I want to like this movie, really. Jimmy Stewart, Lee J. Cobb, a murder-mystery, set in a newsroom. I really want to like Call Northside 777!
But I feel strangely frustrated. I would like to say it's just because as a modern-day journalist, I cringe at the obvious excesses with the truth taken. But I found that part fascinating - a glimpse at how much the industry has changed in 50 years.
No, I think my frustration lies with a combination of things. One is the acting by Stewart. This is an obvious transition for him from the ultimate good-guy everyman Capracorn movies of the early-mid 1940s to the darker, more realistic everyman movies of Hitchcock in the 1950s. Although many people here think he does a fine job, I felt there were times when Stewart had problems getting his voice to go along with the lines he was given very well. This is especially noticeable I think when he's interviewing various people in connection with the murder, and at times fairly shouts innocent-sounding questions.
But not only Stewart, most of the cast seemed to have problems not sounding like they were reading off a TelePrompTer (except for Lee J. Cobb, who did a spectacular job as the managing editor).
Also, the ending could have been very suspenseful. But it wasn't. The high-contrast film-noir look was distracting at times as well. Really, it's a bunch of little things that add up to turning Call Northside 777 from a potentially fascinating murder-thriller starring one of the greatest actors of all time into an interesting but drawn out pseudo-documentary. It's really too bad.
Because I really wanted to like this movie!
6/10
But I feel strangely frustrated. I would like to say it's just because as a modern-day journalist, I cringe at the obvious excesses with the truth taken. But I found that part fascinating - a glimpse at how much the industry has changed in 50 years.
No, I think my frustration lies with a combination of things. One is the acting by Stewart. This is an obvious transition for him from the ultimate good-guy everyman Capracorn movies of the early-mid 1940s to the darker, more realistic everyman movies of Hitchcock in the 1950s. Although many people here think he does a fine job, I felt there were times when Stewart had problems getting his voice to go along with the lines he was given very well. This is especially noticeable I think when he's interviewing various people in connection with the murder, and at times fairly shouts innocent-sounding questions.
But not only Stewart, most of the cast seemed to have problems not sounding like they were reading off a TelePrompTer (except for Lee J. Cobb, who did a spectacular job as the managing editor).
Also, the ending could have been very suspenseful. But it wasn't. The high-contrast film-noir look was distracting at times as well. Really, it's a bunch of little things that add up to turning Call Northside 777 from a potentially fascinating murder-thriller starring one of the greatest actors of all time into an interesting but drawn out pseudo-documentary. It's really too bad.
Because I really wanted to like this movie!
6/10