Rating of
3.5/4
Another one that blew me away!
MovieAddict - wrote on 03/29/13
Ex-tennis pro Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) has everything a man might want in life: A mantel full of sports’ trophies, a cushy lifestyle, lots of booze, a rich and attractive younger wife Margot (Grace Kelly) and the perfect plan to commit murder. Tony had planned the murder carefully for a long time having discovered Margo has an affair with American author Mark Holliday (Robert Cummings). Fearful that if she leaves him he will be broke he decides to commit the perfect murder. He blackmails small time crook Charles Alexander Swann, (Anthony Dawson) an old college acquaintance to kill her but the plot goes disastrously wrong when Margot miraculously survives the attack by grabbing a pair of scissors as her assassin is strangling her.
Tony's scheme appears to have misfired, but he is quick-thinking enough to improvise another plan, planting evidence suggesting that Swann was blackmailing Margot over her affair. The police do not believe Margot's story that she killed Swann in self-defense and she is arrested, tried and sentenced to death for murder.
But the highlight of the whole story is the mystery of the latchkey. Where it is hidden, who finds it and who uses it. The suspense near the end scene is palpable and raw--a splendid trademark of Hitch's terse directorial style and the plotting is tight and masterly with more twists than a pretzel.
Ray Milland renders a classy performance as the ambitious and deadly husband (in fact the guy is almost sympathetic that one almost hopes that he gets away with it) and Inspector Hubbard reminded me of a cross between Columbo and Sherlock Holmes whose intuition and genius, along with the help of Mark's crime writing paranoia lead to the truth.
This movie was remade as A Perfect Murder starring Michael Douglas, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Viggo Mortensen which I also enjoyed.
