CALL NORTHSIDE 777 (1948) Based on a true case. In 1932 Chicago, a year of 365 murders, reporter, Richard Conte is given life for a murder he claims he did not commit. Years later, reporter James Stewart investigates an ad for a $5.000 reward, finds out that it was placed by Conte's mother who believed in her son's innocence and scrubbed floors for years to save so much money. At first cynical, the blase Stewart investigates, gradually becomes certain of the man's innocence and dedicates himself to proving it. Director Henry Hathaway, fresh from his hit "Kiss of Death," made this engrossing, convincing film on location in Chicago, in almost documentary style and with a toned down "March of Time" narration. The photography was by Joseph MacDonald who had shot "My Darling Clementine" among others and was to return to the documentary manner in Elia Kazan's 1950 "Panic in the Streets." (Edwin Jahiel)