Room With a Skew

If you had a successful play, you should not fuss with construction, Alfred Hitchcock told Peter Bogdanovich about resisting the temptation to “open up” the film version of “Dial M for Murder” (“Making Friends With Claustrophobia,” by Hugh Hart, April 14).

That is certainly consistent with Hitchcock’s MO in a number of his other films in which a confined atmosphere was significant in achieving his trademark suspense and edgy unease. Among these are “Rebecca” (set in Manderley), “Lifeboat” (cited by Guillermo del Toro), “Rope” (set in a New York City apartment), “Rear Window” (also set in a Manhattan apartment) and “Psycho” (set at the Bates Motel and house). Other Hitchcock films with a confined construct include “Spellbound,” “Notorious,” “The Paradine Case” and “The Birds.”

Hart’s sidebar listing single-set movies that provided great acting opportunities could have included two additional Humphrey Bogart films--”The Desperate Hours” and “Key Largo”--and a number of films featuring tours de force by any actor who ever appeared in a movie set aboard a submarine or an ocean liner.

JIM PINKSTON

Los Angeles