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The Saturday Thriller: Phone Call from a Stranger

on BBC One London

Feature films with suspense, danger, excitement
Starring Shelley Winters, Gary Merrill, Michael Rennie
and Bette Davis, Keenan Wynn, Evelyn Varden

Tonight's film is an unusual story about four strangers each trying to escape from some part of their past. They meet while waiting for the departure of an aircraft. On the flight they come to know each other closely; and when the plane crashes and only one of the group survives he visits the relatives of his three friends and through them comes to find a solution to his own problems.
Gary Merrill stars as Trask, a lawyer who is leaving his wife because he cannot reconcile himself to her one infidelity. His companions on the flight include Binky Gay (Shelley Winters), a show girl who has failed to make the grade and is returning home to her estranged husband and domineering mother-in-law. Michael Rennie plays a doctor with a load of guilt on his conscience, and Keenan Wynn is excellent as a loud-mouthed travelling salesman. Bette Davis appears towards the end of the picture as the wife of the salesman; it is her revelation about her relationship with her husband that is instrumental in resolving Trask's own problem.

Contributors

Screenplay/Producer:
Nunnally Johnson
Based on a story by:
I.A.R Wylie
Director:
Jean Negulesco
Binky Gay:
Shelley Winters
David Trask:
Gary Merrill
Dr. Fortness:
Michael Rennie
Eddie Hoke:
Keenan Wynn
Sally Carr:
Evelyn Varden
Marty Nelson:
Warren Stevens
Mrs. Fortness:
Beatrice Straight
Jerry Fortness:
Ted Donaldson
Mike Carr:
Craig Stevens
Jane Trask:
Helen Westcott
Marie Hoke:
Bette Davis

BBC One London

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