:
Barbara Stanwyck,
Barbara Stanwyck,
Burt Lancaster,
more...
:
Anatole Litvak,
Anatole Litvak
see all cast/crew...
: Not Rated
: Paramount
: Vintage Noir
: 88 min.
: English, French
: English
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When Lucille Fletcher took on the challenge of expanding her classic 30-minute radio suspenser Sorry, Wrong Number into an 89-minute feature film, she opted on the Citizen Kane approach, filling the plotline to the brim with revelatory flashbacks. Barbara Stanwyck stars as bedridden hypochondriac Leona Stevenson, who while trying to make a call from her bedroom telephone gets her wires crossed and inadvertently overhears two men plotting a murder. Anxiously, Leona wades through telephone-company bureaucracy to trace the call, never catching on -- until it's too late -- that the murder being planned is hers. A series of flashbacks details the disintegrating marriage between the wealthy Leona and her weakling husband Henry (Burt Lancaster), and Henry's subsequent disastrous get-rich-quick schemes involving chemist Waldo Evans (Harold Vermilyea) and a surly gangster (William Conrad). It would have been a near-sacrilege to alter the radio play's ironic ending, which fortunately remains intact on film. Sorry Wrong Number was first heard on radio's Suspense series in 1943, with Agnes Moorehead as the harried Mrs. Stevenson (a role she'd repeat several times on radio and on stage). Though disappointed that she wasn't chosen to star in the film version, Moorehead took some satisfaction in the fact that a recording of the original radio program was played constantly on the set to help keep Barbara Stanwyck "in the mood". ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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| Whispering of Murder! Tangled Lives... Fighting to Escape!
by eifert
July 11, 2004 - 9:13 PM PDT
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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Sorry, Wrong Number starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster is a dark suspense noir based on a very popular 22-minute radio play. Stanwyck plays Leona Stevenson, a bedridden millionaire's daughter. She's a shut in with her telephone being her only connection to the rest of the world. Unlike her noir performance in Double Indemnity and other films, Stanwyck's Leona is the victim. She witnesses, while listening to what appears to be a crossed phone connection, two men planning a murder of a women. Leona calls the phone company and police only to be ignored. Adding to Leona's dilemma is the fact that her husband Henry (Lancaster) is missing.
After a number of phone calls, the invalid Leona, terrorized by a number of phone calls, begins to piece together the mystery. Her uneducated husband, working for her rich father, turns out to be not all he seems. This is a perfect example of a classic noir plot with the resentful working class schemes to sabotage the plans of the rich.
Both Lancaster and Stanwyck, playing the bitter poor man and the spoiled rich woman, are both unlikable and manipulative. The audience sympathy goes to Leona because of Stanwyck's performance. She's a bitchy rich girl, but her growing fear throughout the night is contagious.
The movie is shot in real time, with many flashbacks to help flesh out the story. In one instance, there is a flashback in a flashback! Isn't that against screenwriting rules?
The movie looks great. Stanwyck's bedroom window overlooks the night skyline of Manhattan. The film is shot very dark with looming shadows and circling camera shots to help keep the suspense high.
The key to the success of this movie are the performances. Both leads pull it off.
Sorry, Wrong Number is a forerunner to the far better classic Rear Window.
Like me, like you. Come on. Were both acting like a couple of kids playing cat and mouse. Besides, what is a dame like you what with a guy like me? |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 7.10)
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