Rating: 
Summary: Sorry for not having seen "Sorry, Wrong Number" DVD
Review: I'm actually writing because I wanted to inform the previous reviwer that the radio broadcast of "Sorry, Wrong Number" starring Agnes Moorehead MAY be available through www.radiospirits.com. I actually own a recording of a radio broadcast of "Sorry, Wrong Number" performed by Stanwyck and Lancaster a year or so after the movie was released. Anyway, I do love the movie and Barbara's performance (isn't hard to believe she never won an Oscar other than the Honorary Award she was given in March '82?). I intend to buy the DVD soon!
Rating: 
Summary: Dinner Theater Fare Beneath Performances
Review: I'm sure "Sorry Wrong Number" sold a lot of popcorn 50 years ago, but it's impossible to watch this tale of a bedridden heir who accidentally discovers she's marked for murder without groaning at the contrivances and cliches. Rich dad? Let's line his study with game trophies. Husband? Let's make him a charming ne'er do well. Heir? Let's make her a spoiled brat who may or may not really be an invalid. I could go on, but you probably saw your daughter in a high school production of this chestnut last Autumn. As for Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster, they're fine. Stanwyck's Oscar for this performance should probably be considered a career award for the far better comedies and film noirs she was making at the time. It wouldn't be long before Lancaster was doing more substantial work as well. Still, "Sorry Wrong Number" probably paid their bills for the next 15 years. That alone is worth a second star.
Rating: 
Summary: Stanwyck is Incomparable in this Masterpiece of Isolation.
Review: In "Sorry, Wrong Number", Barbara Stanwyck turns in one of the many memorable performances that made her the Queen of Noir. Leona (Barbara Stanwyck) is the spoiled daughter of a pharmaceutical magnate, now a demanding invalid wife to Henry Stevenson (Burt Lancaster), who must live every moment to please her. One evening she overhears a telephone conversation between two men plotting a murder. Unnerved by the call, alone in her vast apartment, and increasingly worried when her husband doesn't come home from work, Leona uses the only means she has to communicate with the outside world: the telephone. She calls everyone she can think of to find her husband, but what she learns only makes her more anxious as to his fate and her own.
"Sorry, Wrong Number" is based on a popular radio play by Lucille Fletcher, who also wrote a novel based on the play and the screenplay for this film. Leona's confinement to her apartment, where her only means of figuring out what is going on is a telephone, is one of the most effective uses of isolation in cinematic history. Leona isn't a sympathetic character. But her physical and emotional isolation is so palpable that it's unnerving. She can't control what's happening to her. Her insular, dependent lifestyle has left her paranoid. So it's hard to say if anything is happening to her at all. Is paranoia with justification still paranoia? And who were the mysterious men on the phone talking about? Where is her husband? The fact that the audience doesn't know the answers to those questions any more than Leona does makes "Sorry, Wrong Number" a top-notch thriller and a masterpiece of empathy in the service of suspense.
The DVD: The only bonus feature is a theatrical trailer. Subtitles are available in English. Dubbing is available in French.
Rating: 
Summary: Talky, over-the-top melodrama that never really takes off
Review: In SORRY, WRONG NUMBER, Barbara Stanwyck gives a forceful (if not particularly subtle) performance as an invalid who accidentally overhears a phone conversation between two men plotting a murder--and eventually realizes that she is the intended victim. It's a great, potentially suspenseful premise, but rather than build on it, the film goes back in time to unravel the unnecessarily long and convoluted events that provide the motive for the murder. This is done by having Stanwyck telephone a number of different characters, all of whom then proceed to recap the plot through flashbacks (and flashbacks-within-flashbacks). The dialogue sounds false and scripted; you can tell this used to be a radio play (Burt Lancaster in particular gets the worst lines). No, it's not enough for a woman to tell Stanwyck about a house on a beach; she has to go into detail and expound upon the exact position of the house with relation to the shoreline and the dock nearby, and also the weather and the number of seagulls and whatever nautical details come to mind. Add to that the fact that Barbara Stanwyck's character has got to be one of the stupidest would-be murder victims ever; here's this lady who knows a man is coming to kill her, and all she does is call people and ask questions like, "Oh, who is so-and-so?" How unrealistic. The film is engrossing and entertaining enough, but it's also incredibly frustrating. Because there is so little suspense invested in the story, it plays like a muddled soap opera. A thriller should be taut, not turgid. When there is suspense, it comes in tiny bolts, and the film undercuts the tension rather than allowing it to build and build. Yes, the climax is somewhat creepy, but it's very unsatisfying--not even Stanwyck's impressive screaming talents are enough to provide a good pay-off. As the closing credits played, I just sat there shaking my head in disbelief, thinking to myself that Alfred Hitchcock (who made a far better invalid-who-suspects-foul-play thriller called REAR WINDOW) might have had a field day with this one.
