I don't expect many to read this review. If you are considering a lesser known 1954 Hitchcock you are already a certified film buff. Ray Milland was not known to me previously but he is an interesting actor. Good (not great), unglamourous and undramatic. Grace Kelly is the opposite. The entire piece is filmed in a room. Standard for a play (from which this was taken), unusual for a film. Good plot, not amazing but very entertaining.
Entertaining adaptation of Frederick Knott's stage hit is one of Hitch's impediment films, barely opened up from a single set.
The bitter and betrayed Ray Milland plans the perfect murder of his unfaithful and rich wife (played by Grace Kelly) which then excruciatingly crumbles under investigation. It's a clever murder story with the confinement of the action proving no barrier to friction free suspense and some really satisfying complications.
It's unfair to see this as mostly a rehearsal for the similar impediment employed in Rear Window. It is one of the best ever conversions of a traditional British stage thriller to film. And Hitch fills the cramped set with memorable images, such as the ostentatious killing of Anthony Dawson with Ms. Kelly's sewing scissors, intended to show up in the original 3D version.
As is common with the genre, it is inevitably quite superficial, with flimsy characterisations and little relevance to real life. But, so what, and the skilled cast, particularly the unscrupulous Milland and the dapper (Columbo-esque) investigator John Williams lend the roles plenty of charisma.