Call Northside 777

Call Northside 777
Theatrical poster
Directed by	Henry Hathaway
Produced by	Otto Lang
Written by	Adaptation: Leonard Hoffman Quentin Reynolds Screenplay: Jerome Cady Jay Dratler Articles: James P. McGuire Jack McPhaul
Starring	James Stewart Richard Conte Lee J. Cobb
Music by	Alfred Newman
Cinematography	Joseph MacDonald
Editing by	J. Watson Webb Jr.
Distributed by	Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Release date(s)	February 1, 1948 (U.S.A.)
Running time	111 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English

Call Northside 777 (1948) is a documentary-style film noir directed by Henry Hathaway. 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 before. The names of the real wrongly convicted men were Majczek and Marcinkiewicz for the murder of Chicago Traffic Police Officer William D. Lundy.

James Stewart stars as the persistent journalist and Richard Conte plays the imprisoned Frank Wiecek. Wiecek is based on Joseph Majczek, who was wrongly convicted of the murder of a Chicago policeman in 1932, one of the worst years of organized crime during Prohibition.

Plot

In Chicago in 1932, during Prohibition, a policeman is murdered inside a speakeasy. Frank Wiecek (Richard Conte) and another man are quickly arrested, and are later sentenced to serve 99 years' imprisonment each for the killing. Eleven years later, Wiecek's mother puts an ad in the newspaper offering a $5,000 reward for information about the true killers of the police officer. This leads the city editor of the Chicago Times Brian Kelly (Lee J. Cobb) to assign reporter P.J. McNeal (James Stewart) to look more closely into the case. McNeal is skeptical at first, believing Wiecek to be guilty. But he starts to change his mind, and meets increased resistance from the police and the state attorney's office, who are unwilling to be proved wrong. This is quickly followed by political pressure from the state capital, where politicians are anxious to end a story that might prove embarrassing to the administration. Eventually, Wiecek is proved innocent by, among other things, the enlarging of a photograph showing the date on a newspaper that proves that a key witness's statement was false.

Cast

• James Stewart as P.J. McNeal (based on real life reporter James McGuire)
• Richard Conte as Frank Wiecek (based on real life convict Joseph Majczek)
• Lee J. Cobb as Brian Kelly (based on real life editor Karin Walsh)
• Helen Walker as Laura McNeal
• Betty Garde as Wanda Skutnik (based on real life witness Vera Walush)
• Kasia Orzazewski as Tillie Wiecek (based on real life mother Tillie Majczek)
• Joanne De Bergh as Helen Wiecek
• Howard Smith as K.L. Palmer
• Moroni Olsen as Pardon Board Chairman
• J.M. Kerrigan as Sullivan
• John McIntire as Sam Faxon (his first credited film role)
• Paul Harvey as Martin J. Burns
• George Tyne as Tomek Zaleska (based on real life convict Theodore Marcinkiewicz)
• Michael Chapin as Frank Wiecek Jr.
• Leonarde Keeler as Himself – (uncredited), the actual inventor of the Polygraph
• E. G. Marshall as Rayska (uncredited)
• Walter Greaza as Detective
• Thelma Ritter as receptionist (uncredited)
• Lionel Stander as Corrigan – Wiecek's cellmate (uncredited)

Production notes

This was the first Hollywood feature film to be shot on location in Chicago. Views of the Merchandise Mart as well as Holy Trinity Polish Mission can be seen throughout the film.

Critical reception

The film received mostly positive reviews when it was first released, and again when it was released on DVD in 2004. In 2004, the Onion AV Club Review argued that the film may not be a true film noir, but is good nonetheless: "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." The website DVD Verdict made the case that the lead actor may be the best reason to see the film: "Its value exists mainly in Stewart's finely drawn characterization of a cynical man with a nagging conscience."

Adaptations

For an episode of CBS Radio's "Hollywood Sound Stage", broadcast December 27, 1951, Harry Cronman adapted and directed a condensed 30-minute version of the movie, casting Dana Andrews and Thomas Gomez in the leads. Tony Barrett, Bob Sweeney, Betty Lou Gerson, and Frank Nelson played supporting roles.

Awards

Wins

• Edgar Award: from the Mystery Writers of America for Best Motion Picture Screenplay; 1949.

Nominations

• 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.

See also

• List of American films of 1948

External links

• Call Northside 777 at AllRovi
• Call Northside 777 at the TCM Movie Database
• Call Northside 777 at the Internet Movie Database
• Joseph M. Majczek legal case at Northwestern University School of Law

Streaming audio

• Call Northside 777 on Screen Guild Theater: October 7, 1948
• Call Northside 777 on "Hollywood Sound Stage: December 27, 1951