Wrong Number

Olive Sloane obviously enjoys hereself do all the detective work A lot of nostalgia,white fivers,steam trains and phone numbers with letters on the dial. Routine but entertaining thriller

This is the old story of thieves falling out after a heist but is agreeably done and holds the attention throughout. There's the rivalry over the glamorous Lisa Gastoni between Peter Reynolds' Angelo and the gang boss Dr Pole, and tension between Pole who doesn't have a criminal record and the more reckless members of the gang. The dotty old lady whose crossed line causes the gang more problems might have become irritating, but is delightfully played by Olive Sloane, leading to a satisfying conclusion.

A call to a wrong number leads to the downfall of a group of robbers. Typical of many others of it's time - the police are helpful, the crooks are greedy and squabbling, and the apparently doddering old lady still has her wits about her. No real surprises here, but still quaint and fun to watch.

It's a perfect plan for a robbery. A man on a bicycle gets in the way of an armored truck carrying eighty thousand pounds in old notes. He falls, and the men in the van's cab get out and pick him up. Meanwhile, two of his accomplices get into the truck with the money, while the fourth threatens the guards in the cab. Only... the guards where the money is try to fight back, one of them calls out Peter Reynolds' name, and one of them is slugged, and later dies in hospital. Meanwhile, back at headquarters, planner Peter Elliott makes a pass at Reynolds' girl, Lisa Gastoni. She rebuffs him, but the phone rings, and she picks it up and asks if Reynolds is all right and the job went well. It's not Reynolds, but batty Olive Sloan, trying to phone the veterinarian for her dog.

The rest of the movie proceeds at a clip that is dependent on Miss Sloan figuring out that she has a clue and what number she dialed. The result winds up being more an anecdote than a story, even if Elliott and Miss Sloan give memorable performances.

An experienced gang have held up a post office van, but this time they killed one of the guards; a little old lady dials the wrong number and calls their hideout - will this be their undoing?

A curious detective story that is presented in a very plain, matter-of-fact way that seems quite stagy - almost like an old educational documentary - but nonetheless held my attention when I stumbled across it on Saturday afternoon TV.