Dial M for Murder

Dial M for Murder
Theatrical release poster by Bill Gold
Directed byAlfred Hitchcock
Screenplay byFrederick Knott
Based onDial M for Murder
1952 play
by Frederick Knott
Produced byAlfred Hitchcock
StarringRay Milland
Grace Kelly
Robert Cummings
John Williams
CinematographyRobert Burks
Edited byRudi Fehr
Music byDimitri Tiomkin
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
  • May 18, 1954 (1954-05-18) (Philadelphia)
  • May 29, 1954 (1954-05-29) (US)
Running time
105 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1.4 million
Box office$6.1 million

Dial M for Murder is a 1954 American crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, Anthony Dawson, and John Williams. Both the screenplay and the successful stage play on which it was based were written by English playwright Frederick Knott. The play premiered in 1952 on BBC Television, before being performed on stage in the same year in London's West End in June, and then New York's Broadway in October.

Originally intended to be shown in dual-strip polarized 3-D, the film played in most cinemas in ordinary 2-D owing to the loss of interest in the 3-D process (the projection of which was difficult and error-prone) by the time of its release. The film earned an estimated $2.7 million in North American box office sales in 1954.