Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
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86% of critics liked it
(21 reviews) -
78% of users liked it
(4,708 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
- Directed By
- Anatole Litvak
- Written By
- Lucille Fletcher
- Genres
- Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense, Classics
Unrated,
- In Theaters
- Jan 1, 1948 Wide
Critic Reviews
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Ed Park, Village Voice
Number derives sleek hysteria from its audaciously constraining narrative strategy.
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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.
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, Time Out
Stanwyck's metamorphosis from indolence to hysteria is brilliantly executed.
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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.
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Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Stanwyck was too strong to play this simpering role.
See more critic ratings and reviews on Rotten Tomatoes
Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)
Rotten (59% or fewer critics rated the movie positively)
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Cast
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Barbara Stanwyck
as Leona Stevenson
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Burt Lancaster
as Henry Stevenson
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Ann Richards
as Sally Lord Dodge
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Wendell Corey
as Dr. Alexander
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Harold Vermilyea
as Waldo Evans
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Ed Begley Sr.
as James Cotterell
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Leif Erickson
as Fred Lord
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William Conrad
as Morano
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John Bromfield
as Joe Detective
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Jimmy Hunt
as Peter Lord
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Dorothy Neumann
as Miss Jennings
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Cliff Clark
as Sergeant Duffy
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Joyce Compton
as Blonde
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Ashley Cowan
as Clam Digger
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Yola d'Avril
as French Maid
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Suzanne Dalbert
as Cigarette Girl
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Rev. Neal Dodd
as Minister
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Paul Fierro
as Harpootlian
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Holmes Herbert
as Wilkins
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Louise Lorimer
as Nurse
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Kristine Miller
as Dolly Dr. Alexander's Girlfriend
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Garry Owen
as Bingo Caller
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Grace Poggi
as Dancer
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Tito Vuolo
as Albert
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Pepito Pérez
as Boat Operator
- Igor Dega
