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By
NICK ZEGARAC
"Call Northside 777" is
based on a true story; that of Frank Wiecek
(Richard Conte), a blue collar patsy who is framed
for the murder of a police officer during the bad
ol' days of prohibition in Chicago. For eleven
years Wiecek sits in prison -- that is, until
managing editor of the Chicago Times, Frank Kelly
(Lee J. Cobb) assigns reporter, P.J. McNeal (James
Stewart) to investigate a strange want ad. Turns
out Frankie's mom, Tillie (Kasi Orzazaewski) never
stopped believing in her boy. Working day and
night to earn enough money to hire anyone who
would reopen the investigation, the old woman's
undying commitment touches McNeal's heart. He
begins his descend into the past by attempting to
contact Wanda Skutnik (Betty Garde), the loose
living floozy who fingered Frank in a line up. But
the embittered and unscrupulous Skutnik won't
talk, leaving McNeal with just one option…and boy
is it a long shot.
Director Henry Hathaway manages to infuse his "who
dun it" with considerable flair, even though the
screenplay by Leonard Hoffman and Quentin Reynolds
seems muddled at best. There are moments when
tension in the investigation seems to start to
grow, only to be defused by snippets of
domesticated romance between McNeal and his
ever-devoted wife, Laura (Helen Walker). The over
the top voice narration that champions America as
a country where justice eventually prevails is
maudlin and heavy-handedly inserted. As with
"Panic in the Streets" the biggest mystery here is
why Fox would choose to issue "Call Northside 777"
as a "film noir." This is a detective thriller
with serviceable merits. But it in no way can be
classified as "noir" styled filmmaking.
Fox's DVD is not very impressive. The picture
quality is below par, either for a film of this
vintage, or for a DVD of present day standards.
The grayscale is often poorly contrasted, with
weak blacks and dirty looking whites. Edge
enhancement and aliasing are present throughout
for a picture quality that, at times, is digital
in appearance. Though certain scenes appear
generally free of age-related artifacts, others
are riddled in a barrage of scratches, tears and
chips. The latter is more predominant throughout.
Finally, the audio is not very well balanced. At
times its fidelity is muffled. At other moments it
is quite strident. The presence of background hiss
throughout is disappointing. And audio commentary
accompanies the feature but again, is rather dull
and lacking in background history about the
characters, actors or talent behind the camera. |
