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{{Short description|1948 film by Anatole Litvak}}
{{For|the Australian television play|Sorry, Wrong Number (1958 film)}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}
{{Infobox film
| name           = Sorry, Wrong Number
| image          = Sorrywrongnumber.jpg
| alt            = 
| caption        = Theatrical release poster
| director       = [[Anatole Litvak]]
| screenplay     = [[Lucille Fletcher]]
| based_on       = {{based on|''Sorry, Wrong Number''<br>1943 radio play|Lucille Fletcher}}
| producer       = {{ubl|Anatole Litvak|[[Hal B. Wallis]]}}
| starring       = {{ubl|[[Barbara Stanwyck]]|[[Burt Lancaster]]}}
| music          = [[Franz Waxman]]
| cinematography = [[Sol Polito]]
| editing        = [[Warren Low]]
| studio         = Hal Wallis Productions
| distributor    = [[Paramount Pictures]]
| released       = {{Film date|1948|9|1|}}
| runtime        = 89 minutes
| country        = United States
| language       = English
| budget         = 
| gross          = $2.8 million (U.S. rentals)<ref name=grossers>{{cite magazine |url=https://archive.org/stream/variety173-1949-01#page/n45/mode/1up |title=Top Grossers of 1948 |magazine=Variety |date=January 5, 1949 |page=46}}</ref>
}}

'''''Sorry, Wrong Number''''' is a 1948 American thriller and [[film noir]] directed by [[Anatole Litvak]],<ref name="Paste">{{cite news |url= https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/film-noir/the-best-noirs-of-all-time|title=The 100 Best Film Noirs of All Time |date=November 3, 2023|access-date=November 16, 2023|magazine=Paste}}</ref> from a screenplay by [[Lucille Fletcher]], based on her 1943 radio play of the same title.

The film stars [[Barbara Stanwyck]] and [[Burt Lancaster]]. It follows a bedridden woman who overhears the plot of murder while on the telephone. By phone, she attempts to contact [[switchboard operator]]s, police, or others who might help her prevent the crime. Stanwyck was nominated for the [[Academy Award for Best Actress]].

It is one of the few pre-1950 [[Paramount Pictures]] films which remained in the studio's library (the rest are currently owned by NBCUniversal).<ref>{{cite news| title=Peacock Cuts Deal with ViacomCBS to Expand Library| url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/peacock-nbcuniversal-viacomcbs-deal/| last=Bojalad| first=Alex| date=July 1, 2020| website=Den of Geek| access-date=November 6, 2023}}</ref>

==Radio play==
[[Lucille Fletcher]]'s play originally aired on the ''[[Suspense (radio program)|Suspense]]'' radio program on May 25, 1943, essentially a one-woman show with [[Agnes Moorehead]] as Mrs. Stevenson.

===Plot===
Mrs. Stevenson, an imperious invalid, accidentally intercepts a phone call between two men plotting a murder for that evening. She tries to enlist the help of the telephone operator, the police, and a hospital, becoming more frantic as the time passes. In the final moments of the play, she realizes that she is the intended victim.

===Broadcast history===
The play was performed seven more times, on August 21 of the same year and again in 1944, 1945, 1948, 1952, 1957 and 1960. The final broadcast was on February 14, 1960. [[Orson Welles]] called ''Sorry, Wrong Number'' "the greatest single radio script ever written".<ref>{{cite web| url=https://archive.org/details/OrsonWelles-MercuryTheater-1938Recordings| title=The Hitch-Hiker, June 21, 1946, (at 1:00)| website=The Mercury Summer Theatre of the Air| via=Internet Archive| access-date=2014-08-04| date=1988-02-24}}</ref> In 2014, the broadcast was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the [[Library of Congress]] and selected for inclusion in the [[National Recording Registry]].<ref name=nrr>{{cite web| title="Sorry, Wrong Number" ("Suspense") (May 25, 1943)| url=https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/SorryWrongNumber.pdf| year=2014| website=National Recording Registry| access-date=November 6, 2023}}</ref>

==Film version==
The film version of ''Sorry, Wrong Number'' is about three times as long as the original radio play and includes flashbacks to previous events in Mrs. Stevenson's life and marriage, as well as scenes showing events involving other characters.

