Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

86% of critics liked it
(21 reviews)
78% of users liked it
(4,614 ratings)

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… More 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, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 29 min.
Directed By: Anatole Litvak
Written By: Lucille Fletcher
Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Classics

In Theaters: Jan 1, 1948 Wide
On DVD: May 28, 2002

Critic Reviews

Ed Park, Village Voice
Number derives sleek hysteria from its audaciously constraining narrative strategy.
Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
To make a movie of Lucille Fletcher's classic radio play was really to betray its best idea: that sound, not sight, is the truly paranoid sense.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
Perhaps if you have a special interest in foul folks and morbidities, you will thrill to this Hal Wallis picture. Frankly, we squirmed -- and not from dread.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Stanwyck was too strong to play this simpering role.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
Both Lancaster and Stanwyck are excellent.
Emanuel Levy, EmanuelLevy.Com
Anatole Litvak's taut, gripping, highly stylized noir, based a 22 minute radio play with Agnes Moorehead, is one of the genre's very best, with a bed-ridden Stanwyck in a tour de force performance--a case study for lover of film noir.
, Time Out
Stanwyck's metamorphosis from indolence to hysteria is brilliantly executed.
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
dark and terrifying
Carol Cling, Las Vegas Review-Journal
Vintage suspense with terrific Stanwyck, Lancaster
, Film4
Fletcher adapted her celebrated 22-minute, single-character radio play into an almost equally tense screenplay, still retaining many of the eerie sound effects.
Douglas Pratt, DVDLaser
The film’s basic premise is just too compelling to resist.
James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette
A bit drawn-out, but a sensational vehicle for Stanwyck's talents
Jamie Gillies, Apollo Guide
It is a carefully plotted film that leads to an extraordinary ironic climax.
Matt Bailey, Not Coming to a Theater Near You
A good script, but it should have been filmed with the woman who made it famous on the stage, Agnes Moorehead.
Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle
[A] taut thriller.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Effective suspense film.

Read all 16 critic reviews

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)

Featured Audience Ratings

Randy T

I spent the first 86 minutes hoping Barbara Stanwyck would get what's coming to her and the last 3 minutes praying she'd escape. What a sensational screenplay (à la Lucille Fletcher)!
AJ V

Probably the first great telephone themed thriller ever. I highly recommend this movie.
Stephen M

A bedridden invalid tying to reach her husband by telephone overhears part of a murder plot when her wire is accidentally crossed. This terrific little thriller is basically a woman-in-peril melodrama shot in the style of a <I>film noir</I>. It isn't difficult to pick… More
A bedridden invalid tying to reach her husband by telephone overhears part of a murder plot when her wire is accidentally crossed. This terrific little thriller is basically a woman-in-peril melodrama shot in the style of a <I>film noir</I>. It isn't difficult to pick holes in the story - indeed, the whole plot hinges on the most enormous of coincidences: that of all the telephone conversations in New York, Stanwyck should overhear this particular one - but it really is a beautifully made picture. Sol Polito's magnificent photography deserves a special mention, and some of the elaborate camera movements and seamless effects shots are still impressive today. Lancaster is great and Stanwyck's transition from haughty hypochondria to gibbering hysteria over the course of the movie is a <I>tour de force</I>. The bleak ending still packs a wallop but my favourite scene is the first Staten Island flashback, which besides being very mysterious has an extraordinary dreamlike texture.
Saskia D

Entertaining Noir, Stanwick is marvelous of course. I've seen a couple of her movies now, in them she plays strong and dominant women, and she plays them convincingly. In Sorry, Wrong Number she's a rich woman, who's condition doesn't allow her to leave her bed.… More
Entertaining Noir, Stanwick is marvelous of course. I've seen a couple of her movies now, in them she plays strong and dominant women, and she plays them convincingly. In Sorry, Wrong Number she's a rich woman, who's condition doesn't allow her to leave her bed. She overhears a disturbing conversation on the phone, and as the story unravels, and she's trying to get hold of the situation, she becomes more desperate, and that seemingly strong woman is falling apart. I love it how her hair becomes more disheveled as the story envelops. <div style="width:500px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com/actor/barbara-stanwyck/photos?p=11463372"><img src="http://content6.flixster.com/photo/11/46/33/11463372_ori.jpg" border="0"/></a><div style="text-align:center;font-size:10px;"><a href="http://www.flixster.com">
Mason W

This has to be one of my favorite Barbara Stanwyck films. It is a good film noir from the 40's. A husband is sick of his wive and wants her money so he hires a killer. Barbara Stanwyck plays the rich invalid whom hears these voices on her phone of a plot to kill a someone....it… More
This has to be one of my favorite Barbara Stanwyck films. It is a good film noir from the 40's. A husband is sick of his wive and wants her money so he hires a killer. Barbara Stanwyck plays the rich invalid whom hears these voices on her phone of a plot to kill a someone....it is such a screen gem that is great to see.
Ken S

Best ending ever

Read all 6 featured audience ratings

Cast

            Barbara Stanwyck as Leona Stevenson

            Burt Lancaster as Henry Stevenson

            Ann Richards as Sally Lord Dodge

            Wendell Corey as Dr. Alexander

            Harold Vermilyea as Waldo Evans

            Ed Begley Sr. as James Cotterell

            Leif Erickson as Fred Lord

            William Conrad as Morano

            John Bromfield as Joe Detective

            Jimmy Hunt as Peter Lord

            Dorothy Neumann as Miss Jennings

            Cliff Clark as Sergeant Duffy

            Joyce Compton as Blonde

            Ashley Cowan as Clam Digger

            Yola d'Avril as French Maid

            Suzanne Dalbert as Cigarette Girl

            Rev. Neal Dodd as Minister

            Paul Fierro as Harpootlian

            Holmes Herbert as Wilkins

            Louise Lorimer as Nurse

            Kristine Miller as Dolly Dr. Alexander's Girlfriend

            Garry Owen as Bingo Caller

            Grace Poggi as Dancer

            Tito Vuolo as Albert

            Pepito Pérez as Boat Operator

            Igor Dega
            
See full cast