Review of Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) by Blake P — 17 Aug 2011

"Sorry, Wrong Number, is truly excellent film noir melodrama. Leona Stevenson (Stanwyck), is a manipulative, bratty woman that's unfortunately crippled, and her life revolves around her telephone-- it's the only thing she has to do.

One night, she overhears a conversation over the phone, which sounds like a murder plot. At first, she thinks it's somebody else, but all of the signs leading up to it makes her feel more and more suspicious that it's her.

When she's totally convinced, the worst news comes: her husband (Lancaster) is behind all of it! Barbara Stanwyck is seriously one of the best actresses of our time. She was so versatile, comedy with "The Lady Eve", film noir with "Double Indemnity", soap with "My Reputation", and drama with "The Strange Love of Martha Ivers", all movies you should check out anyways.

By then, she had proved how good she was in Hollywood, and this beyond all means is a knockout performance. Never once does she overdo it, almost making her sympathetic character real for a minute it, and you can almost feel her fear through her crying and expressions.

That Oscar nod was well deserved. Anatole Litvak does a superb job directing. This was actually the same year he made the Academy Award winning drama "The Snake Pit", and I still can't choose which one of the two is better.

The scenes here are very well- done, and almost puts you in ever characters position. The story is brilliantly done through flashbacks, which gives a haunting feel to this already creepy movie. "Sorry, Wrong Number" is a very note-worthy film noir that anybody should see.

Recommended.