In 1954 Alfred Hitchcock shot his first and only 3D movie Dial M for Murder in 1954. At the time and Hitchcock said of 3D It's a nine-day wonder and I came in on the ninth day. Now thanks to a meticulous 4K restoration audiences can enjoy the classic film once again. In the film Grace Kelly stars as a society woman who’s jealous husband Ray Milland arranges the seemingly perfect murder. But thanks to a well-placed pair of scissors the tables are turned and Milland's carefully laid plans begin to disintegrate. Hitchcock confined most of the action to one set and set his cameras in a pit to get low-angle shots designed to emphasize depth and to give the film a theatricality and claustrophobia à la Rope and Rear Window. Only on this stage the proscenium doesn't end at the screen it extends into the audience. The 3D is most effectively used in the murder sequence which takes on new and greater significance as the viewer is placed in the midst of the struggle: a voyeuristic accomplice to murder as only Hitchcock could have planned. To ready Dial M for Murder for this current release a 4K scan was made of the original camera negative along with a full restoration of the two eyes in perfect alignment. Dial M for Murder was among the first films that helped Warner Bros. introduce 3D in U.S. theatres in the early ‘50s. When the Dial M for Murder Blu-ray 3D debuts October 9 audiences will finally be able to see the film in their homes as it was originally meant to be seen. The movie is also being screened at a handful of theatres around the country. Originally designed to lure audiences away from their TV sets 3D utilized a “left-eye/right-eye” dual projection process and polarized glasses the basis for what is seen today. However with the advent of CinemaScope (“the miracle you can see without glasses”) and the higher costs associated with 3D the fad was fading by the time Dial M for Murder was released in theatres. As a result most 1954 moviegoers only saw the film projected in 2D and it wasn’t until the early 1980s that a classic 3D film revival allowed Dial M for Murder to be briefly seen theatrically albeit in a “faux 3D” 70 mm composite print. Jeff Baker Warner Bros. executive vice president and general manager theatrical catalog said “Given the current trend toward 3D we’re delighted to be releasing this authentic classic 3D. This is not a conversion from 2D to 3D but an original work with a big tip of the cap to MPI that illustrates just how good 3D can be. The Warner library has the largest number of classic 3D titles (15) of any studio and over the years we’ve been looking to release them but not until now has the technology been perfected to the point we can do that. We’re hoping Dial M for Murder is the first of several classic 3D films to be released with the long-awaited much requested “House of Wax” expected next.”
