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, who had been in prison for murder, was wrongly convicted 11 years before.

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

During the Prohibition period of 1932 in Chicago a policeman is murdered inside a speakeasy. Frank Wiecek (Richard Conte) and another man are quickly arrested and 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 and believes Wiecek is guilty. But he starts to change his mind, and meets increased resistance from the police and state's attorney office unwilling to be proved wrong, which is quickly followed by political pressure from the state capital anxious to end a story that might prove embarrassing to the administration. Eventually Frank is proved innocent by, among other things, the enlarging of a photograph showing the date on a newspaper that proves a key witness's statement was false.

Cast

• 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
• Howard Smith as K.L. Palmer
• Moroni Olsen as Parole Board Chairman
• J.M. Kerrigan as Sullivan
• John McIntire as Sam Faxon
• Paul Harvey as Martin J. Burns
• George Tyne as Tomek Zaleska
• Michael Chapin as Frank Wiecek Jr.
• E. G. Marshall as Rayska
• Walter Greaza as Detective
• Thelma Ritter as receptionist (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 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."

The web site DVD Verdict made the case that the lead actor may be the 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."

Adaptations

On the December 27, 1951 episode of CBS Radio's "Hollywood Sound Stage", 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 the Internet Movie Database
• Call Northside 777 at AllRovi
• Call Northside 777 at the TCM Movie Database
• Joseph M. Majczek legal case at Northwestern University School of Law