Rating:
Summary: A Classic Masterpiece!
Review: In this 1948 suspenseful drama, Barbara Stanwyck gives a marvelous and gripping performance as Leona Stevenson, an invalid who is all alone by herself one evening. As she picks up the phone to dial her husband's office number to see what's keeping him, the phone wires become crossed and Leona overhears two men plotting a murder for that night, but the conversation gets cut off right before she can hear the address of where the murder will take place. After speaking to people on the phone and piecing clues together, she soon realizes that she is the woman who is to be killed and she's shocked to learn who wants her dead. Sorry, Wrong Number is one the best classic films ever made. It's such an amazing thriller and it keeps your interest right up until the end. I usually watch it once a month and I never tire of it and I'm always mesmerized by the outstanding performances by Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster, who plays Leona's husband, Henry. I exceedingly recommend this movie!
Rating:
Summary: Solid, but the radio play is better
Review: Speaking as a fan of Lucille Fletcher's "Sorry, Wrong Number," the famous radio play, this version, adapted by Fletcher herself is surprisingly good -- especially given that the story has been fleshed out threefold. For the uninitiated, Mrs. Henry Stevenson is an invalid who is confined to her bed. Her husband, who was supposed to be home hours ago, has yet to show. In trying to get him on the telephone (this was the age when operators still did all the work for you), she is crossed into another conversation between two men who are planning to kill a woman at 11:15 that night. Having a heart condition, this upsets Mrs. Stevenson ("Leona" in the film; radio did not give her a first name) and she tries several things to notify authorities. Due to her highstrung manner and short temper, she doesn't get much anywhere and the night passes on as she spends all her time on the telephone. All the time, 11:15 is getting closer... Barbara Stanwyck was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Sorry, Wrong Number (the radio play also made a star of Agnes Moorehead), and it certainly is a tour de force with her in practically every scene. Lucille Fletcher's expansion of her storyline is superb, with more and more details given as pieces of the puzzle unfold with each new telephone conversation, told through flashbacks (and flashbacks within flashbacks). In fact, my only problem with the script is that it makes the husband sympathetic (probably because he is played by Burt Lancaster), whereas we had no inkling of the motives of the husband in the radio version (other than that his wife is a shrill shrew, of course). Comic relief is also added (particularly in the police station) to little effect and the whole enterprise is simply missing something. Although I can't think of one specific thing that is wrong, the whole film just doesn't gel somehow. It's a good watch, I assure you, but I can only conjecture as to how it has attained its "classic" status. I think it must lie in the fact that it stars Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster and that Stanwyck gives a complex bravura performance. But despite all this, I can't imagine ever wanting to see Sorry, Wrong Number again. The similarities to the radio show are there, and it's faithful, but the rest -- even with all the intrigue about gangsters and stolen money -- just seems like so much filler. I'll stick with radio.
Rating:
Summary: Solid, but the radio play is better
Review: Speaking as a fan of Lucille Fletcher's "Sorry, Wrong Number," the famous radio play, this version, adapted by Fletcher herself is surprisingly good -- especially given that the story has been fleshed out threefold. For the uninitiated, Mrs. Henry Stevenson is an invalid who is confined to her bed. Her husband, who was supposed to be home hours ago, has yet to show. In trying to get him on the telephone (this was the age when operators still did all the work for you), she is crossed into another conversation between two men who are planning to kill a woman at 11:15 that night. Having a heart condition, this upsets Mrs. Stevenson ("Leona" in the film; radio did not give her a first name) and she tries several things to notify authorities. Due to her highstrung manner and short temper, she doesn't get much anywhere and the night passes on as she spends all her time on the telephone. All the time, 11:15 is getting closer... Barbara Stanwyck was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Sorry, Wrong Number (the radio play also made a star of Agnes Moorehead), and it certainly is a tour de force with her in practically every scene. Lucille Fletcher's expansion of her storyline is superb, with more and more details given as pieces of the puzzle unfold with each new telephone conversation, told through flashbacks (and flashbacks within flashbacks). In fact, my only problem with the script is that it makes the husband sympathetic (probably because he is played by Burt Lancaster), whereas we had no inkling of the motives of the husband in the radio version (other than that his wife is a shrill shrew, of course). Comic relief is also added (particularly in the police station) to little effect and the whole enterprise is simply missing something. Although I can't think of one specific thing that is wrong, the whole film just doesn't gel somehow. It's a good watch, I assure you, but I can only conjecture as to how it has attained its "classic" status. I think it must lie in the fact that it stars Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster and that Stanwyck gives a complex bravura performance. But despite all this, I can't imagine ever wanting to see Sorry, Wrong Number again. The similarities to the radio show are there, and it's faithful, but the rest -- even with all the intrigue about gangsters and stolen money -- just seems like so much filler. I'll stick with radio.
