circuit when you hang up the headset. (Used in some thriller movies when the hero is tied up or something and can't dial, they can tap the button. (Randomly tapping the button, if I remember correctly, brings on the local operator.) Because the dial contains one digit three letters each (except the "1" and "0"), early phone numbers were listed with two letters instead of the digits. Like in Troy, NY, all the numbers began with 27 (if I remember correctly) which were listed in a directory as AS-x-xxxx. And this supposedly stood for "Ashley" because Troy was originally named "Ashley's Ferry." (Made phone numbers easier to remember.) (Also no Q and Z possible in these listings.)
Movie was filmed in 3D, which explains some of the framing shots to take advantage of this, like the one shot with Tony and Swann facing each other with the table lamp between but closer to the camera. This process requires two projectors going at once, in sync., with two films, one for each eye. Normally, theaters had two projectors but the projectionist would be using one projector to show one reel while the second one was being readied so when the film ran out (roughly an hour, believe), he could switch over to the other one seamlessly. With 3D, both projectors had to be reset at the same time, hence the intermission.
@@henryellowFrankly, I didn't realize it either, except I read about THIS movie being in 3D. Yes, the having to pass out and then collect 3D glasses for the entire movie was and is a giant drawback. Plus to my mind, it really doesn't add much except when something gets thrown at the camera. And often in order to make the most of the effect, they add in unneeded motions. I also think 3D was one of the things that the industry desperately tried in order to bring back audiences which were being lost to tv.
This is an interesting example of of a play adapted to film, because surprisingly, Hitchcock didn't have the playwright "make it more like a movie" when he adapted it -- most of it still happens in one apartment, and characters talk about their past history (rather than having us see it for ourselves). I rather like keeping it like a play, but it's unexpected coming from Hitchcock of all people. One small point, which I mention in a friendly way because it's a misleading-looking word (which many people, including me, have gotten wrong at first): "awry" is pronounced "ah-RYE" (rhyming with lie). Think of it as "a-wry" rather than "aw-ry." 😀
Why didn't Tony make a duplicate key to give to Swann? And Mark says "The most you'd get would be a few years in prison" - what??? For attempted murder?? If that were true why would we all think Tony got what was coming to him when he is caught at the end? How about 30 years?
I think it's because Tony was very confident his plan will work. He believes his plan was perfect. Or perhaps the police could trace the duplicate key if he ever made one. Whatever punishment he gets, I'm sure he'll be served with divorce documents. It'll be tough to get a job after he's out of prison.
@@henryellow Back then locksmiths kept records of the names and addresses of people they made duplicate keys for. It would be easy for the police to check and it is guaranteed that they would recognise the face of a tennis star like Tony.
I love the Perry Mason stories, some 80 books between 1933 and 1970's, written by Erle Stanley Gardner (nothing like the tv series or the recent HBO series). Gardner was an attorney and the stories always wound in a courtroom, with lots of drama, as Mason is able to come up with enough evidence to prove his client innocent. In the hour-long tv series, it was too short to go into detail so just before the end, Mason would point out someone in courtroom who would obligingly jump up and say "Yes, I did it!" This came to be known as a Perry Mason moment - although only a quirk of the tv show, not the novel. The reason I wander off like this is because in most murder-mysteries, particularly by amateur sleuths like Miss Marple, they don't get enough evidence, only enough to convince us, the audience, and to get the murderer to confess - just like here where Tony realizes the jig is up and gives it away. At the time of this movie, there still was a death penalty in England (and most of America), and up until they abolished it in 1965, it was still by hanging. In English courts, the trial judge would put this black "hat" over his head and declare the death sentence. I love courtroom dramas. Not sure if you have seen/reacted to My Cousin Vinny, but also could not recommend the 1957 Witness For The Prosecution - I defy you to guess the ending. ---- Yes, many if not most locks were spring loaded with a bolt that was tapered on one side. You'd need a key to slide it open, but closing the door caused the bolt to move back and cause it to lock without a key. (Easy to walk out without your key and find yourself locked out. Also easy to pick with something like a credit card in the slot to force the latch back.)
