Dial M for Murder Quotes

C.A. Swan Where's the nearest police station?

Tony Wendice Opposite the church, two minutes walk.

C.A. Swan Suppose I walk there now.

Tony Wendice What would you tell them?

C.A. Swan Everything.

Tony Wendice Everything? All about "Mr. Adams" and "Mr. Wilson"?

C.A. Swan I should simply tell them that you're trying to blackmail me into...

Tony Wendice Into?

C.A. Swan ...murdering your wife.

Tony Wendice I almost wish you would. When she heard that we'd have the biggest laugh of our lives.

C.A. Swan Aren't you forgetting something?

Tony Wendice Am I?

C.A. Swan You've told me quite a lot tonight.

Tony Wendice What of it?

C.A. Swan Suppose I tell them how you followed her to that studio in Chelsea and watched them cooking spaghetti and all that rubbish. Wouldn't that ring a bell?

Tony Wendice Oh, it certainly would. They'd assume you'd followed her there yourself.

C.A. Swan Me? Why should I?

Tony Wendice Why should you steal her handbag? Why should you write her all those blackmail notes? Can you prove you didn't? You certainly can't prove I did. It will be a straight case of your word against mine.

C.A. Swan That'd puzzle them, wouldn't it? What could you say?

Tony Wendice I should simply say that you came here tonight, half-drunk, and tried to borrow money on the strength that we were at college together. When I refused, you mentioned something about a letter belonging to my wife. As far as I could make out, you were trying to sell it to me. I gave you what money I had, and you gave me the letter. It has your fingerprints on it, remember? Then you said if I went to the police you'd tell some crazy story about my wanting you to murder my wife. Before you go any further, old boy, do consider the inconvenience. You see, I'm quite well known, and there'd be pictures of you as well. And sooner or later there'd be a deputation of landladies and lodgers who would step forward and testify as to your character. And someone is almost certain to have seen you with Miss Wallace. You were careful not to be seen around with her, I noticed. You usually met in out-of-the-way places where you wouldn't be recognized.

Mark Halliday Darling, I understand now, but that doesn't stop me from loving you.

Tony Wendice I became curious to know you that I followed you. I followed you home that night And I've been following you ever since.

C.A. Swan Why?

Tony Wendice Well, I was hoping that sooner or later I might catch you at something and be able to, ah...

C.A. Swan Blackmail me?

Tony Wendice Influence you. After a few weeks, I got to know your routine. That that made it a lot easier.

C.A. Swan Wasn't that dull work? Following me around in your spare time?

Tony Wendice To begin with... yes. But you know how it is. It's like a hobby. Once you take up a hobby, the more interesting and fascinating it becomes. You became quite fascinating. They were time that I felt you almost belonged to me.

C.A. Swan That must have been interesting.

Taglines Is this the man she was waiting for... or the man who was waiting for her?

Taglines If a woman answers...hang on for dear life!

Margot Mary Wendice How long have you known this?

Chief Insp. Hubbard Did you suspect it yourself?

Margot Mary Wendice No, never. And yet... What's the matter with me, Mark? I don't seem able to feel anything.

Tony Wendice By the way does Mrs. Van Dorn know about "Mr. Adams" or "Mr. Wilson" and Miss Wallace? You were planning to marry Mrs. Van Dorn, weren't you?

C.A. Swan Smart, aren't you?

Tony Wendice No, not really. I've just had time to think things out. Put myself in your position. That's why I know you're going to agree.

C.A. Swan What makes you think I'll agree?

Tony Wendice For the same reason that a donkey with a stick behind him and a carrot in front always goes forwards and not backwards.

C.A. Swan Tell me about the carrot.

Tony Wendice One thousand pounds in cash.

C.A. Swan For a murder?

Tony Wendice For a few minutes work, that's all it is. And no risk, I guarantee. That ought to appeal to you. You've been skating on pretty thin ice.

C.A. Swan I don't know what you're talking about.

Tony Wendice You ought to know. It's in all the papers. Middle aged woman found dead due to an overdose of something. Apparently, she'd been taking the stuff for quite some time, and nobody knows where she got it. But we know, don't we? Poor Miss Wallace.

C.A. Swan This thousand pounds. Where is it?

Tony Wendice It's in a small attaché case in a check room.

C.A. Swan Where?

Tony Wendice Somewhere in London. Of course we don't meet again. As soon as you've delivered the goods, I shall mail you the checkroom ticket and the key to the case. You take this hundred pounds on account.

