Rating: 
Summary: Classic film noir
Review: "Have you ever been to Staten Island, Leona?" That's my favorite line (besides the clinching "Sorry, wrong number") in this engrossing vintage B&W melodrama. Ride along at night on the ferry to the deserted, moonlit far end of Staten Island as the mystery unfolds in flashback. Or gaze out the window of Barbara Stanwyck's east side apartment toward the Queensboro Bridge, now a silent, sinister prop in a murder plot overheard on crossed phone lines. It's a cold, very disturbing (especially for 1948) murder plot and the tension builds methodically, inexorably toward the climax. As bedridden Leona, Barbara Stanwyck turns in a patented spoiled rich girl act, and Burt Lancaster makes a fine brooding, on-the-make husband. Both characters are ironically likable at film's end. Not a whole lot of action but tons of 40s atmosphere and great shots of NYC.
Rating: 
Summary: Suspenseful entertainment
Review: "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.
Rating:
Summary: Classic film noir
Review: "Have you ever been to Staten Island, Leona?" That's my favorite line (besides the clinching "Sorry, wrong number") in this engrossing vintage B&W melodrama. Ride along at night on the ferry to the deserted, moonlit far end of Staten Island as the mystery unfolds in flashback. Or gaze out the window of Barbara Stanwyck's east side apartment toward the Queensboro Bridge, now a silent, sinister prop in a murder plot overheard on crossed phone lines. It's a cold, very disturbing (especially for 1948) murder plot and the tension builds methodically, inexorably toward the climax. As bedridden Leona, Barbara Stanwyck turns in a patented spoiled rich girl act, and Burt Lancaster makes a fine brooding, on-the-make husband. Both characters are ironically likable at film's end. Not a whole lot of action but tons of 40s atmosphere and great shots of NYC.
Rating:
Summary: Suspenseful entertainment
Review: "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.
Rating:
Summary: "HENRY, THERE'S SOMEBODY COMING UP THE STAIRS!!!!"
Review: 1948's "Sorry, Wrong Number" starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster is a film I've seen many times, and will doubtlessly see many more! This stylish black-and-white thriller does a great job of building up to its chilling, "hide-under-the-covers" climax! It's impossible for me NOT to get the shivers every time I see that murderous shadow of the killer slowly ascending those stairs! That is brilliant movie-making! That shadowy image of the murderer at the end of this film is one of the creepiest and most effective shots I've ever seen! Coupled with the film's grade-A music score, it makes that final act all the more bone-chilling! William Conrad has a nice role here, too, playing a rather unsavory acquaintance of Lancaster's. And let's not forget Ed Begley, who's great (as per the norm) as Miss Stanwyck's father. If you're looking for a really good mystery/suspense story, "Sorry, Wrong Number" is a can't-miss choice! Just watch out for that guy on your stairs!!! Favorite dialogue from "Sorry" ......... >> Miss Stanwyck, after being asked over the telephone by the rather shady "Waldo Evans" to repeat back a multiplicity of instructions intended for her husband .... "REPEAT IT BACK TO YOU!! ARE YOU INSANE!?!" (The one hysterically-funny moment in the picture!) >> "Well...who is this! What number am I calling?!" ..... "Bowery 2, one-thousand, ma'am .... the city morgue."
Rating:
Summary: CLASSIC FILM NOIR THRILLER.....
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Stanwych Gives No Applogizes in Tour de Force Permormance
Review: An excellent film noir from the late forties boasts fine performances from the cast, especially Burt Lancaster and Stanwych - playing a character in desperate need of a slapping. The plot begins with an invalid Barbra overhearing a murder being plotted on the phone while she's stranded at home alone. And through the course of her investigating, all the while bed-ridden with an indescript psychosomatic illness, she comes to believe that she's the target of the murderers. Though none of the characters are entirely likeable, by the end of the film the suspense has built to such a fever pitch that your not likely to remember you don't care if she's murdered or not.
Rating:
Summary: Barbara is, as always, fantastic.
Review: Barbara is not in this movie enough. That's why I gave it four stars. I also don't like Burt Lancaster, but you're not really supposed to. The plot is well known: woman hears murder plotted over telephone, could it be hers? Maybe. This movie is incredibly suspenseful, but I knew what was going to happen. I heard the radio version of the movie (with Burt and Barbara, not Agnes Moorehead). Amazingly enough, Barbara plays an invalid. An invalid that walks around. However, with flashbacks, you can see her, chipper and spoiled as always. Barbara starts to look rather disheveled as her character gets more and more frightened. It's quite effective. That and the fact that Barbara screams really well. This is a good movie, and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: A Murder Mystery Milestone
Review: Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster were two of the most dynamic stars in Hollywood history and together they generated fireworks in "Sorry, Wrong Number." Anatole Litvak directed this mystery classic along with "Snake Pit" and both were released in 1948. Both "Sorry, Wrong Number" and "Snake Pit" deal with psychiatric problems, a major winner during the period following Alfred Hitchcock's success in "Spellbound" three years earlier.
Based on a radio drama, the film revolves around Stanwyck overhearing a party line conversation concerning what she soon realizes is a plan to murder her that evening. The bed ridden woman then frantically pieces together all the information she can about the planned event. She becomes overwhelmed when she realizes that Lancaster, who is conveniently away on business, is part of the mix.
A surprise that emerges during all the investigation, which involves convincingly applied flashbacks, is Stanwyck's physical condition. She refers to herself as an invalid and lives the part, but Wendell Corey in the role of a doctor consulted by Lancaster reveals that Stanwyck's problems are psychological rather than physiological as her periodic "attacks" occur whenever her husband challenges the status quo.
The plight into which Stanwyck ultimately descends results from her strong-willed and spoiled manner as a young woman who sees Lancaster and plucks him from the arms of a woman from his own station in life who loves him. Her father, played by Ed Begley, is a Chicago pharmaceutical giant who initially balks over her intention to marry a man from a poor family who has lived his entire life in a small town and is a high school dropout. The unrelenting Stanwyck is used to getting her way and it proves to her ultimate disadvantage with Lancaster.
Some reviewers criticized the film by stating that Lancaster, a he man type, was miscast as someone who is pigeonholed by a rich woman and put in a showcase vice president's job working under her father with few responsibilities other than satisfying her. They missed the point of recognizing that the film's dramatic tension springs from the conflict within Lancaster, who is too strong and independent to function as a "toy boy" for a spoiled rich woman. Eventually he tells her, "I've learned to like this life but on my own terms." Stanwyck is then confronted with a monster of her own creation.
When Lancaster turns against Stanwyck it is with a vengeance as he convinces a chemist to unite with him to make money by siphoning off some of the company's drug supply and selling it to the mob for a huge profit. William Conrad plays the part of the mob boss with stern conviction.
The clock ultimately winds down for Lancaster as well as Stanwyck as they both become enmeshed in complicated mob machinations.
Rating:
Summary: What Goes Around Comes Around!
Review: Barbara Stanwyck gives an Oscar-Nominated performance as a bed-ridden hypocondriac who makes husband Burt Lancaster's life miserable. When Lancaster learns from Stanwyck's doctor that 'the poor thing' has been faking her illness in order to gain sympathy, Lancaster sees red. -- Although originally a Radio-Play, the limited story stretches nicely into a movie. Black & white photography works well for this classic suspense drama. Get the Pepsi and the popcorn, you're gonna like this picture!
|
