Sorry, Wrong Number

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For the Australian television play, see Sorry, Wrong Number (1958 film).
Sorry, Wrong Number
Sorrywrongnumber.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAnatole Litvak
Screenplay byLucille Fletcher
Based onSorry, Wrong Number
the 1943 radio play
by Lucille Fletcher
Produced byAnatole Litvak
Hal B. Wallis
StarringBarbara Stanwyck
Burt Lancaster
Ann Richards
Wendell Corey
Howard Vermilyea
CinematographySol Polito
Edited byWarren Low
Music byFranz Waxman
Production
company
Hal Wallis Productions
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
  • September 1, 1948 (1948-09-01)
Running time
89 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$2,850,000 (U.S. rentals)[1]

Sorry, Wrong Number is a 1948 American thriller film noir directed by Anatole Litvak, and starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster.[2] It was adapted by Lucille Fletcher from her 1943 radio play. Stanwyck was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. It is one of the few pre-1950 Paramount Pictures films which remained in the studio's library (the rest are currently owned by NBCUniversal).[citation needed]

Radio play[]

Lucille Fletcher's play originally aired on the Suspense radio program on May 25, 1943, essentially a one-woman show with Agnes Moorehead as Mrs. Stevenson, an imperious invalid who accidentally intercepts a phone call between two men plotting a murder for that evening. She tries to enlist the help of the telephone operator, the police, and a hospital, becoming more frantic as the time passes. In the final moments of the play, she realizes that she herself is the intended victim. The play was reprised seven times (on August 21, 1943, then in 1944, 1945, 1948, 1952, 1957 and 1960), each starring Moorehead. The final broadcast was on February 14, 1960.

Orson Welles called Sorry, Wrong Number "the greatest single radio script ever written".[3] In 2015, the May 25, 1943 broadcast was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.

Plot[]

The film expands on the original story, adding multiple characters and their backstories. Leona Stevenson is the spoiled, bedridden daughter of wealthy businessman James Cotterell. As the movie opens, she is fretfully trying to reach her husband, Henry, who is late coming home from the office. The servants have the night off and she is all alone in a Manhattan apartment. As she repeatedly calls Henry's office, she overhears two men planning a woman's murder via what seems to be a crossed telephone connection. The call cuts off without Leona learning very much other than it is scheduled for 11:15 pm, when a passing train will hide any sounds. She calls the telephone company and the police, but with few concrete details, they can do nothing.

As she makes a number of phone calls trying to locate Henry, Leona inadvertently begins to piece together the mystery in flashbacks. Leona reaches Henry's secretary, who tells her he went to lunch that day with an attractive woman named Sally Lord and did not return to the office. Leona realizes that Sally Lord is the former Sally Hunt, a college friend who once was in love with Henry, who at the time was poor and working in a drug store. Leona stole Henry from Sally, and married him against her father's wishes. Sally is now the wife of Fred Lord, a lawyer in the district attorney's office. From overheard conversations, she learned that her husband was close to resolving an investigation that involves Henry somehow. Sally became so concerned that she followed her husband and two associates to a mysterious meeting in a seemingly abandoned house on Staten Island. The house, according to a "no trespassing" sign, belongs to a Waldo Evans, a chemist working for Leona's father. Sally arranged to meet Henry for lunch, but before she could warn him, he received a phone call, left the table and did not return. Later, Sally calls Leona to tell her the house on Staten Island has burned down, and three men, including one named Morano have been arrested. Evans, however, has escaped.

Leona then receives a message from Henry stating he has gone out of town on business he had forgotten about and will not be back until Sunday. Leona next gets in touch with Dr. Phillip Alexander, the specialist she had come to New York to see regarding her lifelong heart troubles. Alexander reveals that he gave Henry her prognosis ten days before, something that Henry kept from her. In a flashback, we learn that Leona had gone some years without any cardiac episodes before she married Henry. Henry first learned about her health issues a few years into their marriage, when she suffered a heart attack during a quarrel. It becomes clear that Leona is trying to control Henry, insisting he work for her father even though he is bored and unhappy. As their troubles become more severe, Leona's attacks became more and more frequent, until she finally becomes bedridden. Alexander, however, has diagnosed Leona's problems as purely psychosomatic; nothing is wrong with her physically, but he thinks she needs psychiatric help. Leona goes into hysterics and phones a hospital, asking to hire a nurse for the night. The receptionist tells her that they are short-staffed and she can only have a nurse if the doctor feels it is an emergency. She thinks it is only 11:00 pm, but discovers her clock has stopped.