In the film, Leona Stevenson is a spoiled, bedridden daughter of wealthy businessman James Cotterell. Using her phone, she tries to reach her husband, Henry. The servants are absent and she is alone in the apartment. On a crossed telephone connection, she overhears two men planning a murder. The call is cut off without Leona learning much, other than the deed is scheduled for that night at exactly 11:15 when a train will be passing by the murder location, drowning out any screams of the person being murdered. When she calls the telephone company and the police, they do not believe her about the murder.

While attempting to reach Henry, Leona recalls her past. She learns through his secretary that Henry met that day with an attractive woman named Sally Lord and did not return to the office. Leona recognizes the woman as Sally Hunt, a college friend in love with Henry, who at the time was poor and working in a drugstore. Leona took Henry from Sally, and married him against her father's wishes. Sally later married Fred Lord, a lawyer in the district attorney's office. From overheard conversations, Sally learns her husband was close to resolving an investigation about Henry. Sally is concerned; she follows Henry and two associates to a mysterious meeting of three men, including Henry, at an abandoned house on [[Staten Island]]. The house sign indicates the owner is Waldo Evans, later revealed to be a chemist working for Leona's father. Sally arranged to meet Henry to warn him about what she had seen, but he received a phone call, left the table and did not return. Sally later learns that the house was destroyed, Morano—an apparent gangster—has been arrested by the police, and Waldo escaped them.

Leona receives a message from Henry, stating he left town to complete some work he had forgotten about and will return on Sunday. Leona calls Dr. Phillip Alexander, the specialist she came to New York to see regarding her lifelong heart troubles. Alexander reveals that he gave Henry her prognosis ten days ago, something Henry kept from her. A flashback shows Leona had occasional cardiac episodes for a number of years before she married Henry, something Henry realized a few years into their marriage, when she suffered a cardiac arrest during a quarrel. It becomes clear Leona tries to use Henry, insisting he work for her father even though he is bored. As their troubles become severe, Leona's attacks become more frequent until she is bedridden. However, Alexander diagnoses the problems as purely psychosomatic. Nothing is wrong with her physically, but he thinks she needs psychiatric help.

Waldo calls Leona with a message for Henry. He discloses that Henry recruited him to steal chemicals from the Cotterell Drug Company and sell them for Morano. Henry tried to bypass Morano when Waldo was transferred; however, Morano coerced Henry into signing an [[IOU]] for $200,000 in three months to compensate for a lost profit. When Henry protested that he had insufficient money, Morano pointed out that Leona had a large insurance policy. With Morano in custody, Waldo stresses that Henry no longer needs to raise the sum. He gives Leona a number to reach Henry, but when she calls she discovers it is the city [[morgue]].

At 11:00&nbsp;p.m., the distraught Leona calls the hospital requesting a private nurse, but is told they can't provide her with one. Henry calls Leona from a telephone booth at a train station as she hears an intruder lurking inside the house. Leona tells Henry she knows about his stealing from her father's company, that Waldo has conveyed that there is no longer any need for Henry to obtain the money (from Leona's life insurance) and that she knows she is the victim of the murder plot.  A now frantic Henry tells Leona she has 3 minutes to get to the open window in her bedroom and scream as loudly as she can for the police. Paralyzed by fear due to the intruder approaching her bedroom, Leona is unable to move, and hangs up the phone before she is strangled to death as a train is seen and heard approaching nearby.  As the police prepare to arrest Henry, he re-dials the phone, which the killer answers: "Sorry, wrong number."

==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* [[Barbara Stanwyck]] as Leona Stevenson
* [[Burt Lancaster]] as Henry J. Stevenson
* [[Ann Richards (actress)|Ann Richards]] as Sally Hunt Lord
* [[Wendell Corey]] as Dr. Philip Alexander 
* [[Harold Vermilyea]] as Waldo Evans
* [[Ed Begley]] as James Cotterell
* [[Leif Erickson (actor)|Leif Erickson]] as Fred Lord
* [[William Conrad]] as Morano
* [[John Bromfield]] as Joe - Detective
* [[Jimmy Hunt]] as Peter Lord
* [[Dorothea Neumann|Dorothy Neumann]] as Elizabeth Jennings
* Paul Fierro as Harpootlian
* Bill Cartledge as Page Boy (uncredited)
* [[Holmes Herbert]] as Wilkins Mineral (uncredited)
}}

