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I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

A Masterpiece!

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

No nonsense crime docudrama, based on a true story, about a reporter (James Stewart) working to find evidence to free a man wrongly convicted of killing a police officer eleven years before. Not quite a film noir as I would describe it but it nonetheless is stuck with that label. It's really good no matter what genre it belongs in. Jimmy Stewart is excellent as the initially cynical reporter who comes around to believing an injustice has been done. You simply can't go wrong with Stewart in any movie, at least as far as I've seen. Sympathetic turn from Richard Conte as the innocent convict. Lee J. Cobb is great, as always. Polygraph expert Leonard Keeler appears as himself. Normal people trying to be actors in old movies always amuses me for some reason. It's a gripping movie, well directed by Henry Hathaway, that moves along at a relatively slow pace but keeps you invested. One note is that the case this is based on was actually about two guys wrongfully convicted. This movie focuses mainly on one of them and only features the other in a brief scene. I assume this was because the other guy wasn't exonerated until two years after this movie was released.

Call Northside 777 is one of those movies that probably created a bit of a row when it was released in the cinemas of Chicago in 1948. It's the type of movie those old enough to remember the 40's and lived in the City with big shoulders would no doubt look upon fondly like many who remember the 80's look at Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986). It was, after all, the first movie to be shot on location in Chicago and features the iconic Merchandise Mart along the river as well as interiors of the Chicago Times building. As an adopted son of the Windy City, I found the city added a certain je ne sais quoi; a feeling that I can't quite describe yet brought depth to the story.It does help that the story begins with a brief historical narration; first of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, then Chicago's most dangerous period, prohibition. Thus the plot unravels within that context. A speakeasy owned by a Polish immigrant (Garde) is robbed at gunpoint by two masked men. In the chaos a police officer is killed and days later, two men are arrested claiming innocence. One of them, Frank Wiecek (Conte) cannot recall his whereabouts on the day of the shooting and is sentenced to 99 years in prison. Ten years have passed before reporter P.J. McNeal (Stewart) is assigned to investigate the case further. The reason for the investigation; in desperation Wiecek's mother (Orzazewski) placed an ad for a $5,000 reward for information on the case. She saved that money by scrubbing floors. McNeal is at first reluctant but as he digs deeper he realizes a major injustice has indeed occurred.While categorized as a film noir by some, Call Northside 777 is much less stylized, approaching the subject with the earthy realism of a docudrama. It's a gamble to be sure considering on-location shooting and deconstructed noirs were a new popular innovation. Jules Dassin would use a similar technique in The Naked City (1948) later that year transplanting Chicago with New York City. Hitchcock would then master this delicate balance between realism and true-crime with The Wrong Man (1956) which is a masters course in art imitating true life.Call Northside 777 Is not an absolute masterpiece but it is a superb little gem about intrepid news reporting. James Stewart has always been a reliable source of trustworthiness, idealism and grit thus his character is perfectly on point. The real show-stopper however is Lee J. Cobb whose blustering Chicago Times editor Brian Kelly (based on real editor Karin Walsh) is the balance between practical and cynical that we need to keep the story from falling into abject moral-ism. He's much more subtle then in 12 Angry Men (1957); I'd say Call Northside 777 is edged out only by On the Waterfront (1954) as his best performance.While a little dated, Call Northside 777 is nevertheless an interesting film worthy of a watch or re-watch if you're so inclined. It features a strong true-to-life story about a man falsely convicted of murder and a reporter willing to stake his reputation on the man's innocence. Furthermore it is a story of a city that can be as cruel as it is mighty and majestic. For me, it was a reminder on how much things can change given time; One minute there's a speakeasy on Ashland Ave. the next there's an American Apparel. Or to put it in more salient terms; one minute you're proved guilty, the next you're given a second chance.

The decades of '40 and '50 (actually, the middles of these decades, 1945- 1955) was the golden age of film noir. During that period, Hollywood gave us a series of movies that was dark, disturbing and atmospheric. "Call Northside 777" is, simply, one the finest noir ever made. The lightning, the acting, the script and the story are superb, all in a movie that grows up in suspense and drama as long as the minutes go on. This is not among the most famous films noir of the golden age, but sure is one of the greatest!!!!! An obscure gem that deserves be watching several times. James Stewart is GREAT, as always, and Henry Hathaway does a good job in direction, with his solid and classic way of work. Don't miss it.

Call Northside 777 is half documentary, half ode to newspaper men and half noir thriller and — yes, it's completely oblivious to basic math. In fact, it socks math right on the nose gives it the bum's rush right into the gutter. The movie — ostensibly based on a true story — follows the case of two men sent to prison for allegedly killing a policeman who'd stopped in for a wee dram at a speakeasy during the Prohibition era.Fast forward 11 years — everyone is happily soused again while the pair of cop-killers are rotting in prison. But then the editor of the Chicago paper happens to see a curious classified ad: "$5,000 reward for information leading the exoneration of the one of the men. Call Northside 777 for details." The hard-bitten and probably boozy newshound smells a story and assigns his ace reporter P.J. McNeal — played by Jimmy Stewart playing the part of Jimmy Stewart. And of course, P.J. doesn't want to touch the story. But something doesn't smell quite right, like the fact that the mother of one of the convicts (played by the earnest Richard Conte) has been scrubbing floors and saving her dimes for a decade to put up the reward.This just in: human interest stories can move papers. Pretty soon, P.J. has his typewriter limbered up and he's clacking out stories that have all of Chicago sitting up and taking notice, including the flatfoots who would like to avoid any embarrassment of potentially incarcerating innocent men for a decade.The action is slow, at least compared to many noir movies, but it does provide an intense look at Chicago back in the day when newspapers still mattered. And for two possibly innocent men, the newspaper really mattered.The scenes between Jimmy Stewart and his wife (played by Helen Walker) are especially charming — "You look nice. Will you marry me?" "I did." "Oh yeah, that's right. Thanks." — but Wanda Skutnik is a character who shall live on in infamy.