Phone Call from a Stranger

1952
1h 45m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

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 ... Read allWhile 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.

Director
- Jean Negulesco
Writers
- Nunnally Johnson
- I.A.R. Wylie
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.9/10

3.1K

YOUR RATING

Director
- Jean Negulesco
Writers
- Nunnally Johnson
- I.A.R. Wylie
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination

Photos8

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Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The 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 All About Eve (1950) and Another Man's Poison (1951).

Goofs
Behind 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.

Quotes
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.

Connections
References The Two Mrs. Carrolls (1947)

Soundtracks
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze
(uncredited)
Music by Gaston Lyle
Lyrics by George Leybourne
Sung by the passengers on the airplane

User reviews58

Review

Featured review

8/10

lesser known but an excellent film

While Gary Merrill's main claim to fame was his brief marriage to Bette Davis, he was a minor Hollywood star on his own--playing a variety of bit parts. However, this film features him as a survivor of a plane crash who seeks out family members of victims he met on the trip. And, he does a competent job and proves he really could act. Unfortunately, he was far from a handsome leading man and once he was divorced from Ms. Davis, his career pretty much disappeared.

In addition to his excellent performance, the movie is so well-written. The vignettes where he meets the families are very touching and sometimes very ironic (such as the one he plays with Ms. Davis). It is a strange but well-executed film that deserves to be remembered.