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Sorry, Wrong Number (Paramount DVD Collection)
- Starring: Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards
- Director: Anatole Litvak
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Description
When Lucille Fletcher took on the challenge of expanding her classic 30-minute radio suspenser Sorry, Wrong Number into an 89-minute feature film, she opted on the Citizen Kane approach, filling the plotline to the brim with revelatory flashbacks. Barbara Stanwyck stars as bedridden hypochondriac Leona Stevenson, who while trying to make a call from her bedroom telephone gets her wires crossed and inadvertently overhears two men plotting a murder. Anxiously, Leona wades through telephone-company bureaucracy to trace the call, never catching on -- until it's too late -- that the murder being planned is hers. A series of flashbacks details the disintegrating marriage between the wealthy Leona and her weakling husband Henry (Burt Lancaster), and Henry's subsequent disastrous get-rich-quick schemes involving chemist Waldo Evans (Harold Vermilyea) and a surly gangster (William Conrad). It would have been a near-sacrilege to alter the radio play's ironic ending, which fortunately remains intact on film. Sorry Wrong Number was first heard on radio's Suspense series in 1943, with Agnes Moorehead as the harried Mrs. Stevenson (a role she'd repeat several times on radio and on stage). Though disappointed that she wasn't chosen to star in the film version, Moorehead took some satisfaction in the fact that a recording of the original radio program was played constantly on the set to help keep Barbara Stanwyck "in the mood". Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Features
- Genre: Suspense & Thriller
- Category: Psychological Thriller
- Theme: Treacherous Spouses, Woman In Jeopardy
- Release Date: May 28, 2002
- Rating: NR (Not Rated)Rating Opens in New Window - Adult Situations, Questionable for Children
- Studio: Paramount
- Lead Actors: Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey, Ed Begley Sr.
- Supporting Actors: Cliff Clark, Paul Fierro, Grace Poggi, Suzanne Dalbert, Kristine Miller, Rev. Neal Dodd, Yola D'Avril, Tito Vuolo, Ashley Cowan, Garry Owen, Holmes Herbert, Louise Lorimer, Pepito Pérez, Joyce Compton, Harold Vermilyea, Leif Erickson, William Conrad, John Bromfield, Jimmy Hunt, Dorothy Neumann
- Director: Anatole Litvak
- Run Time: 1 hr 28 min
- Language: English, French
- Subtitle Language: English
- Format: DVD
Additional Information
- DPCI: 246-00-3371
- ASIN: B002HXOCCU
- Catalog #: 11329506
- Item can not be gift wrapped.
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- You may return this item to any Target store.Opens in New Window
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- Estimated Ship Dimensions : 7.54 inches length x 5.42 inches width x 0.59 inches height
- Estimated Ship Weight: 0.20 pound.
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Expert Reviews
Adapted by Lucille Fletcher from her popular radio play, Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) gave film noir leading lady Barbara Stanwyck one of her greatest roles, as a tough-as-nails invalid heiress who inadvertently overhears a murder plot through a botched phone connection. Wielding said phone like a weapon, Stanwyck's Leona Stevenson alternates among demanding, hysterical, and tremulous moods as she slowly discovers the truth while sitting alone in her palatial Manhattan apartment. Expanded from the original play, Leona's phone conversations lead to flashbacks, and flashbacks within flashbacks, revealing weak husband Burt Lancaster's downfall and the shifting allegiances and tangled plot that implicate Leona in her own fate. Director Anatole Litvak tightly maintains suspense throughout the fractured time structure, leading up to the ironically chilling ending. Praised for her best performance since Double Indemnity (1944), Stanwyck received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, while Paramount's then-unheard of use of TV ads helped turn the Oscar season reissue of Sorry, Wrong Number into a box office hit. Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide
