5. Dial M For Murder
Easily a vintage classic film with the most conflicted message, Hitchcock pulls it out of the bag with
Dial M For Murder, a dark London-based thriller involving a middle-class man plotting to murder his wealthy wife with the unwilling help of an ex-schoolfriend he's blackmailing. At the start, our loyalties are immediately torn - Tony Wendice, the husband, is planning to kill his wife in order to gain her money and move on with his life following his wife asking him to give up his tennis career which suggests that his wife Margot is really to blame for his jealousy, anger and resentment for forcing him to give up the career that perhaps made him truly happy. However, we also feel a loyalty towards Margot - having been trapped in a loveless marriage, she began a relationship with Mark Halliday, a famous crime author before asking her husband to give up his career to try and save their relationship. Margot is a conflicted character, caught between her loyalty to her husband and her feelings for true love Mark. When the plan to kill Margot fails, we immediately want the innocent Margot exonerated despite her extramarital affair. Ultimately the moral conflict in the film comes down to Hitchcock placing equal blame on both husband and wife for the events in the film - if Margot hadn't demanded he give up his career, then Tony might not have been emotionally catapulted into killing his wife. At the same time, Tony is fully responsible for his actions and doesn't deserve a lesser punishment or any sympathy whatsoever.