If you are into nail biting suspense in your movies look no further than SORRY,WRONG NUMBER. An excellently structured climactic noir thriller made by Paramount Pictures in 1948. Produced by Hal Wallis and director Anotole Litvak it bears all the hallmarks of what was best in Hollywood's Golden Age when it came to producing great thrillers. With its slick and stylish black and white cinematography by legendary Sol Polito, masterful direction by Litvak it boasted a magnificent central performance from its star Barbara Stanwyck. Written by Lucille Fletcher the film is an expanded version of her hugely successful radio play. And to give it greater depth and density the picture is underlined by a terrific score by Franz Waxman (Over the titles an ostinato figure in the horns cleverly simulates the busy signal of a telephone).
Stanwyck is Leona Stevenson the pampered well to do daughter of industrial magnate James Cotterell (the always excellent Ed Begley). She pursues and marries beneath her a lowly drug store assistant Henry Stevenson (a miscast Burt Lancaster) much to the chagrin of her father ("Who is he anyhow? Why he hasn't even got a proper job!). The marriage however is doomed from the very start. Cotterell sets his son-in-law up in an executive position but Henry is unable to take the domineering ways of the spoiled Leona and wants to leave her culminating in his embezzling from the company and the degeneration of Leona into a bedridden neurotic invalid. The film's primary setting then takes place during one night and concentrates on Leona in bed and alone in her big house trying to contact Henry on her bedside phone. Then on a crossed line she suddenly overhears two men plotting a murder that is to happen that night. Frantically she phones the police first, then her father, her doctor (Wendell Corey) and her husband's secretary but either they are not answering and or no one will believe her. It isn't very long before she comes to the conclusion that it is she herself who is the intended victim. The picture ends in a terrifying sequence with the panic stricken Leona hearing a noise downstairs and then just outside her open bedroom door seeing the shadow of someone coming up the stairs. Brrr......
Stanwyck totally dominates the second half of the picture. The great actress has the screen virtually to herself. In stunning medium shots and close-ups her fear and panic is brilliantly portrayed with her every terrible thought etched in her harrowed face. Leona is a pathetic figure unable to summon or persuade someone - anyone - to come quickly to her aid. Few actresses would be as convincing in the role here as Stanwyck and she quite rightly was nominated for an Acadamy Award for her electrifying performance but lost out to Jane Wyman's equally riveting performance for "Johnny Belinda". Maintaining the tension of Fletcher's original radio story the film version, quite naturally, does make a greater impact and has a more palpable dramatic thrust thanks to Stanwyck's exceptional well measured and engaging performance.
So if you are looking for a hyper, climatic edge of the seat thriller then SORRY,WRONG NUMBER will certainly get you to where you want to go.......and how.
Stanwyck is Leona Stevenson the pampered well to do daughter of industrial magnate James Cotterell (the always excellent Ed Begley). She pursues and marries beneath her a lowly drug store assistant Henry Stevenson (a miscast Burt Lancaster) much to the chagrin of her father ("Who is he anyhow? Why he hasn't even got a proper job!). The marriage however is doomed from the very start. Cotterell sets his son-in-law up in an executive position but Henry is unable to take the domineering ways of the spoiled Leona and wants to leave her culminating in his embezzling from the company and the degeneration of Leona into a bedridden neurotic invalid. The film's primary setting then takes place during one night and concentrates on Leona in bed and alone in her big house trying to contact Henry on her bedside phone. Then on a crossed line she suddenly overhears two men plotting a murder that is to happen that night. Frantically she phones the police first, then her father, her doctor (Wendell Corey) and her husband's secretary but either they are not answering and or no one will believe her. It isn't very long before she comes to the conclusion that it is she herself who is the intended victim. The picture ends in a terrifying sequence with the panic stricken Leona hearing a noise downstairs and then just outside her open bedroom door seeing the shadow of someone coming up the stairs. Brrr......
Stanwyck totally dominates the second half of the picture. The great actress has the screen virtually to herself. In stunning medium shots and close-ups her fear and panic is brilliantly portrayed with her every terrible thought etched in her harrowed face. Leona is a pathetic figure unable to summon or persuade someone - anyone - to come quickly to her aid. Few actresses would be as convincing in the role here as Stanwyck and she quite rightly was nominated for an Acadamy Award for her electrifying performance but lost out to Jane Wyman's equally riveting performance for "Johnny Belinda". Maintaining the tension of Fletcher's original radio story the film version, quite naturally, does make a greater impact and has a more palpable dramatic thrust thanks to Stanwyck's exceptional well measured and engaging performance.
So if you are looking for a hyper, climatic edge of the seat thriller then SORRY,WRONG NUMBER will certainly get you to where you want to go.......and how.