It isn't often that I run into a Bette Davis film that I haven't seen, but when I do, it's a real treat. This time, however, Davis is only part of an ensemble, and the actors and actresses put together a wonderful story.The premise is rather simple -- a husband (Gary Merrill) who has walked out on his adulterous wife is on an air flight which has to make an emergency landing overnight (wow, was air travel primitive in 1952!) and gets to know three other passengers fairly well -- a stripper (Shelley Winters), a disgraced doctor (Michael Rennie), and a somewhat overbearing jokester salesman (Keenan Wynn). The next morning, after taking off again, the plane crashes, and of the four, only Merrill survives. Merrill then decides to contact each of the other's closest relative to tell them about their loved one's last hours. Rennie's son has run away thinking that his mother didn't love his father and drove him out...he solves that issue. Winters' second rate son-singer (Craig Stevens) and mother-in-law (Evelyn Varden)...well, let's just say that this segment is done in a very entertaining way. And finally, Keenan Wynn's wife is now a bedridden cripple...and she helps Merrill save his own marriage. I remember Gary Merrill mostly as a good television actor. The last time I saw him in a film ("Another Man's Poison), I thought he was so bad that I gave the movie a "1" rating. But here, in this film, I thought he was great, and of course, at the time he was married to Bette Davis. I've never been a fan of Shelley Winters, but she does "okay" here). I always felt Michael Rennie was underrated as an actor; he's good here. I never cared for Keenan Wynn, but he does his job here. Evelyn Varden is a hoot here! Beatrice Straight is a character actress I usually enjoy, but here I felt there was something forced in her performance as Rennie's wife. This film demonstrates why Craig Stevens was never much more than a B actor, despite his good looks. Bette Davis -- who doesn't get top billing here -- is good, although I did not find this to be one of her memorable roles. Interestingly, Hugh Beaumont (the father in "Leave It To Beaver" has a small, uncredited -- though important -- role here; I never understood why he wasn't a more successful character actor.I liked this film quite a bit. In a sense it was one of the very early disaster films!

Gary Merrill is heading out to a plane, having left his wife and two daughters. It will be a while before we find out why. While flying he encounters Shelley Winters as a washed-up actress, Keenan Wynn as a lovably obnoxious novelty salesman, and Michael Rennie as a doctor with something to hide. I'll stop there and just say that the drama gets quite compelling when flashbacks of the people I just mentioned comes into focus as we hear-whether true or not as one doesn't always get the facts straight-what these characters and others around them tells Merrill-whose character is a lawyer-in confidence. There's also some nice supporting turns among others especially Bette Davis when we find out about what her character is about. Oh, and having just seen Wally and the Beave's mom, Barbara Billingsley, in Three Guys Named Mike yesterday, what a wonderful coincidence to watch today her TV husband, Hugh Beaumont, as a fellow passenger riding in Rennie's car. So on that note, I highly recommend Phone Call from a Stranger. P.S. Having devoted these summer months to watching movies/TV appearances of the original "Dallas" cast in chronological order during the run of TNT's new "Dallas" presently airing, I'm quite amazed at how good the second Digger Barnes, Keenan Wynn, is in some of his performances I've seen so far with this one his best yet as he provides much comic relief with his turn as the novelty salesman always on but which later provides revealing hiding something that makes him even more lovable than what we see him as here.

This movie was so awful I thought it might have been a satire of the excellent melodramatic movies of that era! This film just got worse and worse the longer I viewed it.I really thought I was viewing a satire when Bette Davis ran off from her hubby with some hottie (she understandably dumped Keenan Wynn for the cutie pie of a guy). As cream puff drove towards Chi-town with Bette, who'd hit her head AFTER a successful dive in a crystal- clear lake (major klutz!), there was a GREAT but silly scene where the two headed off into the night while names of tawdry motels flashed their neon names before us, e.g. "Toddle Inn"... "Meander Inn"... "Crawl Inn"... "Stagger Inn"... names that stunk with the slutty behavior the two were over their heads and in their laps for.THAT was my fave part of this trash-o-rama drama. Too bad there wasn't one named for Bette's persona, the "Slut Inn." She filled the bill and THEN some.Actually, this movie shows the sexism in such flicks in how not only Bette but also Shelley Winters were portrayed. It was okay for handsome Gary Merrill to carry on, but NO, not those vixen tramps! Rent this flick if you need a good laugh.

Gary Merrill's plane is delayed by weather, and he waits in a small airport terminal with three strangers: Shelley Winters, Michael Rennie, and Keenan Wynn. All four have complex pasts, and, over the course of the night, they become friends and share secrets. A tragic crash leaves only one of the four alive, Gary Merrill, which is no spoiler because the advertising blurb reveals that plot point. Thus, Gary makes the "Phone Call from a Stranger" to the families of the three friends who died. Although a clever and engaging story device, the disparate stories tidy up a bit too quickly and neatly. However, the cast is entertaining, and the film is engaging throughout its 96-minute running time.Merrill is solid as David Trask, a lawyer with his own issues, who links the stories. Shelley Winters shines as Binky Gay, an entertainer who never quite made the big time and lives in the shadow of her celebrity husband and mother-in-law. Winters's role is showy, and she plays both her character and Trask's enhanced version of her character with panache. Keenan Wynn is the perpetual clown, who grows tiresome to his friends and eventually to the audience. Beyond the four central characters, even the small parts are big in this film. A young Beatrice Straight plays Michael Rennie's wife; Evelyn Varden is Sally Carr, an aging nightclub headliner; and Bette Davis appears near the end to show her then husband, Merrill, how to face his own character's crisis."Phone Call from a Stranger" is not a classic, but rather a solid programmer from the early 1950's with an above-average cast and some good performances. While the film does not merit repeat viewings, except perhaps to appreciate a little known Bette Davis role, the story is told with a good pace, and any time spent in the company of these fine actors is well spent.