Steve!! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts. I really value hearing different opinions on classic films. And I think you're really onto something with this comment that the acting is much more stilted in older films and it totally does feel like a play, especially with Dial M, having been based on a play. What I love about Hitch though in particular is how he leans into that stiffness and tension with his camera work, increasing the suspense to a level that modern films can't quite reach. For me, the acting is superior in older films simply because it is less"casual". Of course, Ray Millands performance could also be described as casual, especially in the plotting scene with Swann. But the actors were allowed to really take their time, unlike now we have much shorter attention spans. I don’t think I’ll ever fit into our society in that way, gimme a long pause any day and I could do without TikTokentirely.😅 I think it is all a matter of taste because it’s true, parts of perfect murder did play very well. We probably would have talked more about it, but then the podcast would have been another hour long and if it’s a choice between editing out our Hitchcock comments, or not, I will have to always go with not.🤗 Love hearing your thoughts, babe, keep em coming and thank you so much for listening and subscribing! xo💚

This is a great podcast. Watching Dial M last night it reminded me of why I enjoy but don't enjoy old movies. The characters are more sterile in general. Because at that time period there was a transition from coming off the stage to on the screen, movies tend to feel more like filmed plays, which I don't particularly enjoy. It feels more like acting. But A Perfect Murder, 44 years later, now movies are truly movies, not filmed plays, and the acting is so much more real and emotional and in-depth. Watching Dial M on my 77" OLED TV the cinematography and color and filmic quality of it is stunning, and it has a kind of charm about it, but it's just not emotionally engaging to me. The characters and sense of reality in A Perfect Murder is so much more visceral and alive. I mean Michael Douglas is just so much sleazier feeling than the calculated and boring Ray Milland. Thanks for the great discussion--subscribed. Oh and am laughing now about your 'ants in the pants' murder scene in Dial M. That was terrible acting and ridiculous ha! Oh I learned a lot listening to this, and had never hear of a closed-circle mystery--interesting. I think giving more time to A Perfect Murder would have helped--you just sort of touched on it--I can tell which you preferred. :) Looking forward to listening to more. But in the end you're convincing me that I need to have a more open mind about older films and try to appreciate them more. Here's the difference for me in sum though: one feels more like witnessing a work of art, and one feels more like witnessing real life.