Call Northside 777
Encyclopedia
Call Northside 777 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
.
. 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 attorney's office unwilling to be proved wrong. 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.
as well as Holy Trinity Polish Mission
can be seen throughout the film.
, 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."
and Thomas Gomez
in the leads. Tony Barrett, Bob Sweeney, Betty Lou Gerson
, and Frank Nelson played supporting roles.
Nominations
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
directed by Henry Hathaway
Henry Hathaway
Henry Hathaway was an American film director and producer. He is best known as a director of Westerns, especially starring John Wayne.-Background:...
. 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
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
stars as the persistent journalist and Richard Conte
Richard Conte
Richard Conte was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.-Life and career:...
plays the imprisoned Frank Wiecek. Wiecek is based on Joseph Majczek
Majczek and Marcinkiewicz
Joseph Majczek and Theodore Marcinkiewicz were two men arrested and convicted of the murder of Chicago Traffic Police Officer in November 1933...
, who was wrongly convicted of the murder of a Chicago policeman in 1932, one of the worst years of organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
during Prohibition
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
.
Plot
During the Prohibition period of 1932 in Chicago a policeman is murdered inside a speakeasySpeakeasy
A speakeasy, also called a blind pig or blind tiger, is an establishment that illegally sells alcoholic beverages. Such establishments came into prominence in the United States during the period known as Prohibition...
. Frank Wiecek (Richard Conte
Richard Conte
Richard Conte was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.-Life and career:...
) 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
Chicago Times
The Chicago Times was a newspaper in Chicago from 1854 to 1895 when it merged with the Chicago Herald.The Times was founded in 1854, by James W. Sheahan, with the backing of Stephen Douglas, and was identified as a pro-slavery newspaper. In 1861, after the paper was purchased by Wilbur F...
Brian Kelly (Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb
Lee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...
) to assign reporter P.J. McNeal (James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
) 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 attorney's office unwilling to be proved wrong. 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 StewartJames Stewart (actor)James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
as P.J. McNeal - Richard ConteRichard ConteRichard Conte was an American actor. He appeared in numerous films from the 1940s through 1970s, including I'll Cry Tomorrow and The Godfather.-Life and career:...
as Frank Wiecek - Lee J. CobbLee J. CobbLee J. Cobb was an American actor. He is best known for his performance in 12 Angry Men his Academy Award-nominated performance in On the Waterfront and one of his last films, The Exorcist...
as Brian Kelly - Helen WalkerHelen WalkerNot to be confused with the singer-actress Helen Roberts WalkerHelen Walker was an American movie actress of the 1940s and 1950s....
as Laura McNeal - Betty GardeBetty GardeKatharine Elizabeth "Betty" Garde was an American stage, radio, film, and television actress. She played Aunt Eller in the original Broadway production of Oklahoma!, but her long acting career also included film, radio, and television.The 5'10" Garde had a major role in the 1950 movie Caged as a...
as Wanda Skutnik - Kasia Orzazewski as Tillie Wiecek
- Joanne De Bergh as Helen Wiecek
- Howard SmithHoward SmithHoward Smith may refer to:*Howard Smith , U.S. film director, journalist, broadcaster; Academy Award winner for feature-length documentary, 1972*Howard Smith , British ambassador and Director General of MI5, 1979–1981...
as K.L. Palmer - Moroni OlsenMoroni OlsenMoroni Olsen was an American actor.-Biography:Olsen was born in Ogden, Utah to Mormon parents Edward Arenholt Olsen and Marsha Hoverholst who named him after the Moroni found in the Book of Mormon. Some sources have claimed that Olsen's birth name was John Willard Clawson, or even John Willard...
as Parole Board Chairman - J.M. Kerrigan as Sullivan
- John McIntireJohn McIntireJohn McIntire was an American character actor.-Career:The craggy-faced film actor was born in Spokane in eastern Washington State but reared in Montana, growing up around ranchers and cowboys, an experience that would later inspire his performances in dozens of westerns.A graduate of USC, McIntire...
as Sam Faxon - Paul HarveyPaul Harvey (actor)Paul Harvey was an American actor who appeared in at least 177 films.-Selected filmography:*They Shall Have Music *Behind the News *Moonlight Masquerade *Spellbound...
as Martin J. Burns - George Tyne as Tomek Zaleska
- Michael Chapin as Frank Wiecek Jr.
- E. G. MarshallE. G. MarshallE. G. Marshall was an American actor, best known for his television roles as the lawyer Lawrence Preston on The Defenders in the 1960s, and as neurosurgeon David Craig on The Bold Ones: The New Doctors in the 1970s...
as Rayska - Walter Greaza as Detective
- Thelma RitterThelma RitterThelma Ritter was an American supporting and character actress from the 1940s until her death in 1969.-Early life:...
as receptionist (uncredited)
Production notes
This was the first Hollywood feature film to be shot on location in Chicago. Views of the Merchandise MartMerchandise Mart
When opened in 1930, the Merchandise Mart or the Merch Mart, located in the Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois, was the largest building in the world with of floor space. Previously owned by the Marshall Field family, the Mart centralized Chicago's wholesale goods business by consolidating vendors...
as well as Holy Trinity Polish Mission
Holy Trinity Polish Mission
Holy Trinity Church - historic church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. It is a prime example of the so-called 'Polish Cathedral style' of churches, in both its opulence and grand scale. Along with such monumental religious edifices as St. Mary of the Angels, St. Hedwig's or St...
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 noirFilm noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
, 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 AndrewsDana Andrews
Dana Andrews was an American film actor. He was one of Hollywood's major stars of the 1940s, and continued acting, though generally in less prestigious roles, into the 1980s.-Early life:...
and Thomas Gomez
Thomas Gomez
Thomas Gomez was an American actor.Born Sabino Tomas Gomez in New York City, Gomez began his acting career in theater during the 1920s and was a student of the actor Walter Hampden...
in the leads. Tony Barrett, Bob Sweeney, Betty Lou Gerson
Betty Lou Gerson
Betty Lou Gerson was an American actress, predominantly in radio, but also in film and television, and as a voice actress.-Early life:...
, and Frank Nelson played supporting roles.
Awards
Wins- Edgar AwardEdgar AwardThe Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
: from the Mystery Writers of AmericaMystery Writers of AmericaMystery Writers of America is an organization for mystery writers, based in New York.The organization was founded in 1945 by Clayton Rawson, Anthony Boucher, Lawrence Treat, and Brett Halliday....
for Best Motion Picture Screenplay; 1949.
Nominations
- Writers Guild of AmericaWriters Guild of AmericaThe Writers Guild of America is a generic term referring to the joint efforts of two different US labor unions:* The Writers Guild of America, East , representing TV and film writers East of the Mississippi....
: 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.
External links
- Joseph M. Majczek legal case at Northwestern University School of LawNorthwestern University School of LawThe Northwestern University School of Law is a private American law school in Chicago, Illinois. The law school was founded in 1859 as the Union College of Law of the Old University of Chicago. The first law school established in Chicago, it became jointly controlled by Northwestern University in...