CALL NORTHSIDE 777 (1948)

Cast

Plot

Based on a true story, the film begins in 1932 with the killing of a Chicago cop and the sentencing of two young men for his murder. Fast-forward eleven years, and the boss of the Chicago Times newspaper is intrigued to find an advert by the mother of one of the killers, Frank Wiecek, asking for information about the crime, clearly Wiecek's mother thinks her son is innocent. PJ O'Neal (Stewart), one of the Times' top reporters, is dispatched to find out whether Mrs Wiecek's opinion is clouded by filial affection or whether her son may have been wrongly imprisoned. At first O'Neal is sceptical, but as he delves deeper into the case his certainty begins to weaken. Faced with increased resistance from authorities, O'Neal is unwilling to be bullied in his search for the truth. Gripping and gritty, Call Northside 777, with its fidelity to the factual aspects of the story, represented a new type of film which drew heavily on Neo-Realism, the style eventually became known as the docudrama. The bottom line; Call Northside 777 is a hugely entertaining, if little known, classic. This oozes quality.