Themes: Members of the Press, Miscarriage of Justice, Amateur Sleuths
Main Cast: James Stewart, Richard Conte, Lee J. Cobb, Helen Walker, Betty Garde, E.G. Marshall
Release Year: 1948
Country: US
Run Time: 111 minutes
Plot
In this documentary-inspired thriller, P.J. McNeal (James Stewart) is a reporter who is asked by his editor to look into a potential story: their newspaper has been carrying an ad offering a substantial reward for information regarding the murder of a policeman that occurred eleven years ago. It turns out the ad was placed by a cleaning woman named Tillie Wiecek (Kasia Orzazewski); her son Frank (Richard Conte) was convicted of the crime, but she is thoroughly convinced her son had nothing to do with the killing. McNeal doesn't believe for a moment that Frank could be innocent, but he sees a good human interest story in Tillie and writes a piece that receives a great deal of favorable attention. Brian Kelly (Lee J. Cobb), McNeal's editor, thinks there might be more to this story and asks P.J. to look into the original murder case. To McNeal's surprise, Frank passes a lie detector test in which he proclaims his innocence, and the more he digs into records on the case, the more he finds wrong with the original investigation; some evidence is missing, much is inconclusive, and the reporter begins to wonder if Frank might have been railroaded after all, or if the police might be trying to keep something quiet. Call Northside 777 was based on a true story. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
Call Northside 777 utilizes a pseudo-documentary style to heighten the realism of its fact-based plot. Director Henry Hathaway effectively combines Joe MacDonald's black-and-white cinematography with the atmospheric orchestral score of Alfred Newman to create an effective, engrossing mood for the wrongful imprisonment tale. Lead James Stewart is solid as usual; of special note in the supporting cast are the performances of Lee J. Cobb as Stewart's editor and Richard Conte as Frank Wiecek, the wrongfully convicted subject of Stewart's investigations. ~ Richard Gilliam, All Movie Guide
Moroni Olsen - Parole Board Chairman; Kasia Orzazewski - Tillie Wiecek; Howard I. Smith - Palmer; John McIntire - Sam Faxon; Paul Harvey - Martin Burns; J.M. Kerrigan - Sullivan; Samuel S. Hinds - Judge Charles Moulton; George Tyne - Tomek Zaleska; Richard Bishop - Warden; Otto Waldis - Boris; John Bleifer - Jan Gruska; Addison Richards - John Albertson; Richard Rober - Larson; Eddie Dunn - Patrolman; Percy Helton - William Decker, Mailman; Charles Lane - Prosecuting Attorney; Larry Blake - Technician; Truman Bradley - Narrator; Michael Chapin - Frank, Jr.; George Cisar - Policeman; Joanne de Bergh - Helen Wiecek-Rayska; Abe Dinovitch - Polish Man; Rex Downing - Copy Boy; Joe Forte - Parole Board Member; Helen Foster - Secretary; Walter Greaza - Detective; Jonathan Hale - Robert Winston; Perry Ivins - Technician; Robert Karnes - Spitzer; Cy Kendall - Bartender in Bill's Place; Henry Kulky - Bartender in Drazynski's Place; George Pembroke - Policeman; Arthur Peterson - Keeler's Assistant; William Post, Jr. - Police Sergeant; Dick Ryan - Parole Board Member; Lester Sharpe - Technician; George Spaulding - Man on Parole Board; Lionel Stander - Corrigan; Ann Staunton - Telephone Operator; Freddie Steele - Holdup Man; George Turner - Holdup Man; Duke Watson - Policeman; Robert B. Williams - Technician; George Melford - Parole Board Member; Norman McKay - Detective; Edward Peil, Jr. - Bartender; Wanda Perry - Telephone Operator; Joe Ploski - Man; Peter Seal - Man; Jane Crowley - Anna Felczak; Buck Harrington - Bartender; Charles Miller - Parole Board Member
Credit
Mark-Lee Kirk - Art Director, Lyle Wheeler - Art Director, Kay Nelson - Costume Designer, Henry Hathaway - Director, J. Watson Webb, Jr. - Editor, Alfred Newman - Composer (Music Score), Ben Nye, Sr. - Makeup, Tom Tuttle - Makeup, Dick Smith - Makeup Special Effects, Joe MacDonald - Cinematographer, Otto Lang - Producer, Thomas K. Little - Set Designer, Walter Scott - Set Designer, Fred Sersen - Special Effects, W.D. Flick - Sound/Sound Designer, Roger Heman - Sound/Sound Designer, Quentin Reynolds - Screenwriter, Jerry Cady - Screenwriter, Jay Dratler - Screenwriter, Leonard Hoffman - Screenwriter, James P. McGuire - Book Author
It is 1932 in Chicago, and a policeman is killed inside a speakeasy. Frank Wiecek (Conte) and another man are sentenced to life imprisonment. Eleven years later, a newspaper ad by Wiecek's mother leads the city editor of the Chicago Times (Cobb) to assign reporter P.J. McNeal (Stewart) to look more closely into the case. McNeal is skeptical and believes Wiecek is guilty. But he starts to change his mind, and meets increased resistance from authorities unwilling to be proved wrong. Eventually Frank is proved innocent by, among other things, expanding a photograph showing the date on a newspaper.
The film received mostly positive reviews when it was released, and again when the movie was released on DVD in 2004. A 2004 Onion AV Club Review argued that the film may not be a true film noir, but is good nonetheless, and wrote, "Outstanding location shooting and Stewart's driven performance turn a sober film into a vibrant, exciting one, even though the hero and the jailbird he champions are really too noble for noir."[2]
The web site DVD Verdict made the case that the lead actor may be best reason to see the film, and wrote, "Its value exists mainly in Stewart's finely drawn characterization of a cynical man with a nagging conscience."[3]
Writers Guild of America: WGA Award; Best Written American Drama, Jerome Cady and Jay Dratler; The Robert Meltzer Award (Screenplay Dealing Most Ably with Problems of the American Scene), Jerome Cady and Jay Dratler; 1949.
