Westport Public Library MOVIE & MUSIC Blog

131 years (this week) after the first telephone transmission the movies continue their love affair with the telephone. In many a scary movie, the action would dull if it wasn’t for the ringing of the phone. Hearts pound when the phone call comes in The Ring . And who can forget Drew Barrymore in a blond wig teased by a tormenting caller in the opening scene of Scream. These movies can’t hold a candle to When a Stranger Calls starring a young Carol Kane as a trapped babysitter. (No wonder she did zany roles after this!). But it hasn’t all been blood and gore. Colin Farrell teaches us it is just not a smart idea to answer a ringing phone in a New York City Phone Booth because a psycho could be on the other end; while a telephone booth becomes a place of refuge in Hitchcock's The Birds. Jodie Foster wishes Sir Anthony would forget her number in Silence of the Lambs.

Romance was in the air in one of my favorite late night oldies, Bells are Ringing with Judy Holiday. Doris and Rock fell in love (again) while sharing a party line in Pillow Talk. And sometimes the telephone is a link between success and failure, such as in Glengarry Glen Ross . Sadly, a cell phone provides the means to a last farewell in United 93.

There are so many scenes in which the telephone plays an intricate role. What is your most memorable?