Call Northside 777

Totally unremarkable, and not really film noir. Jimmy Stewart is Jimmy Stewart, and Richard Conte is horribly miscast as he's totally unsympathetic. Cobb is good enough, and there is a sequence where Jimmy Stewart wanders around a Polish slum and into a witness's house that resembles the chiaroscuro and attitude of noir. That's about it. I think the way everything is wrapped up is a bit unconvincing as well.

This film isn't anything special, but it holds your interest. It's billed as a film noir, but only the scene where Jimmy Stewart visits "Wanda Skutnik" really has that feel to it. The movie could have benefitted from more of it.

I was bored. Criterion touted this title for Noirvember but it was more of a detective mystery. Fav scene: it gets interesting at the end when Stewart makes his pitch to the board, but then it sputters with the opposing sides basically saying "nah uh you're wrong" and then we race to ENHANCE the photo.

In some ways, an interesting comparison with Zodiac, another procedural. Here, new tech lights the way toward justice, where the cynicism of the 21st century leaves Fincher feeling decidedly less enthusiastic. It's also tough to watch the polish here, even as it gropes in the shadows for grittiness. But then I remember how counter-cultural this was, to even suggest a national institution made a mistake, and I can appreciate the effort. This serves as a gateway to the cynical contemporary era.

Carried by a wonderful performance by Stewart

It's a pretty good movie that gets pretty far fetched towards the end. Well acted by all involved even the minor players. My big question at the end is what ever happened to the other guy who was innocent?????!!!!!

A police procedural with a heart. Jimmy is his usual adorable self and Conte is particularly intense as a defensive, prickly man who endears himself to us in spite of (because of?) his pride. Hathaway's direction is undistinguished, but it gets the job done.

Stewart and Cobb are terrific as usual. It was a good film, but I was a little let down.

Jimmy made a lousy cynical hack but, as his character changes the casting came good. Has a cool documentary-with-flourishes style to most of it looks-wise -with a couple of scenes of noir.

Remarkable in its time for a frank presentation of what we now call inocence projects. Stewart lends a lot of credibility to the role of a man who transitions from sceptic to believer.

We meet a man whose mother insists was wrongly sent up for murder. Since this is a newspaper picture starring Jimmy Stewart (and definitely *not* "noir" like some people claim), no prizes for guessing how it ends. That being said, this is a well-made, entertaining movie, made by people who knew how to shoot a film in black and white. However ordinary this picture may be in other ways, it looks GREAT, and cries out to be seen on the big screen

Hopeful, low-key Hollywood docu-noir, thoughtfully scripted and shot, with Jimmy -- sorry, JAMES Stewart doing a fine job in his first cinematic turn as a hard-nosed realist (rather than a lovable, drawling everyman).

Couple of cool scenes and not much else. The true story is fascinating, though.

Hathaway tried to create some drama, but it just didn't happen. It's pretty telling when the big scene is driven by a photo being developed.

The story itself is fairly interesting, and I quite liked the procedural aspects of Stewart uncovering all the evidence and meeting the witnesses and so on. His transformation from hardened cynic to campaigner for justice was handled well. Unfortunately I thought the direction was mediocre. It's very dry and unexciting, with long (oh so long) periods of nothing but dialogue and heavy-handed exposition. I also thought there were too many questions left unanswered at the finish.

Good police procedural that pulls in some of the grittiness and despair of noir. I think the movie succeeds due to its basis in truth (the questionable police involvement was minimized) rather than in its pacing, which is often dreadfully slow, especially as a Mr. Smith-esque Stewart stalls at the end.

Slick little mock-documentary crime flick that feels a little like James Stewart is doing a warm-up for Anatomy of A Murder, which unfortunately is better than this film in literally every way. The film stays intriguing while never hitting suspenseful, which means that this is a great Sunday afternoon with the grandparents film, unlike, say, Se7en

I wouldn't classify this as noir, but it's a good procedural starring two of the period's greats, Stewart and Conte, both playing against type.

This is a good film, it is a straightforward crime drama. The script does the job and is not very fancy. Jimmy Stewart is excellent in the lead role and he helps make this film better. I would recommend this movie.

Fairly average James Stewart 'taking on the system' black and white. A bit long winded and an incredibly cheesy end.

The skepticism of Stewart's character stood out to me, in what must be one of the earliest entries about a character out for social justice. Many of the beats still work, and in fact play very effectively.

What I'll say about Call Northside 777 is that it felt authentic. Almost too much so for the James Stewart shtick. None of that Hollywood glamour touches here, and that's this crime investigation's strong-point. The confrontation with the crooked witness played by Betty Garde the was film's peak, and what a fantastic bit of acting that was! The fact that Garde hadn't been seen on the silver screen since 1931 makes it even more incredible. A satisfying and educational journey to justice.

Very procedural but entertaining, even when the humanity of the Stewart character's crusade drips into sentimentality. As a truly wretched woman, Betty Garde gives an incendiary performance (up there with Ann Savage in Detour!) as a thoroughly unreliable witness to a cop murder.

Exciting, fast-paced story. A bit implausible toward the end but you'll like it.