Night Call mostly consists of a lonely, disabled old woman in bed receiving nuisance phone calls. Jacques Tourneur is a great director, but not even he can make that very interesting.
Gladys Cooper plays Elva Keene, the recipient of the mysterious phone calls that frequently come at the dead of night. At first, all she can hear is static, followed by moaning, then a voice saying 'Hello'. Eventually, the voice asks 'Where are you?' and says "I want to talk to you'. A frightened Elva screams at the caller to leave her alone, and phones the operator the following day to trace the calls.
Then comes the good part: it turns out that the calls have been coming from a line that came down in a recent storm, the wire resting on the ground... in a cemetery!!! I would have ended the story right there - it's creepy enough that the calls are coming from a dead person, but this one doesn't know when to call it quits.
Elva visits the cemetery and finds that the telephone wire is resting on the gravestone of her fiancé Brian, who died years ago in a car crash, when Elva insisted on driving but lost control. Back home, Elva, now keen to speak to Brian, picks up the phone and reaches out to her fiancé, who answers 'You said to leave you alone... I always do what you say'. And he hangs up! I seem to be in the minority, but I found this ending ridiculous - the dead guy went to such great lengths to contact her, and now she finally wants to talk, he won't.
Ironic, but stupid.
Gladys Cooper plays Elva Keene, the recipient of the mysterious phone calls that frequently come at the dead of night. At first, all she can hear is static, followed by moaning, then a voice saying 'Hello'. Eventually, the voice asks 'Where are you?' and says "I want to talk to you'. A frightened Elva screams at the caller to leave her alone, and phones the operator the following day to trace the calls.
Then comes the good part: it turns out that the calls have been coming from a line that came down in a recent storm, the wire resting on the ground... in a cemetery!!! I would have ended the story right there - it's creepy enough that the calls are coming from a dead person, but this one doesn't know when to call it quits.
Elva visits the cemetery and finds that the telephone wire is resting on the gravestone of her fiancé Brian, who died years ago in a car crash, when Elva insisted on driving but lost control. Back home, Elva, now keen to speak to Brian, picks up the phone and reaches out to her fiancé, who answers 'You said to leave you alone... I always do what you say'. And he hangs up! I seem to be in the minority, but I found this ending ridiculous - the dead guy went to such great lengths to contact her, and now she finally wants to talk, he won't.
Ironic, but stupid.
