Füge eine Handlung in deiner Sprache hinzuWhile awaiting a delayed flight, a lawyer who has left his unfaithful wife, befriends three fellow passengers. After the plane crashes and he is among the few to survive, he feels compelled ... Alles lesenWhile awaiting a delayed flight, a lawyer who has left his unfaithful wife, befriends three fellow passengers. After the plane crashes and he is among the few to survive, he feels compelled to contact the families of his dead friends.While awaiting a delayed flight, a lawyer who has left his unfaithful wife, befriends three fellow passengers. After the plane crashes and he is among the few to survive, he feels compelled to contact the families of his dead friends.
- Regie
- Drehbuch
- Hauptbesetzung
- Auszeichnungen
- 1 Gewinn & 1 Nominierung insgesamt
- Dr. Tim Brooks
- (Nicht genannt)
- Mrs. Fletcher
- (Nicht genannt)
- Restaurant Patron
- (Nicht genannt)
- Undetermined Secondary Role
- (Nicht genannt)
- Airplane Passenger
- (Nicht genannt)
- Restaurant Patron
- (Nicht genannt)
- Mrs. Brooks
- (Nicht genannt)
Empfohlene Bewertungen
Michael Rennie was a prominent doctor who became a whole lot less prominent after he got out of a vehicular homicide charge by throwing the blame on the other man in the car. Merrill calls on wife Beatrice Straight and son Ted Donaldson who've been living with an alcoholic for many years.
Shelley Winters had left her husband Craig Stevens and his domineering mother Evelyn Varden to seek some fame and fortune on the stage. She was returning home in defeat. Varden is one truly hateful woman, a kind of Sophie Tucker like entertainer on steroids. Merrill conceives it his duty to give Varden a temporary comeuppance of sorts.
The most poignant tale is that of Keenan Wynn. Wynn is a traveling salesman, one of those characters who is constantly 'on'. Keenan borrowed a bit from his borscht belt comedian character from The Hucksters for this role. He carries a picture of his wife Bette Davis from her pinup girl days in a Betty Grable poise in a bathing suit. The Davis that Merrill meets is quite a bit different than what Wynn showed the others. In fact Davis when she recites her own story paints a picture of Wynn as a person of real character that you would never suspect in meeting him casually. This role may have been Keenan Wynn's best screen performance, at least I think so.
The Davis/Wynn story is the best, but the others aren't bad either. The writing by Nunnally Johnson from an I.A.R. Wylie story is just superb and Jean Negulesco gets great performances from his cast. Phone Call From A Stranger is a soap opera, but an intelligent and moving one that may wring a tear from a few hardened hearts.
This movie will make you feel good about yourself. I promise. I think that's what so great about older movies; no special effects to disturb the real meaning of movies: the actors and actresses.
A must-see for classic movie fans.
Merrill is solid as David Trask, a lawyer with his own issues, who links the stories. Shelley Winters shines as Binky Gay, an entertainer who never quite made the big time and lives in the shadow of her celebrity husband and mother-in-law. Winters's role is showy, and she plays both her character and Trask's enhanced version of her character with panache. Keenan Wynn is the perpetual clown, who grows tiresome to his friends and eventually to the audience. Beyond the four central characters, even the small parts are big in this film. A young Beatrice Straight plays Michael Rennie's wife; Evelyn Varden is Sally Carr, an aging nightclub headliner; and Bette Davis appears near the end to show her then husband, Merrill, how to face his own character's crisis.
"Phone Call from a Stranger" is not a classic, but rather a solid programmer from the early 1950's with an above-average cast and some good performances. While the film does not merit repeat viewings, except perhaps to appreciate a little known Bette Davis role, the story is told with a good pace, and any time spent in the company of these fine actors is well spent.
This isn't a particularly big-budget film - it's in black and white; some of these actors were under contract to Fox; others are not huge names with the exception of Davis. Her role is short but worth the entire film, though all the performances are very good and the stories heartfelt. The attorney's family story is heavy drama, with the son believing his mother drove his father away. The performer's family story is the comic relief as the mother-in-law right out of hell gets her comeuppance. And the tear-jerker is the scene with the salesman's wife. Davis is often criticized for being overblown and mannered, and yet she was always capable of giving a restrained performance as she does here and also did in "All This and Heaven Too" and "Watch on the Rhine." There are other treats as well. Shelley Winters is pretty and vivacious in a wonderful role for her, Keenan Wynn is excellent as the loud salesman, and as the attorney, Rennie is an appropriately sad and reflective figure. Gary Merrill is very likable as Trask. Though he never really made it to big star status, he was a dependable actor, very handsome and masculine. Of course he and Davis had sparks in "All About Eve" - so much so that they got married in real life - and there's a nice chemistry between them here as well. It's nice to see them when they were happy together. They also did a very good British film together, "Another Man's Poison." My only complaint is the at times overpowering musical score.
Very entertaining and highly recommended, especially for Davis fans.
Wusstest du schon
- WissenswertesThe film was the third and final on-screen pairing of real life husband and wife Gary Merrill and Bette Davis. The other two pictures are Alles über Eva (1950) and Gift für den Anderen (1951).
- PatzerBehind the opening credits, the taxi that's taking Trask to the airport passes two movie theaters at least three times, as if the rear projection of stock footage was on a continuous loop. The movies playing at these theaters are "Homestretch" and "The Two Mrs. Carrolls," (at the McVickers), both released five years before this film. The McVickers was a well known Chicago theatrical site, but the taxi arrives at the MIDLAND CITY, IOWA airport, and a flight FROM Chicago is among those listed on the arrival schedule.
- Zitate
Marie Hoke: Dull, foolish, vulgar to some but not to me. To me he was a man like a rock. Nothing could shake him. Nothing could shake his love. It was from him that I learned what love really was. Not a frail little fancy to be smashed and broken by pride and vanity and self pity. That's for children. That's for high school kids. But a rock as strong as life itself indestructible and eternal.
- VerbindungenReferences Die zwei Mrs. Carrolls (1947)
- SoundtracksThe Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze
(uncredited)
Music by Gaston Lyle
Lyrics by George Leybourne
Sung by the passengers on the airplane
Top-Auswahl
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Details
- Erscheinungsdatum
- Herkunftsland
- Offizielle Standorte
- Sprache
- Auch bekannt als
- Phone Call from a Stranger
- Drehorte
- 5301 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, Kalifornien, USA(ambulance races past Tilford's restuarant at the corner with La Brea Ave.)
- Produktionsfirma
- Weitere beteiligte Unternehmen bei IMDbPro anzeigen
- Laufzeit1 Stunde 35 Minuten
- Farbe
- Seitenverhältnis
- 1.37 : 1