Call Northside 777 ***** (1948, James Stewart, Richard Conte, Lee J Cobb, Helen Walker) – Classic Movie Review 2,071

The classic 1948 film noir thriller Call Northside 777 is excellent of its documentary-style type. James Stewart plays a real-life Chicago reporter who proved a man in prison for murder was wrongly convicted 11 years earlier.

Director Henry Hathaway’s classic 1948 documentary-style film noir thriller Call Northside 777 is excellent of its now much-admired type. It is based on the true story of a Chicago reporter who proved that a man in prison for murder was wrongly convicted 11 years earlier.

It stars James Stewart, revitalising his movie star career by toughening up his image as the dogged, tough, incorruptible Chicago crime reporter P J McNeal, who decides to re-open a decade-old murder case. He ends up trying to clear a convicted cop murderer called Frank W Wiecek (played by Richard Conte), who was sentenced to life imprisonment after a Chicago policeman is killed in 1932.

Eleven years later, a newspaper ad by Frank’s mother (Kasia Orzazewski) leads McNeal to look into the case. At first he believes Frank is guilty, but later he starts to change his mind, meeting strong resistance from authorities.

Call Northside 777 also stars Lee J Cobb as Brian Kelly (based on real life editor Karin Walsh) and Helen Walker as Laura McNeal.

With a thoroughly engrossing, complex and involving script taken from the true story as revealed in Chicago Tribune articles by James P McGuire (who is of course the basis of the P J McNeal character), this is an ultra-convincing, nail-bitingly gripping thriller. Wiecek is based on the real-life Joseph Majczek, who was wrongly convicted of the murder of Chicago Traffic Police Officer William D Lundy in 1932.

Following up his 1947 hit Kiss of Death, Hathaway achieves a pungent flavour of reality through the naturalistic performances and by shooting on real locations in Chicago’s Polish district. It is notable as the first Hollywood feature film to shoot on location in Chicago, and it shows the Merchandise Mart and Holy Trinity Polish Mission.

Also in the cast are Betty Garde, Joanne De Bergh, Howard Smith, Moroni Olsen, John McIntire, Paul Harvey, George Tyne, Richard Bishop, Thelma Ritter, Lionel Stander, Samuel S Hinds and Jonathan Hale.

Important actors E G Marshall, Thelma Ritter, Lionel Stander, Samuel S Hinds and Jonathan Hale all go uncredited.

The script won the Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay in 1949.

Call Northside 777 was released on DVD in 2005 by 20th Century Fox as part of its Film Noir collection, along with Laura and Panic in the Streets.

The cast are James Stewart as P.J. McNeal, Richard Conte as Frank Wiecek, Lee J Cobb as Brian Kelly, Helen Walker as Laura McNeal, Betty Garde as Wanda Skutnik, Kasia Orzazewski as Tillie Wiecek, Joanne De Bergh as Helen Wiecek, Michael Chapin as Frank Wiecek Jr, Howard Smith as K L Palmer, Moroni Olsen as Pardon Board Chairman, J M Kerrigan as Sullivan, John McIntire as Sam Faxon, Paul Harvey as Martin J Burns, George Tyne as Tomek Zaleska, Leonarde Keeler as himself (co-inventor of the polygraph), E G Marshall as Rayska, Thelma Ritter as receptionist, Lionel Stander as Wiecek’s cellmate Corrigan, Truman Bradley as narrator, Samuel S Hinds as Judge Charles Moulton, Jonathan Hale as Robert Winston, and Charles Lane as Prosecuting Attorney.

Call Northside 777 is directed by Henry Hathaway, runs 111 minutes, is made and released by 20th Century-Fox, is written by Jerome Cady, Jay Dratler, Leonard Hoffman (adaptation) and Quentin Reynolds (adaptation). based on 1944 Chicago Daily Times articles by James P McGuire and Jack McPhaul (writer) is produced by Darryl F Zanuck (executive producer uncredited) and Otto Lang, is shot by Joseph MacDonald (as Joe MacDonald), and is scored by Alfred Newman, with Art Direction by Mark-Lee Kirk and Lyle R Wheeler.

Release date: February 1948.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2,071

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