Leona receives a telephone call from Waldo Evans. He reluctantly discloses that Henry recruited him to steal chemicals from the Cotterell drug company to sell to Morano. Later, Henry decided to bypass Morano when Waldo was transferred. Morano, however, showed up with two thugs and intimidated Henry into signing an IOU for $200,000 for his lost profits, due in three months. When Henry protested that he did not have that much, Morano pointed out that Leona must have a large insurance policy.

With Morano now in custody, Evans stresses that Henry no longer has to raise the sum. He gives Leona a number to reach Henry, but when she calls she discovers that it is for the city morgue.

Shortly after this, Henry calls her from a train station. Leona, near hysterics, gives him Waldo's message. He confesses everything about his involvement and she, weeping, tells him she is sorry she has been so difficult; that she loves him, and was afraid of losing him. Realizing that it is only minutes from 11:15, he pleads with her to go to the balcony and scream for help, but she protests that she cannot, though she can hear somebody downstairs. The intruder arrives and kills Leona at the bedroom. Henry frantically calls back, only to have a man answer the phone and tell him, "Sorry, wrong number."

Cast[]

Production[]

Sorry, Wrong Number conforms to many of the conventions of film noir. The film plays in real time, with many flashbacks to flesh out the story. Stanwyck's bedroom window overlooks the night skyline of Manhattan. The film is shot very dark, with looming shadows and a circling camera used to maintain a high level of suspense.[4] Hollywood's Production Code Administration initially objected to elements of Fletcher's screenplay, including its depiction of drug trafficking, and the script was significantly revised to win approval.[5]

Reception[]

Variety listed the film as one of the Top Grossers of the year, earning $2,850,000 in the domestic market alone.[6]

Although not as well received as the radio play, with some critics noting the plot is too padded out, the movie adaptation is considered a classic of the film noir genre. Its twist ending is often cited as one of the era's most memorable. Stanwyck's performance was highly acclaimed, and considered by many critics to be her finest. On Rottentomatoes the film has a score of 86%.[7]

Adaptations[]

Parody[]

On October 17, 1948, Stanwyck did a parody of Sorry, Wrong Number on The Jack Benny Program.[13]

Other media[]

Clips from Sorry, Wrong Number were used for the 1982 comedy-mystery Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, the 1991 thriller Dead Again and the 2014 action-thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Top Grossers of 1948", Variety 5 January 1949 p 46
  2. ^ "The 100 Best Film Noirs of All Time". Paste. August 9, 2015. Retrieved August 9, 2015.
  3. ^ "The Hitch-Hiker". The Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air, June 21, 1946, (at 1:00), at the Internet Archive. 1988-02-24. Retrieved 2014-08-04.
  4. ^ Eifert, Steve. Sorry, Wrong Number, film analysis and review, Film Noir of the Week, June 29, 2008. Accessed: July 12, 2013.
  5. ^ Passafiume, Andrea. Turner Classic Movies, Sorry, Wrong Number, film article, "The Big Idea Behind Sorry, Wrong Number". Accessed: July 12, 2013.
  6. ^ Variety (January 1949)
  7. ^ Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), retrieved 2021-05-10
  8. ^ Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 995. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
  9. ^ Sorry, Wrong Number (1954) at IMDb.
  10. ^ "Western heroes revolt". The Australian Women's Weekly. 26 (2). Australia. 18 June 1958. p. 13. Retrieved 22 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "NEW FEATURE FOR 2AD". The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser (3488). New South Wales, Australia. 10 May 1948. p. 2. Retrieved 22 May 2016 – via National Library of Australia.
  12. ^ Sorry, Wrong Number (1989) at IMDb.
  13. ^ Benny, Jack. The Old Time Radio Network, at the OTR.Network Library web site, December 8, 2011. Accessed: July 12, 2013.

External links[]

Streaming audio[]

Retrieved from ""