Call Northside 777 Blu-ray

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S E A R C H D V D B e a v e r

(aka 'Calling Northside 777')

directed by Henry Hathaway
USA 1947

One of the most impressive of Fox's semi-documentary noir thrillers shot on location (here Chicago), this sees Stewart as a hard-boiled newspaper reporter latching on to a 'human interest' story of a woman slaving away for years to save the money which may help free her son from prison, and then setting out to prove the man innocent of murder. Besides the generally strong performances and Joe MacDonald's fine monochrome camera-work, what finally impresses about the film is Stewart's gradual development from skeptical scoop-hunter to a committed crusader for justice. Add to that the suggestion that the police are less than willing to be proved wrong in their conviction of Conte (it was a cop that he allegedly killed), and you have an absorbingly intelligent thriller....

Excerpt from TimeOut located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: February 1st, 1948

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The Third Man
by Graham Greene

The Dark Side of the Screen: Film Noir

by Foster Hirsch

Somewhere in the Night: Film Noir and the American City

by Nicholas Christopher

Shades of Noir: A Reader
by Joan Copjec

The Art of Noir: The Posters and Graphics from the Classic Era of Film Noir
by Eddie Muller

The Little Black and White Book of Film Noir: Quotations from Films of the 40's and 50's
by Peg Thompson, Saeko Usukawa

Film Noir
by Alain Silver

Film Noir Guide: 745 Films of the Classic Era, 1940-1959
by Michael F. Keaney

Detours and Lost Highways: A Map of Neo-Noir
by Foster Hirsch

Check out more in "The Library"

Comparison:

Fox - Region 1 - NTSC vs. Pidax - Region 'B' - Blu-ray

Fox Home Video - Region 1- NTSC LEFT

Pidax - Region 'B' - Blu-ray RIGHT

Box Covers

Distribution	Fox Home Video - Region 1 - NTSC	Pidax - Region 'B' - Blu-ray
Runtime	1:50:52	1:51:00.153
Video	1.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio Average Bitrate: 8.51 mb/s NTSC 720x480 29.97 f/s	1.33:1 1080P / 23.976 fps Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 24,585,947,000 bytes Feature: 23,899,975,680 bytes Video Bitrate: 26.98 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
	NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.
Bitrate:
Bitrate: Blu-ray
Audio	English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo), English (Dolby Digital 1.0), French (Dolby Digital 1.0)	Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / DN -4dB DUB: Dolby Digital Audio German 224 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps / DN -4dB
Subtitles	English, Spanish, None	None
Features	Release Information: Studio: Fox Home Entertainment Aspect Ratio: Original aspect Ratio 1.33:1 Edition Details: • Commentary by authors and historians James Ursini and Alain Silver • Fox Movietone news (motion picture stars attend premiere) • Theatrical trailer DVD Release Date: March 15th, 2005 Keep Case Chapters: 20	Release Information: Studio: Pidax AG 1.33:1 1080P / 23.976 fps Single-layered Blu-ray Disc Size: 24,585,947,000 bytes Feature: 23,899,975,680 bytes Video Bitrate: 26.98 Mbps Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video Edition Details: • US trailer (1:48) • German Trailer (0:52) Blu-ray Release Date: April 7th, 2017 Standard Blu-ray Case Chapters: 8

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Pidax (Germany) - Region 'B' - Blu-ray - May 2017: The Fox DVD was pretty good and included a commentary. I was a bit ambivalent over this, single-layered, 1080P transfer and kept zooming in for edge-enhancement or digitization, but if any is there - it's reasonably buried. We've had similar suspicions on previous era Fox visuals, but I think this is more inherent than the result of a manipulated transfer. The Blu-ray loses a sliver of information on the left and bottom edges. Other than that the contrast is more layered and it looks quite good in-motion. Certainly superior to the SD, actually displaying instances of depth.

Unfortunately, only lossy audio - original English or a German DUB. So the score by Alfred Newman (Cry of the City, The Diary of Anne Frank, Bus Stop, Blood and Sand, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Panic in the Streets, The Song of Bernadette etc. etc.) doesn't get an uncompressed bump but the audio is clear without sync issues (we sometimes see in these foreign Blu-ray releases) on the English-language track. No subtitles are offered. The disc is region 'B'-locked.

Only a US and German trailer as extras.

Still a methodical, captivating Noir with great performers. I was very pleased to see it in 1080P and will certainly watch again. Recommended to 'Dark Cinema' Blu-ray completists and aficionados.

***

ON THE DVD: Seems on par with the Laura transfer. A little inherently soft but quite good overall. Nice of Fox to include the original mono audio with the Stereo bumps in these Noirs. I haven't made it all the way through the commentary yet, but I expect it is the same flavor as "Panic in the Streets". Fox has done some work with these DVDs. Bravo. out of