Thursday, April 16, 2009

Radio review – Suspense - “Sorry Wrong Number” (1943) **** by Lucille Fletcher

Larry Cohen once said that this was one of his favourite scripts – I’m not surprised from the writer of Phone Booth and Cellular. It’s a classic radio play, right up there with War of the Worlds.

Agnes Moorehead is brilliant as the jittery, paranoid sickly woman whom we are quite happy to see killed. The technology crucial to the plot (i.e. talking to operators) means this is very much of its time, but the structure, characterisation and mood have hardly dated at all. I love the line where she explains her husband has adored her, he's looked after her since she took sick 12 years ago. Moorehead does this beautifully. A copy of the script is here.

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