Although Tony didn't officially confess, he did seem to have given up. They had to end the movie somehow, because there really isn't much solid evidence. It was purely guesswork on Hubbard's part. Oh, so it was the death penalty for murder in the past. Right, I did wonder about the black "hat" thing. I'll add those two movies to my list 👍 Right, that makes sense then. The door auto locks, that's why Tony didn't have to lock the door with the key when he went out. Thanks for sharing! 😊
Engaging movie spoiled by a hole in the plot you could drive a truck through, that being the fact that despite a bright man planning out this plot to the last detail over the course of a few months would come up with such a ridiculously convoluted key exchange plot riddled with possible plot upsets when all he would have had to do was make up a duplicate for the murderer in the first place….. makes no sense. Would have been a minor mistake in the writing, but as it was, the entire caper hinged on it ~
Could easily have arranged to do so way out of town sometime over the course of his months of planning. Besides that, there would have been no questions coming up about the key, for there would have been no mixup….. again, no sense.
I believe that's one of the points of the movie. No matter how smart / wise / intelligent / genius a person is, mistakes can still be made. That's why the movie includes the scene of Mark saying that things look good on paper, but not in real life. To Tony, the plan is "perfect". In his eyes, nothing could go wrong. He didn't notice the flaws because those are his blind spots. This happens very often in real life too. We plan the best we can, scrutinize all the details, and make sure there are no flaws at all. But during execution, it doesn't happen as expected, and we have to improvise on the spot... I'm sure anyone who's ever made plans has experienced this before. I know I have 😂
@@raymeedc A tennis star like Tony would have been well known to the public, his photo would have been in the newspapers and on newsreels in cinemas and it is almost guaranteed that a locksmith would have recognised him. Besides they were required to keep records of the names and addresses of customers who requested duplicate keys.
It would have to have been the one or two people who might have been in the key cutting shop at the time he was making the purchase (even safer to just wait until there’s no other customer in the shop) who would remember that a year before he had seen him shopping somewhere ( if he wasn’t smart enough to wear a mustache or beard while doing so as well. Besides that he would have had to be noticed by a tennis fan as well, for how many tennis stars would you recognize on the street? The required key registration could easily have been explained by the made up fact that he had simply lost or misplaced the key, which we’ve all done at one time or another. He just flubbed what should have been a no brainer. But Hitchcock himself has said he doesn’t mind inconsistencies if the story as a whole holds together, which is apparent in more of his films than just this one.
I like how the things mentioned in the movie were connected to one another. Something being mentioned now could be used later in the movie. You really need to pay attention to the dialogue or you'll miss out.
Tony is good at meticulous planning, and he's also good at thinking on his feet. Thankfully, luck was on Margot's side. I also agree with Mark that "in stories, things turn out the way the author wants. And in real life, they don't - always."
Yes very dialogue driven, probably because it is an adaption from a play.
But great plot.
I've always enjoyed this film because it was very smartly made which is why it's in my top 3 Hitchcock movies. The 'A Perfect Murder' remake in 1998 had some hilarious dialogue to it but it IMO was a bit messy when it came to the explaining.
I liked your analysis, thank you !
But I regret one little thing, you skipped what I consider the funniest line, when inspector Hubbard says about Mark : « They call us flatfoot policemen, may the saints preserve us from gifted amateurs ! » 😂
Greetings from France 🇫🇷
Ray Miland had an affair with Grace Kelly in real life, apparently. He nearly divorced his wife, but decided to end the affair....Grace seems to got involved with a few of her leading men.
Actually, her name is pronounced Margo.
