8. Sorry, Wrong Number
Another film with Barbara Stanwyck- Sorry, Wrong Number has Stanwyck playing Leona Stevenson, an invalid women married to former drug store employee, Henry (Burt Lancaster), now a vice president in her father's business. The movie takes place over the course of a few hours one night when Leona, while on the telephone, receives a crossed signal and hears two men plotting to murder a woman. Believing this to be her, and not knowing when Henry will be home, Leona begins investigating via telephone. She makes contact with the woman who once carried a torch for Henry, Sally Lord (Ann Richards), whose husband is a lawyer in the district attorneys office. Her husband who has been investigating Henry but Sally doesn't know why. Sorry, Wrong Number takes what sounds at first like an un-cinematic idea, a woman talking in her bed while on the telephone (it was actually a radio play first, here expanded to feature length by the play's author, Lucille Fletcher) and actually makes it very dynamic as a film. Having flashbacks help make the film more cinematic and gives the film more texture. Stanwyck, who, for much of the film cannot move from her bed, masterfully captures Leonas growing desperation (she was nominated for the Best Actress Oscar that year). The mystery is intriguing- were never quite sure if Henry plans to have her killed or if hes a red herring. Where is he during the course of the film? The film also has a pretty bleak ending for its time. I was genuinely surprised but, looking back at the events of the film, it was the perfect and inevitable conclusion.