Rating:
Summary: SUPERB STANWYCK MOVIE
Review: The first time I saw "Sorry, Wrong Number" was as a teenager on a Friday night during a late show airing. It made me a Barbara Stanwyck fan for life and I shall always consider her the greatest actress of that golden era. She could do anything....in drama or comedy she was equally adept...something Bette Davis was NOT and she was never mannered like Katharine Hepburn. Sorry, Wrong Number is effective film noir at its best. Knowing the inevitable outcome at the end of the picture only makes one root for the character of Leona Stevenson even more! Stanwyck should have won the Academy Award for this performace as she should have for all her other nominations as well. This movie still packs a wallop and when they remade it as a 'cable' movie with Loni Anderson in the early 1990's one only had to watch the original to realize what a mistake they made! This is a film to watch with the lights off.....and if you wonder why Stanwyck is revered as a great actress, this film will show you why!
Rating:
Summary: Classic film noir, slightly diluted
Review: The title is dialogue spoken at the diabolical finish to this classic and famous film noir based on the radio play of the same name. It stars Barbara Stanwyck as Leona Stevenson, a rich invalid who overhears a telephone conversation between two men who are plotting the murder of an unidentified woman. Alone, from her sickbed she desperately tries to find somebody who will listen to her story and stop the murder from happening. Burt Lancaster co-stars as Henry Stevenson, Leona's handsome husband from the wrong side of the tracks.
Stanwyck's performance is excellent, although according to what I understand (not having heard the radio play), she is not as good as Agnes Moorehead was in the original. Be that as it may, Stanwyck grows in the part until as the story ends she is totally authentic and believable.
Lancaster too does a good job in one of his earlier roles. He went on to star in scores of important films, perhaps most notably in From Here to Eternity (1953) and Elmer Gantry (1960). Here he is a bit tentative, his enormous screen charisma held in check playing a compromised character.
The screenplay by Lucile Fletcher, based on her radio play, was expanded for the silver screen and consequently the story loses a bit dramatically as the tension is diffused as the end is delayed. Fletcher uses flashbacks to fill us in on the story of how Henry and Leona met and how the murder plot developed and why.
I thought director Anatole Litvak did a good job with the flashbacks, but frankly their artificiality was noticeable. I would have preferred starting the story at the beginning when Leona and Henry first meet and then telling it chronologically without flashback. But that would have been a great departure from the structure of the very successful radio play.
Because of the added material, the movie becomes something more than the original intention. Indeed the theme is expanded, that of the possible consequences of marrying for money, and the consequences--from Leona's point of view--of marrying someone who may or may not love you. I thought this was well done. It is especially interesting to see how trapped Henry feels working for his father-in-law and even living in his father-in-law's house. Also interesting is how Leona's insecurities regarding Henry's love are manifested in psychosomatic symptoms.
When Hollywood once again reprises this (and you can be sure they will, but perhaps they will use email and not the telephone) I suggest that they concentrate on both the dramatic and psychological aspects of the story and tell it straight.
Bottom line: Despite some awkwardness and dissipation of tension, this is one of the best film noirs from that classic era of the genre, the late forties and early fifties. See this for Barbara Stanwyck, one of Hollywood's celebrated stars whose career spanned half a century beginning in the silent film era.
Rating:
Summary: Oldie but goodie.
Review: This would have been a classic if Hitchcock would have directed it. Barbara Stanwyck is superb, as is Burt Lancaster (in a slimy role). The ending is a knock-out!
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