Sorry, Wrong Number
All actors and roles (10)
Short description
Leona Stevenson is a wealthy, bedridden woman whose illness keeps her confined at home, with the telephone as her only link to the outside world. One evening, while trying to reach her husband Henry, a crossed line lets her hear two men arranging a murder. She contacts the police, but her account is too vague to act on, and her father dismisses her fears. As she keeps calling, details accumulate and the pieces begin to point toward a target closer to home.
The film was directed by Anatole Litvak and adapted by Lucille Fletcher from her own radio play. It was made by Paramount and Hal Wallis Productions, produced by Hal B. Wallis and Litvak, and runs 89 minutes.
Barbara Stanwyck plays Leona, with Burt Lancaster as Henry, alongside Ann Richards, Wendell Corey, Harold Vermilyea and Ed Begley. Litvak directed it in 1948, between The Snake Pit, released the same year, and later films such as Anastasia (1956) and The Night of the Generals (1967).
On IMDb it holds a 7.3 rating from around 14,000 votes, while on TMDB it has a 6.8 from roughly 218 votes. A critics' rating of 7.1 from 22 reviews places it close to the audience score on IMDb.
What's left behind the scenes
- Lucille Fletcher wrote the film's screenplay based on her own radio play. Hollywood censorship initially opposed those moments in Fletcher's script that touched on drug trafficking; as a result, the script was significantly edited compared to the radio version.
- The large emerald engagement ring worn by Barbara Stanwyck’s character (1907-1990) was a real – and very expensive – piece of jewelry that the studio borrowed temporarily from the Los Angeles jewelry company Harry Winston Jewelers. At the end of each shooting day, the ring was locked in Paramount Pictures’ safe.
- The jeweled cigarette case that Barbara Stanwyck’s character hands to the character played by Burt Lancaster (1913-1994) belonged to the actress herself. It was a gift from her close friend Joan Crawford (1904-1977).
- Barbara Stanwyck insisted that she started to gray so early precisely because of the terror she portrayed in the bedroom scenes.
- Director Anatole Litvak (1902-1974) and Burt Lancaster regularly argued about how the role of Henry should be played. Lancaster even threatened to leave the project altogether. On that occasion, Litvak and Lancaster resolved their differences, but they never worked with each other again.
- Former CIA Director Richard Helms (1913-2002) served as a consultant on Robert Redford’s role.
- The only feature film shot in the World Trade Center.
- The film is set in winter, but it was shot in autumn. Before filming began, the leaves had to be stripped from the trees on the streets. Robert Redford personally oversaw this process to ensure that the plants were not harmed.
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