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sorry wrong number | Year: 1948 Classification: Drama Directed: - Anatole Litvak Actors/Actresses: - Barbara Stanwyck - Burt Lancaster CLASSIC FILM NOIR THRILLER..... A powerhouse performance by Barbara Stanwyck carries this film noir suspense thriller straight to the end. She plays Leona, a spoiled pharmaceutical heiress who's bedridden due to a hypochondriatic "heart condition". Pampered by her widowed father, she's always gotten everthing she wanted by manipulating her illness to her benefit. She's married to a younger man who's poor but given a good job by her father in his company to keep Leona happy. One night, when she is left alone in her shadowy house, she accidentally overhears a murder being plotted on the phone (her access to the world) and then later discovers it's her own murder being discussed. Frantically, she tries to get help and begins piecing together the events leading up to this moment through flashbacks. Stanwyck is awesome in a performance demanding neurotic hysteria as a hypochondriac who has alienated everyone including her husband and father with her demands and behavior. She should have gotten the Oscar she was nominated for. Burt Lancaster plays the hapless husband who is driven to extreme means to achieve success on his own terms but winds up in over his head and lives to regret it. This was originally a radio thriller by Lucille Fletcher (who also did the film's screenplay) with Agnes Moorehead as Leona. The story is well transposed to the screen and is a nailbiter. The ending is surprising for the time and must have been a shocker in 1948. Under the superb direction of Anatole Litvak, Stanwyck pulls out all the stops as a woman who cried wolf once too often. A real treat on DVD as it looks and sounds fine and a great collectors' item for Stanwyck fans as well. Suspenseful entertainment "Sorry, Wrong Number" has to be one of the most well-done suspense films to come along. Adapted by the writer of the famous radio play that starred Agnes Moorehead, Barbara Stanwyck brings to life the invalid socialite who overhears a telephone conversation that will send her into a panic for the rest of her bedridden evening. Burt Lancaster is well cast as her neer-do-well husband, whom we learn is not as devoted as he seems. The story is told in a series of flashbacks by various characters that Ms. Stanwyck encounters on the telephone, that one by one leads up to the shocking climax of the film. This film is perfect to watch with friends and family on a Saturday night with the lights off, to experience fear without the need for violence and gore. Filmmakers of today should take a lesson. But the Right Movie I'll never forget the first time I saw this movie. The quality I was most struck by was it's darkness. I was very young & didn't realise at the time that I was watching one of the best examples in the history of cinema of film noir(nightmare noir even).Darkness, darkness...even the scenes set during the day feel dark. Many of my fellow film lovers have already provided a synopsis so I won't bother you with yet another. Suffice to say this a superbly acted thriller with beautiful elements of melodrama & a knockout climax. I've seen Barbra Stanwyck & Burt Lancaster in SO many films, but this is the one I keep coming back to. Feel the darkness, enjoy the rain, live the nightmare... Buy Sorry Wrong Number at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Sorry Wrong Number Search with the Priority Search Engine on Sorry Wrong Number This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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