Phone Call from a Stranger (1952)

Very disappointing...

Such a frustrating disappointment

Best movie ever!

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

A fine flick, and a very engrossing storyline! The cast was excellent, each of them giving superb characterizations, but one is a STAND OUT!! That is the marvelous character actress, Evelyn Varden. She gave it her all in so many of the films in which she appeared.......most notably "Pinky," "The Bad Seed," "Night of the Hunter," and most especially, "Phone Call From a Stranger." She could play it "soft" or "tough," but TOUGH suited her really well! Such a fine character actress, who added tremendously to films in which she appeared! What a pity that we could not have seen her in so many other films before she passed from the scene!

A tearjerker directed in a lavish, leisured style by Negulesco, it has one of Shelley Winters' most playful and appealing roles. The flashback at the Carr Club, when Evelyn Varden remembers how her son's wife left home, is riveting comedy.Gary Merrill, who plays the runaway husband, reminded me a bit of Mitică Popescu's resigned, calm style. He was the kind of man who would marry an intelligent woman.Shelley Winters, Beatrice Straight and Bette Davis are wonderful.Bette Davis is breathtaking as the bedridden widow. There's also a hint that her heartrending story was as embellished as the counselor's owns.Keenan Wynn delivers a colorful performance.Binky, Hoke, Fortness' widow are delightful characters.The movie has a healing effectiveness, first of all because of its decent and likable characters, and is, indeed, a pinnacle of old school craft; therefore, it seems to have disappointed the leading American reviewers, but was a success at the Venice Festival. Crowther's quibbling, curmudgeon review shows that even experienced critics had came to object to flawless craftsmanship, and to be disappointed by goodness .I have enjoyed it enormously, and felt restored. I have found it believable as drama, and reasonably classy.

Four strangers on a plane meet, reluctantly bond, yet are doomed by destiny. The survivor of the plane crash that kills three of them steps in to reach out to their survivors, realizing the next step in his own future thanks to the lessons he learned along the way.Gary Merrill stars as the embittered lawyer who has left his wife for mysterious reasons, with Shelley Winters, Michael Rennie and Keenan Wynn the three people of different lives who encounter him and let him in on their lives. Rennie seeks legal help for a drunken car accident which killed a colleague; Winters is a failed Broadway musical comedy performer with a vindictive mother-in-law and weak husband; Wynn is an obnoxious and overly jokey salesman who brags about his wonderful sex-pot wife. The truths about them are revealed in different moods that range from touching to comical to a truth revealing final that shows what is on the surface isn't always whats in the heart.Evelyn Varden, best remembered for her character parts in "Pinky" and "The Bad Seed", is truly a monster as the Sophie Tucker like vaudevillian, once a Palace headliner, who resents daughter-in-law Winters and presents herself as an angel while the truth is the complete opposite. Taking on a really noble small role, Bette Davis is touching as Wynn's widow who reveals her own sins while learning the truth about her husband's inner character that is hidden by his outward brashness.The flashback scene between Varden and Winters (with Varden clad as if she was the Maharenee from "The Rain's Came") is presented comically with Winters a gum-chewing tramp made to appear crass. It is funny to see the truth really come out as Merrill tells Varden a hysterical lie that ends up exposing her for the crude witch she is in her son's eyes. Rennie's storyline involves a wife who stood by him yet became emotionally distant afterwards, having had to lie to save him from further alcoholic degradation, and deals with a teenaged son who totally misinterpreted the entire situation between his parents. Merrill's participation in the lives of these widowed people may at first seem intrusive, but he ends up giving a Mr. Jordan like assistance to the survivors to help fast forward these people past their grief while using his survival from the crash as a lesson to move on. It is this lesson which helps this multi-tiered story become an enjoyable drama that is both enlightening and entertaining.

The fate of four people from different walks in life come together as they travel to Los Angeles on the same plane. The weather plays tricks along the way, so they divert to unexpected destinations where all get a chance to know each other a little bit better. The viewer gets to know their troubled lives in flashbacks, a device mainly used to fill in the blanks in cinematic terms. After an accident ends the lives of three of these newly found friends, it is the task of the survivor to go see the families that were left behind, trying to piece together the puzzle in his mind.Directed by Jean Negulesco, this Twentieth Century Fox entry of 1952, showed on a classic movie channel recently. The film is not often seen these days. The scenario by the great Nunnally Johnson is based on a story written by I.A.R Wylie. There are good appearances by the interesting cast that was put together. The actresses have the best parts in the movie. Shelley Winters, Beatrice Straight, and Bette Davis are perfectly cast. Gary Merrill, Michael Rennie, Keenan Wynn do a fine job for Mr. Negulesco.