==Production==
''Sorry, Wrong Number'' conforms to many of the conventions of [[film noir]]. The film plays in real time with many flashbacks, and adds more characters and backstories. The bedroom window overlooks the night skyline of [[Manhattan]]. The film is shot in very dark light, with looming shadows and a circling camera used to maintain a high level of suspense.<ref>Eifert, Steve (June 29, 2008). {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080926030435/http://www.noiroftheweek.com/2008/06/sorry-wrong-number-1948.html "Sorry, Wrong Number"]}}. ''Film Noir of the Week''.  Accessed July 12, 2013.</ref> Hollywood's [[Production Code Administration]] initially objected to elements of Fletcher's screenplay, including its depiction of [[drug trafficking]], and the script was significantly revised to win approval.<ref>Passafiume, Andrea. [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/16418/sorry-wrong-number#articles-reviews "Sorry, Wrong Number"]. ''Turner Classic Movies''.  Accessed November 16, 2023.</ref>

==Reception==
[[Bosley Crowther]] raved about the final reel of the film: “Anatol Litvak has whipped it up hotly toward the end”. He also praised Stanwyck's performance: “.{{nbsp}}.{{nbsp}}. her terror is titanic—and she has run up some telephone bill .{{nbsp}}.{{nbsp}}.” He found the flashbacks within flashbacks convoluted and tedious.<ref>[[Bosley Crowther|Crowther, Bosley]]. "[https://www.nytimes.com/1948/09/02/archives/sorry-wrong-number-based-on-radio-play-at-paramount-barbara.html 'Sorry, Wrong Number,' Based on Radio Play, at Paramount -- Barbara Stanwyck Stars]", ''[[The New York Times]]''. September 2, 1948. 18.</ref>
''Variety'' listed the film as one of the top grossers of the year, earning $2.85 million in the U.S. alone.<ref name=grossers/>

The film scores 86% on [[Rotten Tomatoes]].<ref>{{cite web| title=Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)| url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1032814_sorry_wrong_number| website=Rotten Tomatoes| language=en| access-date=2021-05-10}}</ref>

==Adaptations==
* A one-hour radio adaptation of the film was broadcast January 9, 1950 on ''[[Lux Radio Theatre]]''. Stanwyck and Lancaster recreated their screen roles.<ref name="Pittsburgh Post-Gazette">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oNgNAAAAIBAJ&pg=5184%2C1998610&q=Barbara+Stanwyck+Burt+Number |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Monday High Spots |page=3 (Daily Magazine) |newspaper=[[The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]] |date=1950-01-09 |access-date=2022-06-16 }}</ref>
* The radio version of ''Sorry, Wrong Number'' was made into a television play broadcast on station [[WCBS-TV|WCBW-TV]] (now WCBS-TV) in New York on January 30, 1946, starring [[Mildred Natwick]].<ref name="etvs">{{cite book| last1=Terrace| first1=Vincent| title=Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010| year=2011| publisher=McFarland| location=Jefferson, N.C.| isbn=978-0-7864-6477-7| page=995| edition=2nd}}</ref> 
* A second live teleplay was broadcast on November 4, 1954, as the fourth episode of the anthology series ''[[Climax!]]'', starring [[Shelley Winters]] and adapted by Fletcher, with music provided by Fletcher's former husband [[Bernard Herrmann]].<ref name="Pittsburgh Post-Gazette2">{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CpZRAAAAIBAJ&pg=3435%2C1470634&q=Shelley+Winters |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Television High Spots and Programs |page=3 (Daily Magazine) |newspaper=The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |date=1954-11-04 |access-date=2022-06-16 }}</ref>
* A version was produced for [[Sorry, Wrong Number (1958 film)|Australian television in 1958]] starring [[Georgie Sterling]].<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article51940428 |title=Western heroes revolt |magazine=The Australian Women's Weekly |volume=26 |issue=2 |date=18 June 1958 |access-date=22 May 2016 |page=13 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> Sterling had performed in the play on radio in 1948.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article193963239 |title=NEW FEATURE FOR 2 AD |newspaper=The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser |issue=3488 |date=10 May 1948 |access-date=22 May 2016 |page=2 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref> 
* The concept of the film was used as the basis for the ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]'' 1987 episode "Crossed Up". 
* A television film aired in 1989 (as an original production for the [[USA Network]]), starring [[Loni Anderson]], [[Patrick Macnee]] and [[Hal Holbrook]]. It was directed by Tony Wharmby and adapted by [[Ann Louise Bardach]].<ref>{{IMDb title|id=0098363|title=Sorry, Wrong Number|description=(1989)}}.</ref>

