Dial 1119 (1950)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
- Young mentally-ill killer Gunther Wyckoff (Marshall Thompson) escapes from a psychiatric clinic, murders a bus driver, then takes six hostages in a bar. The gun in Wyckoff's hand kills without emotion or pity, wielded by a man bare of emotion. It begins as a moral question whether an insane killer should or should not be sent to the electric chair, but goes elsewhere before it ends.
- Actors:
- Marshall Thompson, Virginia Field, Andrea King, Sam Levene, Leon Ames, Keefe Brasselle, Richard Rober, James Bell, William Conrad, Dick Simmons, Hal Baylor, Joel Allen, John Alvin, Walter Bacon, Al Bain, Bill Baldwin, Barbara Billingsley, Argentina Brunetti, John Bryant, Donia Bussey
- Directors:
- Gerald Mayer
- Producers:
- Richard Goldstone
- Writers:
- John Monks Jr., Hugh King, Don McGuire
- Aka:
- The Violent Hour
- Genres:
- Classics, Drama, Thrillers
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Reviews (1) of Dial 1119
Fifties Noir - Dial 1119 review by Steve
Obscure, no-budget hostage drama which carries the MGM logo but looks like the sort of crime film soon to be a regular on television. There's one principal set and a minor cast. It begins with studio propaganda about the low quality of entertainment on the small screen, so it is ironic that everyone in this would become more famous on the box...
William Conrad (Cannon) plays the glum bartender who has just installed the tv set in his struggling hostelry. Marshall Thompson (Daktari) is the escaped psychopathic killer who murders him in cold blood and holds his regulars at gunpoint. The story is told in real time as the cops seek to relieve the siege, while they discuss the merits of the death penalty.
There isn't a progressive message. This is pro-capital punishment, though its arguments are not sophisticated. Its a decent thriller which doesn't fluff the naturally suspenseful scenario. There's engaging sad/funny dialogue, sympathetic archetypes, and director Gerald Mayer (nephew of studio boss Louis B. Mayer) tells the slim story with some skill.
It's a shame Conrad is gunned down so early. But Virginia Field is appealing as the sassy B-girl and the actors work well as an ensemble. Crucially, though the the psycho-killer is daunting, he isn't so creepy the film is actually hard to look at. And about that title... apparently there wasn't a unified emergency number in the US in 1950, so they made one up.