Leona Stevenson’s life is turned upside down when she tries to make a phone call one night and overhears a conversation of two men plotting a murder, even worse when she starts to think it is a plot to murder her.
I can imagine this film being pretty far ahead of its time when it was first released, as not everyone would have had use of a telephone so easily. So with it all mainly taking place via phone conversations and then in flashback form it works very well to create the suspense and keeps you guessing of what exactly is going to happen next.
It is very engaging and still stands to have some very important messages within it, especially about buying people into your life if you have money. It is never ever going to work trying to force someone to be with you and spend time with you. No matter how much money you have got, it will always work against you.
The trauma this night brings to Leona really pushes Barbara Stanwyck to a fantastic performance, what an incredible actress she is and in the end she shows how hysterical she can act and how much you feel sorry for her throughout and as things are getting worse for her. Everything is pointing towards it being her that the murder plot is against. The film really runs right to the end and your never quite sure what exactly is going to happen as it takes plenty of twists and turns.
I really found myself enjoying this film a lot and would recommend watching it as it is currently on Netflix UK as it really is worth a watch. Especially if you appreciate old black and white films with brilliant performances. Burt Lancaster puts in a very good performance as well as Henry Stevenson, the husband with plenty of things to hide and they work very well together even though they aren’t actually on-screen very often together. Only in the flashbacks which are telling the story but it all starts to fall into place and make sense.
It’s such a shame that a film like this just would not work anymore with everyone having mobile and smart phone’s these days, but I think this film still plays an important part in showing how it all started out with the telephone as a way to contact someone and that even then it could get you into trouble. So maybe nothing massively good came from the phone over the years? I am obviously joking with that, but they do seem to cause more problems than they solve now!
