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My cousin stopped by on Saturday on his way back home to Vermont from Rhode Island where he had just picked up his brand new puppy. Eight week old German Shorthair Pointer. It was a traumatic day for the poor thing. Pulled from thi litter, hours in a car, walking on the brick sidewalk, the hours more to VT. My dog wasn't happy. He was actually panting, which is something he only does when he's quite upset. Puppy getting all the attention! Imagine!
Dial M for Murder
Husband Tony Wendice (Ray Milland) discovers his wife Margot (Grace Kelly) is cheating on him with murder mystery novelist Mark Halliday (Robert Cummings) and decides to do her in. He coerces the help of a an old school acquantance (Anthony Dawson) he hasn't seen in 20 years who bungles the job and ends up dead by his wife's hand. So rather than actually having his wife killed, the husband decides to let her go down for murder. One day from execution, the murder by proxie plot unravels.
Outstanding in every way. True Hitchcock magic. The story, taken from a popular stage play of the same name, is recreated faithfully in the film, rarely leaving the couple's living room. The tension is palpable. His perfectly plotted murder scenario is knocked off the rails time after time, yet he manages to get it back on track each time. He counts on her listening to a particular radio program, but this one time she doesn't want to listen to it. He counts on her staying home but this one time she wants to go out. He plans on calling her at 11:00 sharp, but this one time his watch stops. He tries to phone home but the phone booth is engaged. Great stuff.
The special features said this was made as a 3-D movie, and once you know that, you can see it. Again, to Hitchcock's credit, it looks as if the 3-D was done fantastically well. Rather than the kitschy gimmicks from creature feature movies, his way of doing it made it integral to the movie and didn't pull you out of the story. As I say, it was only noticeable once it was pointed out. (The only other movie I've seen that did 3-D this well was Inferno . It would be nice to be able to see these in 3-D again. I wonder why they're not available on DVD? If they can have widescreen and cropped, surely they can add 3-D.
Took a short ride on Sunday, only about 15 miles. Cold and windy, but sunny. I'm ready for Spring.
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