Main Cast: Marshall Thompson, Virginia Field, Sam Levene, Leon Ames
Release Year: 1950
Country: US
Run Time: 75 minutes
Plot
Louis B. Mayer's nephew Gerald proved himself an able director with the MGM "B" thriller Dial 1119. Marshall Thompson stars as an emotionally disturbed young man who pulls out a gun at a bar and holds the patrons hostage. As the police gather outside, the film concentrates on the various bar customers, each of whom has his or her own deep-rooted problems. Thompson is on the verge of killing everyone around him when a telephoned ruse breaks the crisis. A raw-nerved 75 minutes' worth of entertainment, Dial 1119 was a personal favorite of actress Virginia Field, who played one of the hostages. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
The title of Dial 1119 refers to the 1950s equivalent of our current "911" phone number. Clearly, 1119 is intended as a tense, gripping hostage drama. But the best intentions don't always pan out, and what 1119 turns out to be is a sometimes tense, sometimes dull hostage drama. It's worth watching, especially for fans of noir-ish films of the period, but it's not the exciting thriller that it wants to be. A large part of the blame for this lies with Marshall Thompson, who plays the psychopathic killer. Thompson, who got his start as a fresh-scrubbed boy-next-door type and generally played good, decent people, is daringly cast against type here. He's not bad, but he's not the kind of overwhelming presence that the part demands. What's needed is someone whose mere silence screams menace. When Thompson is silent, it's just an absence. Granted, he could sue more help from the script, which is a bit too terse in places and which has some believability issues here and there. 1119 does have solid direction from Gerald Mayer and an excellent supporting cast, with stand-out work from Andrea King and William Conrad. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
William Ferrari - Art Director, Cedric Gibbons - Art Director, Gerald Mayer - Director, Newell P. Kimlin - Editor, Andre Previn - Composer (Music Score), Andre Previn - Musical Direction/Supervision, William J. Tuttle - Makeup, Paul Vogel - Cinematographer, Richard Goldstone - Producer, Alfred E. Spencer - Set Designer, Edwin B. Willis - Set Designer, Arnold A. Gillespie - Special Effects, Don McGuire - Screen Story, Hugh King - Screen Story, John Monks, Jr. - Screenwriter
