Call Northside 777 (Film Noir)
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: C+ Film: B
Believe it or not but this is
the first film to ever be shot on location in the city of Chicago. Even during the credits we are told that
whenever the original stories location could be used it was, which maintains
the films authenticity to the true story.
Originally this noir was released in 1948 by Fox, who have dug through
their vault to add this as part of their Fox Film Noir collection stamping this
title as number two.
Directed by Henry Hathaway, who
would later work on a few westerns, such as Sons of Katie Elder, True
Grit and a segment of How the West
Was Won, his film Call Northside 777
is a fantastic film, which will hopefully get some recognition again with its
introduction to the DVD format.
Starring Jimmy Stewart as the hotshot journalist initially assigned to
an old murder case to figure out if possibly an innocent man was sent to jail. This becomes known to him as his editor,
played by Lee J. Cobb, finds an ad stating that $5000 would be rewarded to
anyone who knew about the murder case and that leads him to the address on
Northside 777 where he finds the sentenced mans mother scrubbing floors.
As more facts are gathered, even
though 10 or more years has passed, the journalistic side of Stewart’s
character reveals many gaps in the case and his story becomes hot press, but is
his publication just trying to make money?
While this might not necessary be a blood boiler, it certainly keeps
your interest throughout and knowing that it is a true story makes it even
better. The performances are quite good
too and once again Stewart shines as the ‘every man’ character with his
charisma and charm.
Cinematographer Joe MacDonald was responsible for the
beautiful contrast photography seen here and was also the man behind the lens
for Panic in the Streets, which is
also reviewed on this site as another Fox issued film noir. Actually MacDonald was a regular with many
of the Fox studio work ranging from My
Darling Clementine to Titanic (1953),
or How To Marry a Millionaire during
Marilyn’s stint in the mid 50’s. This
was a man who also worked alongside Samuel Fuller on pictures like House of Bamboo and Pickup on South Street, so the noir
genre was certainly one of his fortes.
For this DVD Fox has cleaned up his work with the 1.33 X 1 framing
looking good even despite some major efforts the film still has some lackluster
moments in its picture quality. Nothing
overly bad, but an overabundance of grain, nicks, and softness appear
throughout that bring this down a notch from some of Fox’s other fantastic
restoration work.
Given the films age there is a certain expectancy when
dealing with quality and sometimes less known titles get less treatment, which
is excusable. At least the film is
available and accessible for noir buffs.
The audio is falls into the Rice Krispy category as you can hear snap,
crackle, and pop throughout, although not major there is definitely a
noticeable amount of hiss still on the audio whether you prefer Dolby Digital
2.0 Mono or Stereo.
There are essentially two extras
added to this disc, one is a commentary track by James Ursiniand and Alain
Silver and the other is at the films premier as some of the stars attend for
the films initial release. I wouldn’t
say that either one really packs a lot of punch, but if you really enjoy
listening to commentaries than perhaps and if you like watching old archival
material than you’ll enjoy that segment as well. Personally I think that some commentaries tend to undermine the
film, which is more a preference and I don’t know that there is much reason to
have commentary under this film since it’s a true story.
Since Fox is releasing these
noirs and really bringing them to the market with some extras as well as some
restoration you would expect them to carry a heavier price tag, but
surprisingly these films remain on the low end of the price chart making them
easier to grab up on a budget. Thanks
Fox for not disappointing with yet another solid film.
- Nate Goss
