Film buff needed ?!
Question: In DIAL M FOR MURDER when Ray Milland did dial,
the telco switching was shown.
I'd like a little film buff commentray on that Hitchcock idea.
Answers: In DIAL M FOR MURDER when Ray Milland did dial,
the telco switching was shown.
I'd like a little film buff commentray on that Hitchcock idea.
This paragraph was all that I could fine in a quickie web search: "There has never been an exchange "555"; this has been reserved for general purpose use within each regional telephone company. This is the reason you always see "555-xxxx" selected for any fictional phone number on television or in the movies. If a fiction writer needs a made-up phone number, any other choice of exchange number runs the risk of being someone's real phone number, and its appearance on TV can generate a lot of nuisance calls — especially if it is applied in a context suggesting a famous or notorious person — but any number "555-xxxx" is safe, because all such numbers are used only for business purposes within some telco (a generic term for telephone companies) or other, and no individual or small business will have to endure harassment. There are occasional exceptions, such as Hitchcock's Dial M For Murder. There are other three-digit combinations that cannot be used for exchanges. For example, the emergency number "911" cannot be used as an exchange number. Neither can "411", which is widely used to reach directory assistance. "611" is reserved for repair services, and "811" for business offices. As far as I know, all three-digit combinations of the form "n11" are set aside for uses other than exchange numbers."
Note: Just last week, someone here on Yahoo! questioned how in the movie Fun With Dick and Jane, the phone number on the woman's business card for the Grand Cayman Bank clearly says: 619-154-3700. It also has the fax number as 619-154-3707. Of course, people have tried calling the number(s) and got a recording that the number had been disconnected and was no longer in service.
P.S.--I haven't seen the movie in YEARS. But my mother worked for Michigan Bell Telephone back during the war and she told me that if, for any reason, a telephone line needed to be traced, she LITERALLY had to spend several minutes following that specific wire (in her hand) to it's source. I think that by showing the internal workings of the telephone connections that it added to the drama and suspense, just like in the movie Panic Room. There were several scenes (with sound effects) of the inside of the wall between Jodie Foster and the would-be robbers. The same with the scene in The War of the Roses in which the camera shows the bolts and wires loosening inside the ceiling in which the chandelier hangs. Remember, both Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner's ultimate fate rested on the strength of that one or two cable connection.