Enjoyed your reaction, Henry. This isn't my favorite Hitchcock film, but it's still better than 90% of the stuff coming out today. Ray Milland was such a suave, cool villain. My favorite film with him is The Lost Weekend, directed by Billy Wilder, in which Milland, the lead, played an alcoholic writer. He won Best Actor for that role.
I have to say that I'm not a fan of Robert Cummings. I think he was a mediocre actor, and I don't get why he was popular enough to get a TV series, "Love that Bob". But to each his own!
I'll add "The Lost Weekend" to my list 😉👍
Ray Milland never saw any of his own pictures, according to his kids
Excellent job editing this reaction.
This isn't my favorite Hitchcock film, but it's still really good, if slightly stagey. I have the 3D blu-ray of this and it really adds nothing but is historically interesting as an example of the early 3D process.
It's meant to be "slightly stagey". It's a stageplay written by Frederick Knott in 1952.
This quite closely follows the play it is based on by Frederick Knott. Enjoyed your reaction. The "t" in Margot is silent, by the way, if you happen to come across it again in something. It's pronounced the same as Margo.
Glad you enjoyed it 😊
I always read names literally 😂 now I know the "t" is silent 👍
@@henryellow I'll definitely be looking for more. I've been wanting to watch all Hitchcock's movies in a year at some point. Maybe next year.
Hope you feel better now, 7 days after posting! 12:00 Tony could have forgotten to charge his phone if this were set in 2023! Since you enjoyed this, Henry, you'll like "Witness For The Prosecution" made just 3 years later in 1957. Director Billy Wilder (Some Like It Hot) made a Hitchcock movie all his own. The last 5 minutes will blow you away with the plot twists. Plot lifted from a stage play by the same name, written by Agatha Christie, staring a host of excellent British and Hollywood actors.
True, there could always be a mistake made somewhere. Though the time was not his biggest mistake.
Oh yes, someone suggested that movie too and I've recently added it to my list. Thanks! 😊
I found the comment you made about Margo being put to death interesting, and I wonder if, like me, you might have been cheering for Tony to get away with it .BTW I have seen this movie probably half a dozen times.
I admire Tony's meticulous planning and intelligence (not to mention quick thinking). I didn't want Margot to face the death penalty, but at the same time I kind of wanted to see if his "improvised" plan worked. Got me feeling a bit conflicted 😂
I only noticed this time in your video that before they go out and are discussing the perfect murder, Mark says “I’d make a stupid mistake and never realise til I found everybody was looking at me” which is exactly what happens to Tony when he uses the key at the end.
Exactly! It's foreshadowing 👍🏻
Great review of my favorite movie! Also, the bed being in the room is mentioned in the play but not the film: Tony moved it there because people kept trying to peak into the bedroom to get a glance during the trial.
Oh, so that's how it is.
Mark said Tony couldn't even bear to sleep in the bedroom (presumably due to guilt), but it didn't seem to fit Tony's character. Now it makes sense. Thanks for clarifying 😊
I thought it was strange that they had house keys without a key ring on them. Just a single key with no other keys attached.
I like Alfred Hitchcock, but he would have his characters do things that people did not do in real life not even during the time the movie was made.
Oh, it wasn't a norm to have a key without a key ring? I never questioned it because I assumed that was how it was back then 😂.
There are even movies where doors are never locked!
Yes, there are things movie characters would do, that we wouldn't do in real life. Though I sometimes need to remind myself that "truth is stranger than fiction"!
I love when Wendice says "I saw you" to Swann. It is a "Mr. Holmes, they were the footprints of a gigantic hound" type line and wonderfully delivered by Milland.
A friend and I used to refer to Bob Cummings as "the poor man's Jimmy Stewart." He had some of the same qualities as Stewart but just not as much or as good. Still, he had a successful career including two Hitchcock movies.
One additional thing - the camera was technically not up to it to film in close enough for the dial, so where you see a finger dialing the "M" was actually a giant dial and finger which Hitchcock had to make for this effect. I think there is some promotional shot of Hitchcock standing next to this.
