Call Northside 777 (1948)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Director:

Henry Hathaway

Writers:

Jerome Cady (screenplay) and
Jay Dratler (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

1 February 1948 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir | History | Mystery

Tagline:

Reporter Uncovers New Clues In Wiecek Case

Plot:

Chicago reporter P.J. McNeal re-opens a ten year old murder case.

Plot Keywords:

Newspaper | Reporter | Innocence | Prison | Reward

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

James Stewart	...	P.J. 'Jim' McNeal
Richard Conte	...	Frank W. Wiecek
Lee J. Cobb	...	Brian Kelly
Helen Walker	...	Laura McNeal
Betty Garde	...	Wanda Skutnik
Kasia Orzazewski	...	Tillie Wiecek
Joanne De Bergh	...	Helen Wiecek (as Joanne de Bergh)
Howard Smith	...	K.L. Palmer
Moroni Olsen	...	Parole Board Chairman
John McIntire	...	Sam Faxon
Paul Harvey	...	Martin J. Burns
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Robert Adler	...	Taxicab Driver (uncredited)
Richard Bishop	...	Warden of Stateville Prison (uncredited)
Larry J. Blake	...	Police Photographic Technician (uncredited)
John Bleifer	...	Jan Gruska (uncredited)
Truman Bradley	...	Narrator (voice) (uncredited)
Dollie Caillet	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Michael Chapin	...	Frank Wiecek Jr. (uncredited)
George Cisar	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Jane Crowley	...	Anna Felczak (uncredited)
Abe Dinovitch	...	Polish Man (uncredited)
Rex Downing	...	Copy Boy (uncredited)
Eddie Dunn	...	Patrolman John W. Bundy (uncredited)
Lew Eckles	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Joseph Forte	...	Parole Board Member (uncredited)
Helen Foster	...	Secretary (uncredited)
Stanley Gordon	...	Prison Clerk (uncredited)
Walter Greaza	...	Detective (uncredited)
Jonathan Hale	...	Robert Winston - Governor's Aide (uncredited)
Buck Harrington	...	Bartender (uncredited)
Percy Helton	...	William Decker - Mailman (uncredited)
Samuel S. Hinds	...	Judge Charles Moulton (uncredited)
Perry Ivins	...	Illinois State Journal Technician (uncredited)
Robert Karnes	...	McNeal's Cameraman (uncredited)
Leonarde Keeler	...	Leonarde Keeler - Polygraph Examiner (uncredited)
Cy Kendall	...	Second Bartender (uncredited)
J.M. Kerrigan	...	Sullivan (uncredited)
Carl Kroenke	...	Guard (uncredited)
Henry Kulky	...	First Bartender (uncredited)
Charles Lane	...	Prosecuting Attorney (uncredited)
Philip Lord	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Jack Mannick	...	Polish Man (uncredited)
E.G. Marshall	...	Rayska (uncredited)
Norman McKay	...	Detective (uncredited)
George Melford	...	Parole Board Member (uncredited)
Charles F. Miller	...	Parole Board Member (uncredited)
Edward Peil Jr.	...	Bartender (uncredited)
George Pembroke	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Wanda Perry	...	Chicago Times Telephone Operator (uncredited)
Arthur Peterson	...	Keeler's Polygraph Assistant (uncredited)
Joe Ploski	...	Man (uncredited)
William Post Jr.	...	Sixth Precinct Desk Sergeant (uncredited)
Addison Richards	...	John Albertson - State Commissioner (uncredited)
Richard Rober	...	Sgt. Larson in Records Department (uncredited)
Dick Ryan	...	Parole Board Member (uncredited)
Peter Seal	...	Man (uncredited)
Lester Sharpe	...	Illinois State Journal Technician (uncredited)
George Spaulding	...	Man on Parole Board (uncredited)
Lionel Stander	...	Corrigan - Wiecek's Cellmate (uncredited)
Ann Staunton	...	Chicago Times Telephone Operator (uncredited)
Freddie Steele	...	Holdup Man (uncredited)
George Turner	...	Holdup Man (uncredited)
George Tyne	...	Tomek Zaleska (uncredited)
Otto Waldis	...	Boris Siskovich (uncredited)
Duke Watson	...	Policeman (uncredited)
Robert Williams	...	Illinois State Journal Technician (uncredited)

Directed by
Henry Hathaway

Writing credits
Jerome Cady		(screenplay) and
Jay Dratler		(screenplay)
Leonard Hoffman		(adaptation) and
Quentin Reynolds		(adaptation)
James P. McGuire		(articles)
Jack McPhaul		articles (uncredited)

Produced by
Otto Lang	....	producer

Original Music by
Alfred Newman

Cinematography by
Joseph MacDonald		(director of photography) (as Joe MacDonald)

Film Editing by
J. Watson Webb Jr.

