Sorry, Wrong Number
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Movie Reviews of Sorry, Wrong Number
Movie Review: mystery/murder
Summary: 5 Stars
the movie should be remaded, in color. The movie had a excellent review do to acting of Ms. Stanwyck.Movie Review: SORRY, WRONG NUMBER (1948)
Summary: 4 Stars
SORRY, WRONG NUMBER (1948)
This film originally appeared in 1943 on the "Suspense" radio program and starred Agnes Moorehead in the role of Mrs. Stevenson. In expanding the 30-minute radio play to an 89 minute film, Lucille Fletcher employed a flashback device which, IMO, oiled a riveting suspenseful tale, effectively carrying the action along. Each flashback episode was ignited by a phone call and allowed the camera (thankfully) to stray outside Leona's bedroom.
It was during the flashback episodes that the wonderful cinematography of Sol Polito is used to best advantage. And it is stunning, espcially in the train station sequence wherein Sally (Ann Richards) is tailing her husband to find out what she can about her ex-boyfriend's involvement in a crime.
Barbara Stanwyck once again proves her stature as one of the greats (she received an Oscar nomination for this role). It must have been a real challenge trying to get the audience to sympathize with a rather unlikeable character. I believe she succeded in this challenge. Leona is spoiled and headstrong. She has convinced herself of having a life-threatening illness and, while she professes her love for Henry (Burt Lancaster), it's really just a sort of Narcisistic possesiveness. She won't hesitate to use her imagined illness to tightly control her husband, making his life a misery.
So, a fine cast, with a superb perfomance by Stanwyck, capable, if not excellent, direction by Anatole Litvak and a fine screenplay by Lucille Fletcher add up to a very good suspense thriller. It's the kind of film that, if condensed to its original 30-minute length, would have been a perfect vehicle for "Alfred Hitchcock Presents". I say that mainly due to its shocking (though inevitable) conclusion. I am sooooo glad that they didn't weaken at the knees and provide some sort of phony ending wherein Henry saves his wife at the last minute and everything is hunkey-dorey.
Henry set the wheels in motion to commit murder, and though it's understandable that he might be made miserable by his controlling, overwhelming wife, a stronger man would have found a more suitable way to solve his problems. Our D-I-V-O-R-C-E, etc. and all that Tammy Wynette jazz. His attempt at warning her did little in my eyes to mitigate his role in the whole sordid business.
OK, is it noir? My vote would be yes. Stanwyck, from her sick bed, is the overwhelming femme-fatale. Lancaster the scheming, weak-willed husband. Henry is reacting to pressures from all sides: mobsters wanting to get back their piece of a very lucrative business, a wife, though perhaps not consciously, driving her husband away with her insane jealousy, an ex-girlfriend who's obviously still enough in love with Henry and not quite faithful enough to husband and family to stay out of it. And murder waiting in the wings. The death of Leona is horrifying and inevitable. Any other ending would have not been quite as logical.
This story rather reminds me of the writings of Roald Dahl (Lamb to the Slaughter) and would have fit in very nicely with one of Hitchcock's marvelous collections of short stories such as "Stories For Late At Night".
Movie Review: Vintage noir with great acting coupled with a gripping and mysterious plot.
Summary: 4 Stars
This review is for the 2002 release Paramount DVD.
'Sorry, Wrong Number' opens in a New York apartment with Leona Stevenson (Barbara Stanwyck), an immobile, bedridden wife trying to contact her husband Henry Stevenson (Burt Lancaster) by phone at his office but is accidentally connected to another line where she overhears two men plotting to kill someone later that night. She hears the specific details of how the murder will be done, but does not know who will be victim. It appears the call can't be traced and the details are too nebulous for the police to take action. So again, Leona tries to contact Henry and since he can't be found, she does some detective work by phone and learns an amazing amount about her husband over the phone for the remainder of the day.
Some very detailed flashbacks reveal the troubled relationship Leona and Henry. First, Leona is the heiress of a huge pharmaceutical business and she met Harry while in college although Henry didn't even finish high school and was working in a drug store. In spite of this odd relationship, they eventually get married but Leona immediately takes complete control of the relationship and Henry obviously feels trapped, emasculated and in deep need of proving his self worth even though he's been given an unchallenging job as a vice president for Leona's father's drug company. This sets up the rest of the movie where Leona learns a lot about Henry through various phone conversations and none of what she finds out is good and it builds up to a climatic ending.
The picture is unmistakably film noir and has plenty of convincing actors, especially Stanwyck, and has a very mysterious plot to hold the viewer's interest. I only have two critical comments about this film. One problem is there are several extreme coincidences that are put in place to make the movie work. The most obvious event that borders on the totally improbable is hearing this extremely relevant phone call by accident in a city as large as New York and to a slightly lesser degree receiving several extremely informative tips from various willing phone callers over the course of several hours. But the bigger problem is the ending where someone realizes that a serious crime is about to occur and this person calls several parties for help but none of these people are the police. It's an entertaining film and because of the acting and the noir look of the movie, I liked it, but I didn't love it.
