Dial M for Murder (1954)

John Williams: Chief Inspector Hubbard

Photos 

Quotes 

• Margot Mary Wendice : Anyone would have realized he was dead. Just one look at those staring eyes...

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : So you did see his face, after all.

  Margot Mary Wendice : I saw his eyes! I can't remember his face!

• Mark Halliday : What is all this?

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : They talk about flat-footed policemen. May the saints protect us from the gifted amateur.

• Chief Insp. Hubbard : [Detective Pearson is about to leave with Mrs. Wendice's small purse around his wrist]  Oh, wait a minute, you clot; you can't walk down the street like that - you, you'll be arrested!

• Margot Mary Wendice : How long have you known this?

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : Did you suspect it yourself?

  Margot Mary Wendice : No, never. And yet... What's the matter with me, Mark? I don't seem able to feel anything.

• Margot Mary Wendice : Why did you bring me here?

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : Because you were the only other person who could possibly have left that key outside. I had to find out if you knew it was there.

  Margot Mary Wendice : Suppose I had known?

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : You didn't.

• Mark Halliday : When did you find out, sir?

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : Well, the first clue came quite by accident.

  [to Margot] 

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : We discovered that your husband had been spending a large number of pound notes all over the place - it ran into over three hundred pounds - and it appeared to have started at about the time you were arrested. Now, I had to find out where he got that money, and how. Then I remembered that after you were arrested we searched this flat, and I saw a copy of his bank statement in that desk. So yesterday afternoon, I went to the prison and asked to see your handbag. While I was doing this, I managed to lift your latchkey. Highly irregular, of course, but my blood was up. And then this morning when your husband was out, I came back here to look at his statement. I never saw it... because I never got through that door. You see, the key that I'd taken from your handbag didn't fit the lock!

• Chief Insp. Hubbard : Sooner or later, he'll come back here. As I've pinched his latch key, he'll try the one in the handbag. When that doesn't fit, he'll realize his mistake, put two and two together, and look under the stair carpet.

  Mark Halliday : If he doesn't do that, all of this is pure guess work. We can't prove a thing.

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : That's perfectly true. But once he opens that door, we shall know everything.

• Tony Wendice : [on the phone to a lawyer]  We had a burglary last night, and Margot was attacked. No, she's all right. But the man was killed, and the police are here now. And don't laugh... they're suggesting that Margot killed him intentionally!

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : [interrupting Tony]  I wouldn't say that if I were you, sir.

• Chief Insp. Hubbard : [to Mark and Margot]  Mind you, even I didn't guess that at once... extraordinary.

• Tony Wendice : What makes you think he came in by this door?

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : His shoes.

  Tony Wendice : His shoes?

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : The ground was soaking wet last night. If he'd come in by the garden, he'd have left mud all over the carpet. As it is, he didn't leave any marks at all, because he wiped his shoes on the front doormat.

  Tony Wendice : How can you tell?

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : It's a fairly new mat, and some of its fibers came off on his shoes.

  Tony Wendice : Oh, but surely...

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : And there was a small tar stain on the mat, and some of the fibers show that as well. There is no question about it.

• Chief Insp. Hubbard : There is evidence however that he was blackmailing you.

  Tony Wendice : Blackmail?

  Mark Halliday : Yes, I'm afraid it's true, Tony.

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : And you suggest that he came in by the window. And we know that he came in by that door.

  Margot Mary Wendice : But he can't have come in that way. That door was locked. And there are only two keys. My husband had his with him, and mine was in my handbag. Here.

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : You could have let him in.

• Chief Insp. Hubbard : Good morning, Sir. I'm Chief Inspector Hubbard, in charge of criminal investigation of this division.

  Tony Wendice : Oh, I think we gave your sergeant all the necessary information.

  Chief Insp. Hubbard : Yes, I've seen his report of course, but there are a few things I'd like to get firsthand.