Art Direction by
Mark-Lee Kirk
Lyle R. Wheeler		(as Lyle Wheeler)

Set Decoration by
Thomas Little
Walter M. Scott

Costume Design by
Kay Nelson

Makeup Department
Ben Nye	....	makeup artist
Myrtle Ford	....	hair stylist (uncredited)
Dick Smith	....	makeup artist (uncredited)
Thomas Tuttle	....	makeup artist (uncredited)

Production Management
Sam Wurtzel	....	production manager (uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Joseph E. Rickards	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Abe Steinberg	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Sound Department
W.D. Flick	....	sound
Roger Heman Sr.	....	sound (as Roger Heman)

Special Effects by
Fred Sersen	....	special photographic effects

Camera and Electrical Department
Paul Russell	....	still photographer (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Charles Le Maire	....	wardrobe director
Sam Benson	....	wardrobe (uncredited)

Music Department
Edward B. Powell	....	orchestral arranger (as Edward Powell)
Alfred Newman	....	musical director (uncredited)

Other crew
Stanley Scheuer	....	script supervisor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (presents) (as Twentieth Century-Fox)

Distributors

• Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation (1948) (USA) (theatrical) (released through)
• Centfox (1949) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• M.P.E.A. (1949) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment (2005) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Associated Press  wirephoto by

Also Known As:

Calling Northside 777

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Polish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Norway:A (1948) | UK:U | Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #12397) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Quebec) | Canada:PG (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

Thelma Ritter's role as the police captain's secretary was mostly deleted from the released print, but she can still briefly be seen and heard in one scene in which she tells James Stewart the captain will see him in his office.

Goofs:

Continuity: Various characters refer to the murdered police officer as John W. Bundy, but the police record of the case shows his name as W.W. Bundy.

Quotes:

Laura McNeal: What's the matter, won't the pieces fit together?
P.J. McNeal: *Some* of them, but they make the wrong picture.
Laura McNeal: Pieces never make the wrong picture. Maybe you're looking at them from the wrong angle.

Movie Connections:

Spoofed in High Anxiety (1977)

Nailing Down the Facts

Call Northside 777 has James Stewart patiently trying to nail down enough facts to get Richard Conte a pardon from a murder for which he was falsely convicted. The tale is told in the documentary style that Henry Hathaway developed post World War II and that Darryl F. Zanuck used in several 20th Century Fox films.

On orders from editor Lee J. Cobb, Stewart checks out the source behind a small personal advertisement in the Chicago Sun-Times where he works. The ad is placed by Richard Conte's mother who works as a cleaning woman and saved enough money to offer a reward of $5000.00 for information clearing her son.

Back during the last days of Prohibition, Conte and another man were sent up for killing a Chicago policeman in a grocery store that fronted for a speakeasy. Conte was convicted mainly on the eyewitness testimony of the owner of the establishment Betty Garde.

Stewart gradually comes to believe in Conte's innocence and works tirelessly on his behalf. The best single performance in this film is by Betty Garde. A real portrait in evil that one is.

This has always been a film I've had an identity with. I had a similar situation in my former job with NYS Crime Victims Board. I had a case where a man sustained multiple injuries including the loss of a leg when a car drove up on a sidewalk and hit him. The report was never written up as any kind of crime, just an accident. The driver was given a summons and that was that.

I did a lot of work to prove the police were wrong in their action and it took two years, but I gathered enough evidence and my claimant was declared a crime victim and received the benefits from my former agency. The perpetrator was never charged with anything, but that was not in my mandate. Nevertheless I know exactly what Jimmy Stewart had to prove and how hard it is. The police even more than most of us do not like to admit they are wrong.

Call Northside 777 is a nicely done documentary style feature which is a great lesson in what a man with determination can accomplish.