Dial 1119 is not among the best known films noirs, but there is every reason it should. Dial 1119 was produced on a low budget, but is nonetheless a remarkable fan. Although it resembles a filmed play or the live television productions of its time (most of the film takes place on only two sets), it is still a very effective, very taught suspense movie. Besides this, in some ways Dial 1119 was prescient, addressing issues that would become discernible with the passage of time.
In Dial 1119 psychotic mental patient Gunther Wyckoff (Marshall Thompson) escapes from a mental hospital with the intent of finding and killing the psychiatrist who had him committed, Unfortunately, Wyckoff manages to get his hands on a gun and makes his way to Dr. Faron's apartment. Dr. Faron is not there, so Wyckoff goes to the Oasis Bar across the street. It is after the bartender realizes who Wyckoff is that the Oasis Bar finds itself hostage to the escaped mental patient as he waits for Dr. Faron.
Dial 1119 was one of the low-budget, messages films made at MGM when Dore Schary was head of the studio's "B" unit. It was also the first feature film to be directed by Gerald Mayer, the nephew of Louis B. Mayer. Gerald Mayer would go on to direct such movies as The Sellout (1952) and Bright Road (1953), but is perhaps better known for his work in television on such shows as Mission: Impossible and Mannix. The film had the working titles of The Violent Hour and The Standoff before finally being titled Dial 1119.
As a B-movie, Dial 1119 features no major movie stars, but much of its cast would be recognizable to fans of classic movies and television today Wyckoff is played by Marshall Thompson, who now may be best known s Dr. Tracy from the TV show Daktari. He already had a considerable resume, including appearances in The Clock (1945) and Mystery Street (1950). Sam Levene, who appeared in everything form After the Thin Man (1936) to Brute Force (1947), played Dr. Faron. Leon Ames, now best known as father Alonzo Smith in Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) and District Attorney Kyle Sackett in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). William Conrad played the ill-fated bartender Chuckles. Recognizable to many for the Seventies detective series Cannon, he appeared in several films noirs, including The Killers (1946) and Body and Soul (1947). He would also be the voice of Matt Dillon on the radio show Gunsmoke and the narrator on the Jay Ward cartoons Rocky and Bullwinkle and Hoppity Hooper.
Dial 1119 took its title from the telephone number "1119," a fictional police emergency number in the movie. This was part of a trend towards movie titles containing phone numbers that included Call Northside 777 (1948) and Southside 1-1000 (1950). At the time Dial 1119 was made, the only emergency number in use in the entire world was 999, which had been in use in London since 1937.The number 999 would expand other parts of Britain over the years, but it would not go into use to all of the United Kingdom until 1976. As to the emergency number 911 in the United States, it would not go into use until 1968. In many ways Dial 1119 was then well ahead of its time.
Dial 1119 was also ahead of its time in that television plays a central role in the movie. It is through the television set in the Oasis Bar that bartender Chuckles learns escaped mental patient Wyckoff is in the bar. Of course, the television set in the bar is extremely advanced for the era. For one thing, it is a flat screen television. In 1954 General Electric introduced a proposal for a flat screen display that would provide the basics for flat screen television sets to come, but there would not be a mass-produced, flat screen television until 1997. It was manufactured by Phillips. The TV set is also controlled by a remote. Zenith manufactured a remote in 1950 that was connected to the television, but it would not be 1955 that there would be a wireless remote (the Flash-Matic).
Beyond Chuckles learning that Wyckoff is in the bar through television, television also played a major role in the film in another way. It is one of the earliest movies to ever depict a television station conducting a remote broadcast. In the movie television station a remote location from WKYL-TV pulls up outside the bar and the station begins coverage of the unfolding hostage crisis. In this way Dial 1119 also serves as one of the earliest critiques of television journalism. Indeed, WKYL-TV's coverage often gives away the police department's strategy, even was Wyckoff is in the bar with a television set.
Dial 1119 is also notable for addressing mental illness, particularly the negative attitude many had towards it at the time. As might be expected, Dr. Faron is sympathetic to Wyckoff, knowing that he cannot help having a mental disorder. Unfortunately, others are not so sympathetic. When Dr. Faron offers to go into the bar to talk to Wyckoff, the police refuse to allow him to do so. Captain Kiever of the police department even flatly tells Dr. Faron, a licensed psychiatrist, "Nobody's going to talk this guy into surrendering." While Wyckoff is the antagonist of Dial 1119, he is presented sympathetically for the most part. Indeed, he was rejected by the Army after failing his psychiatric evaluation, after which his mental disorder only got worse.
Dial 1119 was released on November 3 1950. It received a mostly positive review form The New York Times, which begins "Since crime does not pay, and melodrama about crime is only persuasive if it keeps the customers on edge, Dial 1119, the modest but effective adventure which came to the Globe on Saturday, can be listed as fitting those specifications quite neatly." Wylie Williams in the Los Angeles Evening Citizen News also gave Dial 1119 a good reviews, writing, " "Moviegoers of the fingernail-biting variety are promised a good chewing session in Dial 1119, a thriller with enough suspense to go around for everybody."
While Dial 1119 received positive notices from critics, audiences did not flock to the film in 1950. It was made for only $473,000, but only made $402,000 in the United States and Canada. As a result, it did not make a profit. While it failed at the box office on its initial release, Dial 1119 would be regularly shown on television in the Sixties and Seventies. It has since been shown on cable channels such as TNT and TCM.
Although made on the cheap, Dial 1119 is a taunt, suspense-filled film filled with some fine performances and meaningful dialogue. It was also in many ways ahead of its time, one of the earliest films to critique television journalism and one of the earliest films to treat mental disorders as something other than a plot device.
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