Tony Wendice People don't commit murder on credit.

Mark Halliday When did you find out, sir?

Chief Insp. Hubbard Well, the first clue came quite by accident. We discovered that your husband had been spending a large number of pound notes all over the place - it ran into over three hundred pounds - and it appeared to have started at about the time you were arrested. Now, I had to find out where he got that money, and how. Then I remembered that after you were arrested we searched this flat, and I saw a copy of his bank statement in that desk. So yesterday afternoon, I went to the prison and asked to see your handbag. While I was doing this, I managed to lift your latchkey. Highly irregular, of course, but my blood was up. And then this morning when your husband was out, I came back here to look at his statement. I never saw it... because I never got through that door. You see, the key that I'd taken from your handbag didn't fit the lock!

Taglines It Holds You Spellbound with Suspense!

Tony Wendice How do you go about writing a detective story?

Mark Halliday Well, you forget detection and concentrate on crime. Crime's the thing. And then you imagine you're going to steal something or murder somebody.

Tony Wendice Oh, is that how you do it? It's interesting.

Mark Halliday Yes, I usually put myself in the criminal's shoes and then I keep asking myself, uh, what do I do next?

Margot Mary Wendice Do you really believe in the perfect murder?

Mark Halliday Mmm, yes, absolutely. On paper, that is. And I think I could, uh, plan one better than most people; but I doubt if I could carry it out.

Tony Wendice Oh? Why not?

Mark Halliday Well, because in stories things usually turn out the way the author wants them to; and in real life they don't... always. Hmm. I'm afraid my murders would be something like my bridge: I'd make some stupid mistake and never realize it until I found everybody was looking at me.

Margot Mary Wendice Why did you bring me here?

Chief Insp. Hubbard Because you were the only other person who could possibly have left that key outside. I had to find out if you knew it was there.

Margot Mary Wendice Suppose I had known?

Chief Insp. Hubbard You didn't.

Tony Wendice As you said Mark, it might work out on paper, but... Congratulations, Inspector. Oh, by the way... How about you, Margot?

Margot Mary Wendice Yes, I could do with something.

Tony Wendice Mark?

Mark Halliday So could I.

Tony Wendice I suppose you're still on duty, Inspector.

Chief Insp. Hubbard Mind you, even I didn't guess that at once... extraordinary.

Quotes about Dial M for Murder * Joel Waldo Finler, {{cite book|title=Alfred Hitchcock: The Hollywood Years|publisher=Batsford|year=1992|isbn=9780713467192|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WqVZAAAAMAAJ&focus=searchwithinvolume&q=3-d+version++|page=96}} (176 pages)

Taglines ...is that you, darling?

Chief Insp. Hubbard They talk about flat-footed policemen. May the saints protect us from the gifted amateur.

Quotes about Dial M for Murder Since {{w|Warner Bros.|Warner Bros}} had had a big hit with its {{w|3d film|3-D version}} of {{w|House of Wax (1953 film)|House of Wax}} in the spring of 1953, the studio bosses then pressured ] into filming Dial M for Murder in 3-D, though by the time the picture was ready for release, early in 1954, the 3-D fad had passed and it was screened mainly in a standard version.

Margot Mary Wendice Anyone would have realized he was dead. Just one look at those staring eyes...

Chief Insp. Hubbard So you did see his face, after all.

Margot Mary Wendice I saw his eyes! I can't remember his face!

Tony Wendice It's funny to think that just a year ago, I sat in that Knightsbridge Pub actually planning to murder her. And I might have done it, if I hadn't seen something that changed my mind.

C.A. Swan Well? What did you see?

Tony Wendice I saw you.

C.A. Swan When would this take place?

Tony Wendice Tomorrow night.

C.A. Swan Tomorrow! Not a chance! I've got to think this over.

Tony Wendice It has to be tomorrow. I've arranged things that way.

C.A. Swan Where?

Tony Wendice Approximately where you're standing now.

Taglines Kiss By Kiss...Supreme Suspense Unfurls!

Chief Insp. Hubbard Sooner or later, he'll come back here. As I've pinched his latch key, he'll try the one in the handbag. When that doesn't fit, he'll realize his mistake, put two and two together, and look under the stair carpet.

Mark Halliday If he doesn't do that, all of this is pure guess work. We can't prove a thing.

Chief Insp. Hubbard That's perfectly true. But once he opens that door, we shall know everything.