Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)

One of Barbara Stanwyck's finest performances as invalid Leona Stevenson, who by chance overhears a hitman and his client over a crossed line while trying to contact her husband (Burt Lancaster). A woman is about to be killed somewhere in the vast city outside her stately dwelling and bedridden Leona has a devil of a time phoning around for anyone who will take her seriously.So sets the scene of Anatole Litvak's stylish film noir, based on the highly acclaimed play by Lucille Fletcher. The Stevenson's courtship and now shaky marriage is conveyed via a series of flashbacks involving use of the telephone itself. Gripping stuff.

Sorry, Wrong Number, despite having Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster was an extremely dull film-noir/mystery.The main character played by Stanwyck was confined to her bed and unlikable, the next main character played by Lancaster wasn't present for most of the film. The story was terrible, there was no suspense and it was all way over the top. The only interesting part of the whole film was the character of Sally Hunt. At the start of the flick Henry is dancing with Sally, Leona rudely interjects, Henry after dancing with Leona turns her down going back to Sally. The next scene Henry is with Leona in her car, working for her dad and then marrying her. ???? It's like there was a scene missing.

This bit of alleged suspense has zero suspense. It is so predictable that it isn't funny.1948 was a bit early for this kind of tripe, but even then the neo Nazi propaganda machine of Hollywood was diligent in making sure the darker haired woman in any movie would get killed off. It got even more blatant later, particularly in the seventies when most viewers were so drug crazed, and today most of those who rate here are among those brain washed Nazi die hard dorks.We know everything that will happen long before it happens, so it's just an ordeal for masochists and sadists to enjoy, and as we know, those human demons love to push their hatred down everyone else's throats, and they guffaw about it like the red necks they are.Just another sick movie for sick devil worshipers.

When I watched this movie as a child, it absolutely terrified me! When asked what the scariest film I'd ever seen was, 'Sorry, Wrong Number' was always at the top of my list. How I wish I didn't watch it again as an adult, because unlike other classics that have held up over the years ('The Godfather', 'Psycho', 'The Graduate'), this one sadly didn't.It stars Barbara Stanwyck as a woman who suffers from Hypochondria due to a mental impairment, and her husband Burt Lancaster ~ a man who works for Stanwyck's father. Having been mistreated and abused for years in his position, Lancaster decides his only way out of the marriage is by having Stanwyck killed. Stanwyck accidentally overhears a murder plot in a mis-transfered phone call, and starts realizing she is the intended target. When Lancaster starts having regrets and attempts to warn his wife of what will be occurring, it is obviously too late ~ when the killer answers the phone the final time and says, 'sorry, wrong number'. I'm sure it was absolutely terrifying in its day...and definitely was to a ten year old child! But the years have unfortunately diminished that fright factor.