‘Sorry, Wrong Number’ with Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster

“For sheer, unadulterated terror there have been few films in recent years to match the quivering fright of Sorry, Wrong Number–and few performances to equal the hysteria-ridden picture of a woman doomed, as portrayed by Barbara Stanwyck.” — Cue Magazine.

My wife and I enjoy noir films. Fortunately, Turner Classic Movies (TCM) owns a lot of them and shows them frequently.

“Sorry, Wrong Number” began its life as a 1943 radio play written by Lucille Fletcher and starring Agnes Moorehead. When Fletcher was asked to expand her play into what became the 1948 feature film, Moorehead was considered a character actress and didn’t get the role. That went to Barbara Stanwyck who–in my view–turned in a stunning performance that received an Oscar nomination. Some critics thought the radio play was stronger due to the scenes that had to be added to bring the story up to feature film length. According to WNYC, “No less an authority than Orson Welles called it ‘the greatest single radio script ever written.’”

In short, a neurotic invalid (Stanwyck) accidentally overhears a phone conversation plotting her own murder. She’s bedridden and spends most of the movie on the phone trying to puzzle out the strange mix of conversations, callers, and busy signals. At one point Stanwyck is told to call a specific number for information about her husband and, after trying and not getting an answer, she asks the operator what the number goes to. The morgue, she’s told.

Of course, we wait for the line “Sorry, wrong number.” We wait a long time. When we finally hear it, it packs a punch. The suspense is off the scale and that’s what makes it a great noir film.

–Malcolm