The cable channel TCM (Turner Classic Movies) is excellent. It shows
> great old movies. Many of the films were very well written and
> produced. In B&W, the artful use of lighting and shadows to create > mood is excellent.
> The film "The Night Holds Terror" (1955) was about a kidnapping. At
> the end of the film they're waiting for the kidnappers to call with
> the ransom demand. The victim's wife (who would get the car) was told
> she must stall them as long as possible to trace the call.
> The call came, and the scene switched to the phone company central
> office, showing technicians checking various Strowger switch units.
> Other units were still running. Then they showed the service center
> and lookups in the tub file (a file of each line and its repair
> history). Very realistic.
I wanted to ask a film question quite recently, and I'm glad this was brought up.
I remember seeing in 1985 on TV some kind of thriller where the phone company technicians were tracing calls through a panel switch. I remember seeing the selector rod rise up as the technicians were scrambling to find the bad guy. This one was in color, if I remember correctly.
I would spend time some years after that trying to find a VHS copy of that film to have, just to see that panel in action. Without knowing the name of the film, it was hard enough to try to find. And this was many years before I even heard of the Telecom Digest.
Does anyone know the name of the film I'm thinking of?
Curtis R. Anderson, Co-creator of "Gleepy the Hen", still "In Heaven there is no beer / That's why we drink it here ..."
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[TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: Might you be thinking of the movie called 'Tandem Rush' which was about a very sick phreak who enjoyed killing people 'over the phone' who he felt had been 'discourteous' to him? There was a central office scene similar to your discription in it. PAT]