On a rotary dial like here, when you dial each number, the speed at which you do that can vary. But if I understand it, it is the return motion which is constant, which interrupts the circuit, and the number of interruptions tells the system what was just dialed. If you are good, you can dial such a phone by tapping on the button which turns off the circuit when you hang up the headset. (Used in some thriller movies when the hero is tied up or something and can't dial, they can tap the button. (Randomly tapping the button, if I remember correctly, brings on the local operator.)
Because the dial contains one digit three letters each (except the "1" and "0"), early phone numbers were listed with two letters instead of the digits. Like in Troy, NY, all the numbers began with 27 (if I remember correctly) which were listed in a directory as AS-x-xxxx. And this supposedly stood for "Ashley" because Troy was originally named "Ashley's Ferry." (Made phone numbers easier to remember.) (Also no Q and Z possible in these listings.)
Well those are some interesting facts. Thanks for sharing! 😊
Hitchcock did do a comedy with a touch of mystery. Try "The Trouble With Harry" which stars Shirley MacLaine in her first movie role.
I'll add that to my list, thanks for your suggestion 😊
To his credit, Tony is able to pivot tactically and go with plan B.
Indeed. He came up with plan B in such a short time too. Quick thinking.
Movie was filmed in 3D, which explains some of the framing shots to take advantage of this, like the one shot with Tony and Swann facing each other with the table lamp between but closer to the camera.
This process requires two projectors going at once, in sync., with two films, one for each eye. Normally, theaters had two projectors but the projectionist would be using one projector to show one reel while the second one was being readied so when the film ran out (roughly an hour, believe), he could switch over to the other one seamlessly. With 3D, both projectors had to be reset at the same time, hence the intermission.
I didn't realize we already have 3D films back then. I assume people needed to wear the 3D glasses when watching the 3D version in theatres?
@@henryellowFrankly, I didn't realize it either, except I read about THIS movie being in 3D. Yes, the having to pass out and then collect 3D glasses for the entire movie was and is a giant drawback. Plus to my mind, it really doesn't add much except when something gets thrown at the camera. And often in order to make the most of the effect, they add in unneeded motions.
I also think 3D was one of the things that the industry desperately tried in order to bring back audiences which were being lost to tv.
Indeed. A "3D" effect doesn't add much to a movie. It would be more effective when used in a horror jump scare.
This is an interesting example of of a play adapted to film, because surprisingly, Hitchcock didn't have the playwright "make it more like a movie" when he adapted it -- most of it still happens in one apartment, and characters talk about their past history (rather than having us see it for ourselves). I rather like keeping it like a play, but it's unexpected coming from Hitchcock of all people.
One small point, which I mention in a friendly way because it's a misleading-looking word (which many people, including me, have gotten wrong at first): "awry" is pronounced "ah-RYE" (rhyming with lie). Think of it as "a-wry" rather than "aw-ry." 😀
"ah-RYE"! 😂
Got it. Never realized I pronounced it wrong. Thanks for letting me know 👍
Margot is pronounced in the french way...the final T is silent. Mar-go
as it is in Harlow.
Why didn't Tony make a duplicate key to give to Swann?
And Mark says "The most you'd get would be a few years in prison" - what??? For attempted murder?? If that were true why would we all think Tony got what was coming to him when he is caught at the end? How about 30 years?
I think it's because Tony was very confident his plan will work. He believes his plan was perfect. Or perhaps the police could trace the duplicate key if he ever made one.
Whatever punishment he gets, I'm sure he'll be served with divorce documents. It'll be tough to get a job after he's out of prison.
@@henryellow Back then locksmiths kept records of the names and addresses of people they made duplicate keys for. It would be easy for the police to check and it is guaranteed that they would recognise the face of a tennis star like Tony.
Locksmiths used to do that? Wow, I didn't know. That definitely explains why Tony didn't duplicate the key.
