Dial M for Murder, the master at work, a great inspiration for this crime writer

I'm doing a Hitchcock season at present watching again some of my favourite Hitchcock movies. On Saturday night it was Dial M For Murder (1954). I'd forgotten how brilliant it was - Hitchcock was a genius, Ray Milland superb and Grace Kelly lovely as always.

So far I have watched (for about the nth time) North by North West  (1959) which sort of inspired me to write In For The Kill, a thriller, where my hero gets chased across an airfield on the Isle of Wight, which is a slightly smaller place than the USA!



North by North West is also a favourite because it stars Cary Grant, one of my 'boy's who look down upon me as I write.  Alongside Cary on my office wall is Roger Moore, (love his Bond movies) Humphrey Bogart (great in The Big Sleep, Maltese Falcon and so many more films...) and Harrison Ford, another wonderful hero.

To get back to Hitchcock though, two weeks ago I watched Rear Window, (1954) brilliant setting and such a fantastic tight screenplay, and before that The Birds, (1963) which scared me to death years ago when I watched it one Sunday afternoon on the telly and immediately after it had ended a bird flew down the chimney, how scary was that! I've had a phobia about birds in the house ever since. I have a special delight in watching The Birds, because not only is the story by the great Daphne Du Maurier but the screenplay was written by Evan Hunter, yes, he wrote as Ed McBain,  and I am so proud that in the States my DI Andy Horton crime novels have been compared  to those of McBain.

I have a great fondest for old movies and an extensive collection. It's not just thrillers I enjoy but all sorts of movies, and I especially enjoy Ealing Comedies. It is this love of old movies that made me decide to make Sergeant Cantelli in my DI Horton crime novels a bit of an old movie buff. They can provide great inspiration too.

I've also re-visited Strangers on a Train  (1951) with Raymond Chandler being one of the writers involved in the screenplay, need I say more?  And still many more delights to come.

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