The B&W DVD picture quality has virtually no signs of film deterioration, but was noticeably grainy. Some scenes, especially the ones shot on a beach, were very grainy and had poor contrast. The audio was good, but parts of the mysterious phone call were hard to hear. The only bonus is a trailer.
Movie: B
DVD Quality: B+
Movie Review: Lancaster & Stanwyck In This "Nightmare Noir"!
Summary: 4 Stars
Sorry, Wrong Number
Exciting 1948 thriller based on a 45 minute radio play, starring Barbara Stanwyck as the paranoid, controlling rich woman, daughter of a rich drug company tycoon. She falls in love and steals a man from a girlfriend of hers played by Ann Richards. The Ann Richards character reminded me of Inger Stevens in a lot of ways -- sneaky, shy and cute. Burt Lancaster plays the rough man from a poor neighborhood who becomes a milk-toast of a husband to Leona.
There is a lot of flashback in this story that detracts somewhat from the thriller aspect of things. The Ann Richards character really does not add a lot to the story, except her following people around, spying on her husband (who is a police detective) and sneaking into beach houses and train stations.
The mysterious party line where Leona listens to a plot of murder at 11:15 that same night freaks out Leona. What seems to freak her out even more is learning that her illness is psychosomatic -- "Liars, liars!!" Wow!
With a few slow points that are a bit hard to handle for the modern viewer, the ending is quite a tour de force. Definitely a four star film, not on par with a Hitchcock thriller in my opinion, but still you gotta see a young Burt Lancaster (Birdman of Alcatraz).
Seeing a young William Conrad (Cannon TV series) as the gangster Moreno was a treat as well.
The DVD I had had minimal features, just a film trailer.
Some Lancaster Flicks!
Burt Lancaster - The Signature Collection (The Flame and the Arrow / Jim Thorpe All-American / His Majesty O'Keefe / South Sea Woman / Executive Action)
Birdman of Alcatraz
Some Barbara Stanwyck Movies:
Barbara Stanwyck - The Signature Collection (Annie Oakley / East Side, West Side / My Reputation / Executive Suite / Jeopardy / To Please a Lady)
Double Indemnity (Universal Legacy Series)
William Conrad! (was original Matt Dillon in radio's Gunsmoke).
Cannon: Season One, Vol. 1
Movie Review: By the Numbers - Stanwyck: 10+ ... Script: 5
Summary: 4 Stars
Barbara Stanwyck never gave a bad performance. Even when her material was second-rate, the lady herself was always first class. Such is the case with "Sorry, Wrong Number", the story of a woman terrorized by what she accidently hears over a telephone. In adapting and expanding her tightly-written and suspenseful radio play for the screen, author Lucille Fletcher manufactured a complicated series of flashbacks (and flashbacks within flashbacks!) intended to provide the audience with some background into the Stanwyck character's crisis. Unfortunately, the added scenes, which primarily focus on some uninteresting secondary characters, only served to interrupt and thus dilute the effectiveness of Stanwyck's magnificent portrayal of a selfish socialite slowly descending into a state of frenzied hysteria and unbridled fear.According to legend, director Anatole Litvak gave Stanwyck the option of shooting her demanding emotional scenes with the telephone in segments spaced throughout the production schedule, or filming them all at once and in sequence. Stanwyck, ever the perfectionist, chose the latter course and spent almost two weeks on the climactic bedroom set, each morning having to work herself back into the state of terror and anxiety in which she had ended the prior day's scenes. Stanwyck always maintained that her hair started to gray during this time period, and sure enough!, alert viewers will note that tiny wisps of silver begin to show up in the actress' hair by the end of the movie. Stanwyck's consummate professionalism ultimately paid off handsomely; despite the weakness of the screenplay adaptation, her characterization is among her best, and she received her fourth Oscar nomination as Best Actress in a Leading Role for her amazingly raw and gritty performance.
The DVD presentation of this nail-biter is adequate at best. The original film elements are splendidly well-preserved, as anyone who has seen the movie on cable TV or VHS cassette can attest. But at the beginning of the DVD, a stray hair shows up at the bottom of the screen, goes away, and then reappears thoughout the credits. This is inexcusable in this day and age of digital restoration; the film deserves a cleaner, crisper transfer. The only extra feature is the film's Original Theatrical Trailer, which apparently was taken from a British source, since it carries an "Unsuitable for Children" warning. Despite its flaws, the DVD presentation is still worth a look, if only to see the supremely talented Stanwyck at the top of her game.