==Parody==
On October 17, 1948, Stanwyck did a parody of ''Sorry, Wrong Number'' on ''[[The Jack Benny Program]]''.<ref>[http://www.otr.net/?p=jbny "The Jack Benny Show"]. ''The Old Time Radio Network Library''.  December 8, 2011. Accessed July 12, 2013.</ref>

==Other media==
Clips from ''Sorry, Wrong Number'' were used for the 1982 [[List of comedy–mystery films|comedy-mystery]] ''[[Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid]]'', the 1991 thriller ''[[Dead Again]]'' and the 2014 action-thriller ''[[Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit]]''.

==See also==
* [[List of films featuring home invasions]]
* ''[[Locke (film)|Locke]]'', 2013 British film in which all characters besides protagonist are heard over the phone and not shown.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|0040823}}
* [https://www.allmovie.com/movie/sorry-wrong-number-am19167 ''Sorry, Wrong Number'' at AllMovie]
* {{AFI film|25745}}
* {{TCMDb title|16418}}
* {{YouTube|sXq69x6sq9o|''Sorry, Wrong Number'' film trailer}}

===Streaming audio===
* [https://archive.org/details/Episode31SorryWrongNumberEastCoast/Episode+31+-+Sorry+Wrong+Number+East+Coast.mp3 ''Sorry, Wrong Number''] East Coast Broadcast on ''[[Suspense (radio drama)|Suspense]]'': May 25, 1943, starring [[Agnes Moorehead]]
* [https://archive.org/details/Episode31SorryWrongNumberEastCoast/Episode+32+-+Sorry+Wrong+Number+West+Coast.mp3 ''Sorry, Wrong Number''] West Coast Broadcast on ''Suspense'': May 25, 1943, starring Agnes Moorehead
*[https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Suspense_Singles_By_Year_1943/Suspense_430821_054_Sorry_Wrong_Number_128-44_27529_28m41s.mp3 ''Sorry, Wrong Number''] on ''Suspense'': August 8, 1943, starring Agnes Moorehead
* [https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Suspense_Singles_By_Year_1945/Suspense_450906_157_Sorry_Wrong_Number_64-44_15575_32m32s.mp3 ''Sorry, Wrong Number''] on ''Suspense'': September 6, 1945, starring Agnes Moorehead, broadcast to coincide with the release of the film
* [https://archive.org/download/Lux15/Lux_50-01-09_Sorry_Wrong_Number.mp3 ''Sorry, Wrong Number''] on ''[[Lux Radio Theatre]]'': January 9, 1950, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Burt Lancaster
*[https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Suspense_Singles_By_Year_1960/Suspense_600214_840_Sorry_Wrong_Number_128-44_23687_24m55s.mp3 ''Sorry, Wrong Number''] on ''Suspense'': February 14, 1960, starring Agnes Moorehead in the final radio broadcast of the play

{{Anatole Litvak}}

[[Category:1943 plays]]
[[Category:1946 television plays]]
[[Category:1948 films]]
[[Category:1940s English-language films]]
[[Category:1940s psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:American black-and-white films]]
[[Category:American psychological thriller films]]
[[Category:Film noir]]
[[Category:Films about murder]]
[[Category:Films based on radio series]]
[[Category:Films directed by Anatole Litvak]]
[[Category:Films produced by Hal B. Wallis]]
[[Category:Films scored by Franz Waxman]]
[[Category:Films set in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Films set in New York City]]
[[Category:Films set on the New York City Subway]]
[[Category:Paramount Pictures films]]
[[Category:Films about telephony]]
[[Category:United States National Recording Registry recordings]]
[[Category:1940s American films]]
[[Category:English-language thriller films]]
[[Category:Films produced by Anatole Litvak]]