Movie Makers (Jan-Dec 1948)

112 NEWS VALUE CALL NORTHSIDE 777. a screen play by Jerome Cady and Jay Dratler, based on articles by James P. McGuire, filmed by Joe MacDonald, directed by Henry Hathaway, produced by Otto Lang and presented by 20th Century-Fox. Ideas? Maybe they're not quite a dime a dozen, but you can usually pick up a couple of paragraphs in a three cent newspaper that will start the wheels turning and, eventually, the reels whirling. Certainly Henry Hathaway has made a top drawer photoplay from a true story that appeared in the dailies in 1945. Call Northside 777 is another distinguished film from 20th Century that makes capital of the fact that nature does better than any set dresser, that the faces of unfamiliar supporting players are fresh and believable. In this case, Hathaway took his crew to Illinois State Penitentiary and the slums of Chicago, to document the drama with credible backgrounds. Note how the pathos of Kasia Orzazewski's first scene as the Polish mother is intensified by the patronizing position of the camera as she pleads her case looking up into the lens. High among the best performers in this story of a newspaper writer's fight to free an innocent prisoner are the fascinating equipments of the publisher and the penitentiary psychiatrist. Clever cut-ins and montages make the presses, the type setting machines and the lie detector as dramatically compelling as the actors. Heavy machinery double exposed over a troubled face, like the shots of the giant presses rolling across James Stewart's brow, is an effective symbol for depicting mental confusion. Richard Conte, who trained in the amateur films of Charles Carbonaro, FACL, before graduating to professional ranks, gives an exemplary performance by underplaying. Call Northside 777 is a happy combination of fine acting and a story that stems from human experience, a story as dramatic as the headlines. 20th Century-Fox Aids for the amateur cameraman, to be seen in current theatrical films COMEDY CONTINUITY A MIRACLE CAN HAPPEN, a screen play by Laurence Stallings and Lou Breslow, based on an orig-inal story by Arch Oboler, filmed by Edward Cronjagrer, Joseph Biroc, Gordon Avil and John Seitz, directed by KingVidor and Leslie Fenton, produced by Benedict Bogeaus and Burg-ess Meredith and presented by United Artists. When Arch Oboler sketched out the original story for A Miracle Can Happen, his problems were essentially those of the home filmer pondering how he is ever going to twist his diversified shots into an integrated movie. For this variegated comedy is a trilogy of unrelated short stories, as dissimilar as your hundred foot reel of the beach party, the new car and Sonny's first skates. Mr. Oboler has strung his three episodes on a very serviceable plot thread that concerns a young benedict's efforts to make good as a roving reporter. In his struggle to duck his creditors and to get a lively column, he leaps over walls, jumps through windows and climbs strange stairways, to emerge with some amusing tales. Amateurs who lament the dearth of simple plot material will find that there's many a good idea between the covers of short story anthologies, as did Mr. Oboler. His last episode, the story of two "con men" bested by a brat, is a simple rewrite of 0. Henry's The Ransom of Red Chief, though Oboler fails to give Mr. Henry a nod in the credits. There are many small-cast outdoor comedies like this, well within the scope of any amateur group, languishing on the shelves of your local library. A Miracle Can Happen is good for some hearty chuckles, and it proves a point we've been harping on for a long time: continuity is not where you find it, but where you put it. United Artists CANNY USE of reflectors clearly defines the actors' expressions, making this reunion one of the most touching scenes in Call Norfhside 777. AN AMBITIOUS MRS. motivates the continuity for the tall tales in A Miracle Can Happen.