Dial M for Murder (1954), directed by Alfred Hitchcock. Streaming at home, Saturday, May 20.

About 3-D and specifically his one foray into that technology, Dial M for Murder, Hitch said, ““It’s a nine-day wonder, and I came in on the ninth day.” There’s a few spots where you can see people reaching at the camera, I imagine to make that image pop out at you. The above photo shows the giant phone they had to throw together, as Hitchcock felt that he had to get a close-up of Ray Milland’s finger dialing M. I mean, he didn’t need to, but he did–but the 3-D cameras were so big they couldn’t get in close enough. Thus, a replica of both phone and finger were made. This dreary film does boast one remarkable scene, where Tony Wendice (Milland, who’s a bore) has lured a crooked old school chum, Captain Lesgate (Anthony Dawson), to Wendice’s home under the guise of buying a car. He then slowly but methodically reveals his true motives, that he knows that Lesgate is a crook, that he knows Lesgate is in dire straits, and finally, that he knows that Lesgate is going to agree to croak Wendice’s wife, Margot (Grace Kelly). Once that scene is over, the plot unfolds like a clunky machine, and the whole thing looks like rote English theatre that appealed to suburbanites and amateur thespians.