Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Anatole Litvak

Writers:

Lucille Fletcher (radio play)
Lucille Fletcher (screenplay)

Release Date:

1 September 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Film-Noir | Thriller

Tagline:

She overheard the plans for her own destruction!

Plot:

Leona Stevenson is sick and confined to her bed. One night, whilst waiting for her husband to return home...

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Heir | Illness | Father Daughter Relationship | Heart Disease

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 2 nominations

Cast

Barbara Stanwyck	...	Leona Stevenson
Burt Lancaster	...	Henry Stevenson
Ann Richards	...	Sally Hunt Lord
Wendell Corey	...	Dr. Alexander
Harold Vermilyea	...	Waldo Evans
Ed Begley	...	James Cotterell
Leif Erickson	...	Fred Lord
William Conrad	...	Morano
John Bromfield	...	Joe - Detective
Jimmy Hunt	...	Peter Lord
Dorothy Neumann	...	Miss Elizabeth Jennings
Paul Fierro	...	Harpootlian

Runtime:

89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Colour:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Norway:16 (1949) | USA:Approved (PCA #12493) | West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15

Company:

Hal Wallis Productions

Trivia:

Film noir adaptation of the famous 1943 radio play.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Whenever camera pans out Leona's window to cityscape with moving cars, city lights, etc., smoke emitting from smokestacks never moves.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Leona Stevenson: Operator! Operator! Operator!
Voice of Operator: Your call please?
Leona Stevenson: Operator, I've been ringing Murray Hill 35097 for the last half hour and the line is always busy. Will you ring it for me, please?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Bob Newhart Show: Sorry, Wrong Mother (#3.5)" (1974)

Soundtrack:

Passacaglia

One of the finest film noirs

An expanded radio play and subsequent TV drama, this film builds terrific tension around a bedridden heiress and her telephone.

Sympathy builds for this unlikeable woman, Leona, played by Barbara Stanwyck. She is a spoiled heiress used to getting her own way, but as we come to see, very much created by her father (played by Ed Begley) who bows to all her wishes.

Her husband, Henry, played by Burt Lancaster, whom she chases and captures from her best friend, initially goes along with being an employee in her father's corporation but eventually starts chafing at the restraints imposed on him.

The movie just about plays in real time with the addition of many flashbacks, one of which secures the knowledge that there is nothing wrong with Leona, it is all psychosomatic based on her mother's fatal illness.

From the moment Leona accidentally overhears a plotted murder for later on that evening, the viewer is taken on a ride that builds suspense and tension to a terrifying conclusion and the movie's title.

Not to be missed. The cinematography is superb, a lot of play in light and shade. Barbara deserved an Oscar but lost. 8 out of 10.