Review of Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) by George P — 17 Mar 2008

Compelling noir piece, but a bit too many twists for my liking. Barbara Stanwyck plays Leona Stevenson, a bedridden lady who stumbles upon the conversation of two men planning a murder. What she doesn't know, we soon learn, and as the film unfolds, we realize the phone call has more to do with her than she could ever realize.

What doesn't work for me is how Leona's condition is redefined half way through the film. It makes the end of the film rather anti-climatic to me, because the circumstance becomes, if you are alone, and unable to "call" others for help, murder will occur, but if you could manage to call for someone else, suddenly, you could stop murder from happening.

I did feel sympathetic, and thought the film was entertaining, but the horror came across as silly, to me. I think the most interesting thing about the film though was how most of the main characters end up failing at the end, which I didn't expect.