I love the Perry Mason stories, some 80 books between 1933 and 1970's, written by Erle Stanley Gardner (nothing like the tv series or the recent HBO series). Gardner was an attorney and the stories always wound in a courtroom, with lots of drama, as Mason is able to come up with enough evidence to prove his client innocent. In the hour-long tv series, it was too short to go into detail so just before the end, Mason would point out someone in courtroom who would obligingly jump up and say "Yes, I did it!" This came to be known as a Perry Mason moment - although only a quirk of the tv show, not the novel.
The reason I wander off like this is because in most murder-mysteries, particularly by amateur sleuths like Miss Marple, they don't get enough evidence, only enough to convince us, the audience, and to get the murderer to confess - just like here where Tony realizes the jig is up and gives it away.
At the time of this movie, there still was a death penalty in England (and most of America), and up until they abolished it in 1965, it was still by hanging. In English courts, the trial judge would put this black "hat" over his head and declare the death sentence.
I love courtroom dramas. Not sure if you have seen/reacted to My Cousin Vinny, but also could not recommend the 1957 Witness For The Prosecution - I defy you to guess the ending.
----
Yes, many if not most locks were spring loaded with a bolt that was tapered on one side. You'd need a key to slide it open, but closing the door caused the bolt to move back and cause it to lock without a key. (Easy to walk out without your key and find yourself locked out. Also easy to pick with something like a credit card in the slot to force the latch back.)
Although Tony didn't officially confess, he did seem to have given up. They had to end the movie somehow, because there really isn't much solid evidence. It was purely guesswork on Hubbard's part.
Oh, so it was the death penalty for murder in the past. Right, I did wonder about the black "hat" thing.
I'll add those two movies to my list 👍
Right, that makes sense then. The door auto locks, that's why Tony didn't have to lock the door with the key when he went out.
Thanks for sharing! 😊
Engaging movie spoiled by a hole in the plot you could drive a truck through, that being the fact that despite a bright man planning out this plot to the last detail over the course of a few months would come up with such a ridiculously convoluted key exchange plot riddled with possible plot upsets when all he would have had to do was make up a duplicate for the murderer in the first place….. makes no sense. Would have been a minor mistake in the writing, but as it was, the entire caper hinged on it ~
Having a key made would involve a witness (the key maker) who could testify against Tony and prove he planned the murder.
Could easily have arranged to do so way out of town sometime over the course of his months of planning. Besides that, there would have been no questions coming up about the key, for there would have been no mixup….. again, no sense.
I believe that's one of the points of the movie. No matter how smart / wise / intelligent / genius a person is, mistakes can still be made. That's why the movie includes the scene of Mark saying that things look good on paper, but not in real life.
To Tony, the plan is "perfect". In his eyes, nothing could go wrong. He didn't notice the flaws because those are his blind spots. This happens very often in real life too. We plan the best we can, scrutinize all the details, and make sure there are no flaws at all. But during execution, it doesn't happen as expected, and we have to improvise on the spot...
I'm sure anyone who's ever made plans has experienced this before. I know I have 😂
@@raymeedc A tennis star like Tony would have been well known to the public, his photo would have been in the newspapers and on newsreels in cinemas and it is almost guaranteed that a locksmith would have recognised him. Besides they were required to keep records of the names and addresses of customers who requested duplicate keys.
It would have to have been the one or two people who might have been in the key cutting shop at the time he was making the purchase (even safer to just wait until there’s no other customer in the shop) who would remember that a year before he had seen him shopping somewhere ( if he wasn’t smart enough to wear a mustache or beard while doing so as well. Besides that he would have had to be noticed by a tennis fan as well, for how many tennis stars would you recognize on the street? The required key registration could easily have been explained by the made up fact that he had simply lost or misplaced the key, which we’ve all done at one time or another. He just flubbed what should have been a no brainer. But Hitchcock himself has said he doesn’t mind inconsistencies if the story as a whole holds together, which is apparent in more of his films than just this one.