Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) is an aging tennis pro who learns that his wealthy wife (Grace Kelly as Margot) has a lover (Bob Cummings as Mark). Tony figures out what might have led his wife astray and fixes it - he gets a real job with a real boss. But what if his wife divorces him? He'd get nothing! Realizing that getting a job may have enlarged his wife's respect for him but not diminished her affection for the lover, he spends a large amount of time figuring out a perfect way to kill his wife so that he can inherit her money. Tony has nothing personal against Margot and her infidelity, he just can't take the chance of winding up penniless. He can't do the job himself - the husband is always the prime suspect in such matters. So, he must find someone who will be willing to do the job for him. He's not the type who hangs with organized crime types, so he has to find someone already guilty of murder but yet untouched by the law and get that person to agree to do the job for him.
It sounds perfect. Tony even has the lover with him as an alibi the night the murder is to occur. But everything does go wrong, and now Tony has to retool his perfect murder. Who will kill Margot for Tony? The law of course! Watch this great little thriller and see what I'm talking about.
Most directors lose a step after they are in their 50's. There is just something about their creativity that just fizzles, and I say that as someone who is 55 myself. But here Hitchcock is at age 55 doing some of his best and most clever work. This one is so ironic it could be considered a film noir if not for the elegance of the players, the setting, and that great score.
Just one thing that nobody ever seems to talk about much - did anybody else want Tony to get away with it just a little? He does play it icy cold and smiling throughout, but when he makes the phone call that sets everything in motion, you can see the regret in his face - the fact that he hates that this is the way that it must be. Meanwhile my sympathy was not with the cheating wife and especially the false friend Mark Halliday. The guy was sleeping with a man's wife while pretending to be his friend, even carrying on a kissing session with her while the husband went down the street for an errand. If you're going to steal someone's wife, let it be a stranger's. Don't shake the guy's hand, eat the guy's food, and accept his hospitality and take his wife behind his back too. Maybe Hitch wanted the audience to be conflicted though, maybe he was trying to add to the complexity of the situation with this added dimension. At any rate, watch this if you get a chance. In fact, watch it more than once. You'll always see something you didn't see before.
It sounds perfect. Tony even has the lover with him as an alibi the night the murder is to occur. But everything does go wrong, and now Tony has to retool his perfect murder. Who will kill Margot for Tony? The law of course! Watch this great little thriller and see what I'm talking about.
Most directors lose a step after they are in their 50's. There is just something about their creativity that just fizzles, and I say that as someone who is 55 myself. But here Hitchcock is at age 55 doing some of his best and most clever work. This one is so ironic it could be considered a film noir if not for the elegance of the players, the setting, and that great score.
Just one thing that nobody ever seems to talk about much - did anybody else want Tony to get away with it just a little? He does play it icy cold and smiling throughout, but when he makes the phone call that sets everything in motion, you can see the regret in his face - the fact that he hates that this is the way that it must be. Meanwhile my sympathy was not with the cheating wife and especially the false friend Mark Halliday. The guy was sleeping with a man's wife while pretending to be his friend, even carrying on a kissing session with her while the husband went down the street for an errand. If you're going to steal someone's wife, let it be a stranger's. Don't shake the guy's hand, eat the guy's food, and accept his hospitality and take his wife behind his back too. Maybe Hitch wanted the audience to be conflicted though, maybe he was trying to add to the complexity of the situation with this added dimension. At any rate, watch this if you get a chance. In fact, watch it more than once. You'll always see something you didn't see before.