Stars:
Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Ann Richards, Wendell Corey, and Harold
Vermilyea
Writer:
Lucille Fletcher
Based
On The Radio Play By: Lucille Fletcher
Director:
Anatole Litvak
Feature
length: 88 minutes
Extras:
Theatrical Trailer
Languages:
English and French Monaural Sound
Subtitles:
English Captions and Closed Captions
Packaging:
Amaray Keep Case
Chapter
Stops: 11
Sound:
Monaural Sound
Year
of Theatrical Release: 1948/DVD Release: 2002
Theatrical
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Home
Video Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
A
cranky, bedridden heiress (Barbara Stanwyck) overhears conversations where two
voices are plotting a murder when the operator accidentally connects her to the
wrong line. Unable to get the operator to trace the line, she calls the police,
but in a city like New York, the officer brushes her off as a person just
looking for attention. Then after a friend suddenly gives her a mysterious and
haunting warning, she soon begins to believe that her husband (Burt Lancaster)
is plotting her murder.
Barbara
Stanwyck received an Oscar® nomination for her performance in “Sorry, Wrong
Number” and it was well deserved because if there is anything she conveys well
in the film is a wealthy heiress who is at times so cranky and bossy that I
almost could not blame someone for wanting to kill her. Yet the idea of being
bedridden and the realization that under her tough exterior is a very insecure
woman looking for love in a cold world does generate some sympathy for her.
Lucille Fletcher adapted her own radio play for the film, but somehow I think
there is something lost in the translation between mediums. I have never heard
the radio play, but I wish the disc included it as an option because I suspect
it was much more effective. Some of the scenes feel more like filler, but
overall for it’s time “Sorry, Wrong Number” is an interesting examination
in psychological terror and a thriller that should be revisited again on radio
or film if it has not already been and a film worthy of discovery on DVD.
Paramount
Home Entertainment presents “Sorry, Wrong Number” in the full-framed
(1.33:1) presentation of the original theatrical presentation. There is some
grain inherent from the print used to transfer this black and white film to DVD.
There is a theatrical trailer included that is somewhat tattered, but worth
looking at to appreciate the restoration Paramount Home Entertainment has done
for the DVD. English and French Language Two-Channel Monaural Soundtrack options
are encoded on to the DVD along with optional English Captions and Closed
Captions. The menus are standard interactive still frames that are easy to
navigate.
“Sorry,
Wrong Number” will debut on DVD-Video from Paramount Home Entertainment on
Tuesday, May 28, 2002.
©
Copyright 2002 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.