Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with the next installment of A Movie A Week.
[For those who new to the column, A Movie A Week is just that, a dedicated way for me explore vintage cinema every week. I’ll review a movie every Monday and each one will be connected to the one before it via a common thread, either an actor, director, writer, producer or some other crew member. Each film, pulled from my DVD shelf or recorded on the home DVR (I heart TCM) will be one I haven’t seen.]
No, you’re not crazy. I missed last Monday’s column for a myriad of reasons, the main one being Comic-Con craziness spilling over to International travel while I was exuding mucus due to the Nerd AIDS (the clinical term for the head cold I got at Comic-Con). By the time I finally go home it was late last week and I figured I’d just put last week’s movie in this week’s slot and move everything up a bit.
This week’s AMAW follows a whole lot of people over from the previous HOW THE WEST WAS WON including Lee J. Cobb, James Stewart, director Henry Hathaway and composer Alfred Newman. The flick is called CALL NORTHSIDE 777 and is part of the Fox Noir series, a few of which we’ve covered in AMAD and AMAW.
And like most of the Fox Noirs this one doesn’t really feel very noir to me. In fact, if anything this movie feels like a docu-drama about the prohibition era crime spree in Chicago.
The flick starts off with a narrator telling us about the era and Hathaway gives us documentary footage mixed with filmed scenes all telling us the story of the murder of one policeman.
In fact, the movie is indeed based on a true story, but it’s not about a cop tracking down murderers or even a docudrama about the people who committed the crimes. Instead we follow a cynical newspaperman who seems to have to forced to explore the innocence of the men accused of the murder and sentenced to life in prison.
That’s really the angle that makes this movie stand out to me. Jimmy Stewart could have played the investigative journalist PJ McNeal as a sensitive guy... and that’s honestly how I expected him to play it given his filmography, but he doesn’t.
McNeal constantly has to be pushed into following up this story, which began as a suspicious advert placed in the classified section of their newspaper offering $5,000 for any information on the innocence of Frank Wiecek (Richard Conte). The title comes from this ad, asking for interested parties to call Northside 777.
Stewart believes this is either a scam or something more dangerous… a trap set by the organized crime bosses to eliminate witnesses, but follows up on it. He doesn’t find a sleazeball with a tommy gun. Instead he finds an old woman on her hands and knees polishing the floor of an upperscale hotel or apartment building. This is Wiecek’s mother who has spent the 11 years since his conviction working and saving to offer that $5,000.
Kasia Orzazewski plays this woman and is fantastic in the role, the perfect mixture of pathetic, sympathetic and sad. Out of wanting to help her not get gypped out of her hard-earned money, Stewart features her sob story, giving her a larger voice and more prominent position.
Of course the readers are touched by this story and Stewart’s editor (Lee J. Cobb) wants more. Stewart is reluctant… he wrote the story, but doesn’t believe for a second this man who was convicted by due legal process, with eye-witness testimony no less, is innocent.
But he’s forced to follow the story up, so he says he’ll do it, but only in his way. Stewart takes it upon himself to end this series by finding proof that this man is guilty and not the innocent angel his mother portends.
Seriously, the dude doesn’t become a champion for this convicted murderer’s innocence until damn near the end of the movie, which I thought was a fascinating angle for the protagonist to take.
The flick deals with some weighty issues, like police corruption and the sensationalism of news. In this particular case it works for the good of people. Lee J. Cobb keeps publishing these stories because it’s saving the paper, but he’s also using the stories for good.
Another really interesting thing about this film is how it revels in the technology of its time, like the ability to wire photos (over a loooooonnnnggg period of time). By the end of the movie Stewart is using every reporter trick in his bag to track down the one person who could free Wiecek. Today it would be done with Google and tracing of cell phones, etc, but in ‘40s it’s all about the footwork. Stewart takes his time, going from Polish bar to Polish bar looking for a woman who may or may not even still be in town… or alive for that matter.
It’s a really cool flick, even if it doesn’t particularly fit into my own vision noir. The argument can be made that even though Stewart is a newspaperman he’s still essentially playing the part of detective, wading through shady people, scummy bars and corrupt cops to get the information he wants.
Final Thoughts: I’d certainly recommend this movie, especially to those who want to round out their James Stewart movie knowledge. He plays against type a bit here, but is still has that Jimmy Stewart charm and likability. Also of note… It’s this movie’s premiere at the Chinese Theater where Stewart immortalized himself with the hand and footprints in cement.
Upcoming A Movie A Week Titles:
Monday, August 10th: ROPE (1948)
Monday, August 17th: THE SEVENTH CROSS (1944)
Monday, August 24th: TRACK OF THE CAT (1954)
Monday, August 31st: THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931)
Next week brings us another 1948 Jimmy Stewart film, this time one of his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock called ROPE, famous for it’s mostly continuous shooting with the only cuts being hidden as the camera mags had to be changed out. See you folks next week for that one!
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com
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