In Prohibition-era Chicago, a policeman is shot dead at a grocery store doubling as a speakeasy. Cop killer Richard Conte (as Frank Wiecek) and his partner are quickly rounded up. The main suspect can't remember if his wife was preparing cake with dates or walnuts. Positively identified by witness Betty Garde (as Wanda Skutnik), the men are sentenced to 99 years in prison. However, it is obvious Ms. Garde did not see the masked men. The only real witness is a mail carrier, who is oddly dispensed of in the script...
Eleven years later, a classified titled "Call Northside 777" is placed in the "Chicago Times" by Mr. Conte's hardworking mother Kasia Orzazewski (as Tillie Wiecek). She has saved up $5,000 scrubbing floors, and offers it as a reward for information about the real killer. Nobody comes forward who can clear Ms. Orzazewski's son, but lying city editor Lee J. Cobb (as Brian Kelly) thinks the woman might make a good feature. He assigns the story to cynical reporter James Stewart (as P.J. "Jim" McNeal) and it is a hit with readers...
Hoping to conclusively determine Conte's guilt or innocence, Mr. Stewart re-investigates the case with increasing enthusiasm. According to the opening, "This is a true story," photographed (by Joe MacDonald) in the State of Illinois using, "whenever possible, the actual locales associated with the story." There are some weaknesses concerning the evidence Stewart uncovers, and Conte's convicted friend is left in the lurch, but the story is compelling throughout. Garde and Orzazewski perform their nice and nasty women well.
******* Call Northside 777 (2/1/48) Henry Hathaway ~ James Stewart, Richard Conte, Lee J. Cobb, Betty Garde
Eleven years later, a classified titled "Call Northside 777" is placed in the "Chicago Times" by Mr. Conte's hardworking mother Kasia Orzazewski (as Tillie Wiecek). She has saved up $5,000 scrubbing floors, and offers it as a reward for information about the real killer. Nobody comes forward who can clear Ms. Orzazewski's son, but lying city editor Lee J. Cobb (as Brian Kelly) thinks the woman might make a good feature. He assigns the story to cynical reporter James Stewart (as P.J. "Jim" McNeal) and it is a hit with readers...
Hoping to conclusively determine Conte's guilt or innocence, Mr. Stewart re-investigates the case with increasing enthusiasm. According to the opening, "This is a true story," photographed (by Joe MacDonald) in the State of Illinois using, "whenever possible, the actual locales associated with the story." There are some weaknesses concerning the evidence Stewart uncovers, and Conte's convicted friend is left in the lurch, but the story is compelling throughout. Garde and Orzazewski perform their nice and nasty women well.
******* Call Northside 777 (2/1/48) Henry Hathaway ~ James Stewart, Richard Conte, Lee J. Cobb, Betty Garde