Dial M for Murder: If You Knew Susie

I see that I originally blogged about this rare 1974 anthology series about murders in which a telephone is somehow involved, four years ago. At that time there was just the one episode on the internet in which Ian Hendry and Robert Lang hilariously overact the role of a gay couple, but happily since then others have been uploaded. This series is unlikely ever to have a commercial release and in fact is as rare as hen's teeth so grab it while it's available. Being an anthology series the episodes are, of course, patchy, but there are a couple I want to blog about.

Perhaps I had better comment on the premise of this episode, because while I quite like it I think that other people may see it as a defect or else it will irritate people no end. It's based on the premise that a wealthy man from a wealthy family, who also has an incredibly clingy and pushy mother, would marry a glamorous model without knowing a single thing about her, her background or family. She is the titular Suzanna and the man is called Alex. His mother is the extraordinarily named Geneva, played to histrionic perfection by our old friend Elaine Stritch. It takes place in England, and both the couple come across as British but obviously Geneva is an American because nobody on this earth was going to teach Elaine Stritch elocution were they.

Geneva very reasonably, if rather stridently, asks Alex about his fiancee and her background but the trouble is he doesn't know anything. He is adamant that he trusts her completely and loves her, and is going to marry her regardless. As I said I think you might find this premise incredible, in which case it might spoil the episode for you, but my own opinion is that it's worth suspending disbelief for the sheer tension and drama.

If you've seen The Avengers episode The Joker, the parts of the show involving the phone calls have a very similar creepy atmosphere. Suzanna keeps getting phantom phone calls, and it is communicated both to us and to mother that her work modelling hasn't been just modelling, nudge nudge wink wink. The caller is a proper stalker who has her pictures and honestly it's worth watching this show for the creepy build up alone.

Speaking of build-up, rather than a murder story as such, as I was watching this it kept reminding me of a Tales of the Unexpected rather than the other episodes of this series I have watched, and honestly the murder is very unexpected when it does happen. It could genuinely fit into either this series or Tales of the Unexpected very comfortably, because there is a twist. More than one member of the cast is setting up a murder but when it happens they all get a shock.

I see that from the reviews this show is very well esteemed indeed by some die-hard fans, and this episode is perhaps one of the best illustrations of why. It literally doesn't set a foot wrong in setting up the tension, ramping up the creepiness, setting up a couple of murders which don't happen and then giving everyone an enexpected ending which you don't see coming. Obviously, somebody in the cast isn't who they are saying they are, but it's not who we expect.

There is also an interesting layer to this script, in the relationships between the characters and especially how badly Elaine Stritch's character manages to act in front of her son's new fiancee. It's possibly to make us more suspicious of the fiancee's motivation in marrying the son, but I think generally if your prospective mother in law into tears and starts asking her son why he always makes her nurt him on your first meeeting...well I wouldn't expect any marriage to be especially happy or uninterrupted!

If I'm pressed to criticise it, I would have to say that the strength of the script may not make up for the incredible premise of a rich man marrying a woman who he himself admits he barely knows. You may also find it slightly difficult to believe that he would be assertive enough to marry against his mother's wish with a mother quite as pushy as the mother Elaine Stritch plays!

This isn't a criticism but the print the only online copy is taken from is quite dark, which with the dark seventies sets can make it look as if the action is taking place against a black background. Yes, it would benefit from restoration and a popular release but realistically this show will never get that.

A highly recommended episode of an interesting and rare series.

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