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Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

7.5
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Ratings: 7.5/10 from 4,933 users  
Reviews: 74 user | 33 critic

Whilst on the telephone, an invalid woman overhears what she thinks is a plot to murder her.

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(radio play), (screenplay)
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Title: Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

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Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 nominations. See more awards »

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Cast

Complete credited cast:
...
...
Henry J. Stevenson
Ann Richards ...
Sally Hunt Lord
...
Dr. Philip Alexander
Harold Vermilyea ...
Waldo Evans
...
James 'J.B.' Cotterell
...
Fred Lord
...
Morano
John Bromfield ...
Joe - Detective
Jimmy Hunt ...
Peter Lord
Dorothy Neumann ...
Elizabeth Jennings
Paul Fierro ...
Harpootlian
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Storyline

Leona Stevenson is sick and confined to her bed. One night, whilst waiting for her husband to return home, she picks up the phone and accidentally overhears a conversation between two men planning a murder. She becomes increasingly desperate as she tries to work out who the victim is so the crime can be prevented. Written by Col Needham <col@imdb.com>

Plot Summary | Add Synopsis

Taglines:

Tangled Wires... Whispering of Murder! Tangled Lives... Fighting to Escape! See more »


Certificate:

Approved | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

1 September 1948 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Du lebst noch 105 Minuten  »

Company Credits

Production Co:

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Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

(Western Electric Recording)

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

Film noir adaptation of the famous "Suspense" radio play (first broadcast on May 25th 1943) which starred Agnes Moorehead in the lead role. It proved so popular that the series restaged it seven times through to 1960, each production starring Moorehead. See more »

Goofs

Shortly before the end of the movie the bedside telephone is shown in closeups and the paint is chipped in several places. However, at the end of the film, the telephone is pristine. See more »

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?
See more »

Connections

Featured in Hackers (1995) See more »

Soundtracks

"Passacaglia"
by Franz Waxman
Performed by the Paramount studio orchestra
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

See more (Spoiler Alert!) »

User Reviews

 
Gimmicky noir still shocks despite its shortcomings
10 June 2002 | by (Western New York) – See all my reviews

Chrome-plated hokum, Sorry, Wrong Number works despite itself. And works and works. Starting out as a radio drama by Lucille Fletcher in the 1940s, it boasted umpteen performances plus a 1946 production in the nascent medium of television before Anatole Litvak turned it into film noir. During most of its earlier incarnations, Agnes Moorehead created the role of the hysterical, bedridden heiress, the `cough drop queen,' but the film fell into the lap of the First Lady of Film Noir, Barbara Stanwyck. Moorehead was more than a strong enough actress, but Hollywood required a star.

The Irony is that Sorry, Wrong Number is far from her finest hour on screen. Rarely has one been made so aware of Stanwyck `acting' in the most unabashedly actressy way. And the same can be said of Burt Lancaster who, when a role didn't set well with him, communicated his discomfort blatantly. In The Rose Tattoo, against Anna Magnani, he was ingratiating and unconvincing ; here, he's almost as awkward as the henpecked husband in whom the worm has at long last turned.

But maybe Fletcher's slice of devil's food cake calls for mannered histrionics. Ensconced in her bedchamber one sweltering Manhattan evening, her pill bottles and her telephone at her elbow, Stanwyck eavesdrops on a sinister conversation – a murder is being plotted – thanks to a crossed line. This makes her even more restive, and she starts working the phone, tracking down her tardy husband. Litvak `ventilates' these calls, turning them into a series of flashbacks filling in the background to what will prove a very bad evening for Stanwyck. (The sequences on Staten Island, however, could have sprung from the pen of Franklin W. Dixon, the Hardy Boys' puppeteer.)

Unavoidably talky, owing to its source, Sorry, Wrong Number moves inexorably to its preordained end. Basically, it's a gimmick, and one that Hitchcock might have fine-tuned into a nifty infernal machine. Litvak doesn't do badly, though, and the movie's shock value outlasts its staled conventions. Its most chilling moment comes when Stanwyck frantically dials a number that she thinks will give her solace. But her answer is `BOwery 2-1000 – the City Morgue.'


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can you help me list other films with phones so important bsmith5500
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