alexanderdavies-99382 "Five Star Final" is one of the best films Edward G. Robinson made after "Little Caesar." He was working with the same director from that other film, Mervyn LeRoy and they both deliver the goods. The story concerns the editor of a sleazy, controversial New York newspaper who buckles under pressure from his superiors in resurrecting a 20 year old murder case. Robinson's superiors at the newspaper, feel the case has some loose ends and as it happens, they are right. During the film, Robinson realises that ethics don't exactly figure very much at his place of employment. He begins to develop a conscience about covering the story and grows to hate what he does. All of Robinson's scenes are filmed in the same set but that doesn't affect his performance. Regarding the newspaper story in question, a decent family are holding a skeleton in their closet and only the husband and wife know about it. They need to prevent their young daughter from knowing the truth as much as possible. Boris Karloff plays a sly and devious journalist who is given the job of gathering any information about the family. "Five Star Final" highlights things like bigotry and prejudiced attitudes in a fine screenplay. There is none of the wise- cracking humour in this film, just a dose of stark reality. It is a powerful film with a terrific performance from Edward G. Robinson and great direction from Mervyn LeRoy.

atlasmb Adapted from a play, "Five Star Final" is the story of a big city newspaper that--in response to dipping circulation numbers--strong arms news vendors for preferred positioning in newsstands and succumbs to titillation in order to sell more papers.The cast is excellent. Edgar G. Robinson plays the central character, Mr. Randall--the managing editor who caves under pressure from the paper's owner, circulation manager and advertising manager. Robinson is powerful as a man who attempts to ignore his own moral compass, but pays a price for doing so. Aline MacMahon plays Randall's secretary, Miss Taylor, in her first film credit. She has few lines, but projects her personality so effectively she may be the most likable person in the film. Marian Marsh plays the daughter of a woman the tabloid attacks in its zeal to provide its readers with sensationalism. Marsh had a short film career, but here she shows her ability to play both a demure young woman and a powerfully emotional victim.Though some films lose their relevance over time, "Five Star Final" is still as poignant and important today as when it was first released. Yellow journalism is arguably more mainstream today. Virtually all of the news media and entertainment press today cater to the lowest common denominator. There are hardly any news outlets that feature unbiased and serious news, devoid of the salacious. The demise of Princess Diana, the persecution of celebrities by paparazzi, the concentration on crime and violence as the focus of news coverage all attest to the fact that the press has learned nothing.This film does such a good job of detailing the issue, that I have few criticisms. The soapbox speeches at the end of the film might have been less moralizing, but they are also powerfully dramatic. The film "Absence of Malice" (1981) accomplishes the same thing with more subtlety, which I appreciate. The writer of the original play, Louis Weitzenkorn, is said to have worked at The New York Evening Graphic--among the worst of the tabloids in its time. Perhaps this story was his way of exorcising his personal demons. His voice is, in part at least, the voice of Mr. Randall.

LeonLouisRicci Scathing Indictment on Yellow Journalism. It is a Timeless Tale of the Human Condition. Sordid Gossip and the Exploitation of Anyone or Anything Used to Sell Something. Today it's Ratings, in 1931 it was Circulation.Edward G. Robinson is Energetic and Willing to Do What the Bosses Want and Dig Up Dirt and Mud Sling just Because it's His Job, and He is Good at it and gets Well Paid. Damn the Consequences.In this Pre-Code Movie the Reporters Stereotypical Drinking is in Full Force with Little Regard for Prohibition and there are Racial Slurs and Other Pre-Code Stingers. The Cast are All Delivering Expected Dated Histrionics with Boris Karloff Giddy as a Defrocked Priest Posing as a Priest to Get the Goods. Overall, Above Average Pre-Coder with Some Interesting Montages Amidst the Sleek Photography, and a Distinct Message that is Still Relevant Today. Nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

theowinthrop First, why do I say it is dated? It is a matter of acting tastes. While several of the leads (the always good Robinson and Karloff, Aline MacMahon, and H.B.Warner) give strong performances (witness Warner's last three minutes in the film as the strain of his wife's tragedy finally destroys him), there is too much of the 1931 "staginess" of the acting style of that day in FIVE STAR FINAL. Put this way: my mother (who watched the film with me) enjoyed it, but laughed at that staginess - she was born in 1928, so as a kid many movies of the early 1930s would have had that style of acting, and she found it archaic).Bernarr MacFadden is recalled (if at all) as a one time newspaper owner and food/diet/health faddist. The latter career is what most people remember (one of his diet/health followers was Greta Garbo). Coming from the hinterlands, MacFadden looked like a hick but had tremendous energy, ego, and ambition. He bought the failing New York Evening Graphic in the 1920s and taking full advantage of that age of ballyhoo turned it into the raggiest newspaper of the day. As mentioned he made up "photographs" supposedly showing the crimes and punishments he was reporting. He did everything to scoop the rival Hearst and other papers of news dirt. His intention was (as was Hearst's, with more plausibility) to build himself into a national figure for political office - hoping to eventually become President. It did not work (fortunately). I say that safely. I have read his editorials about the end of certain criminals, and he sounds not soporific but childish in the intensity of his dislike (in one of them he actually wrote something like, "Now, he's dead, dead, dead...that'll show him!" - I am not making that up!!).The depth of the Graphic's career really was in 1928. A ridiculous marriage-divorce case, that of millionaire landlord Edward Browning (age 70) and his young wife "Peaches" (age under 20) broke out, and instead of ignoring it and concentrating on real news, MacFadden actually did his idiotic fake photos on the front page. Browning apparently (like all husbands with their wives, or people with their sex companions) had private language with Peaches that the court revealed. When he wanted sex but badgered his wife he (supposedly) said "Woof, woof, don't be a goof!", and if he described intercourse he'd say, "Honk, honk, it's the bonk!". MacFadden showed Browning and Peaches in bedclothes in their bedroom, with cartoon balloons with the expressions in them. The "goof" expression was coming from Browning, but the "bonk" expression came from a goose or duck that was transposed into the frame of the picture (probably because the latter's "quack" is sometimes like a "honk").FIVE STAR FINAL was one of the favorite of Eddie Robinson. Coming a year after his breakout success in LITTLE CAESAR he was glad (for once) not to have to be a gangster but a city room editor on a tabloid ready to blow up. Robinson's Joseph Taylor has been working for a New York City newspaper for 10 years as editor (before that he worked on other papers, but none quite so sensational). The owner of this paper, Hinchcliffe (Oscar Apfel) is a respectable looking millionaire, but he is an arch-hypocrite. He likes higher and higher circulation and does not mind if he uses scandals to boost his paper. By the way, some of the best minor sequences in FIVE STAR FINAL show Hinchclffe and Robinson discussing items that have to be moved or dropped and the effects on the public. Apparently their dropping of some articles by former Black heavyweight champ Jack Johnson (about his girlfriends) caused a dip in the circulation sales in Harlem (Robinson adds to this tidbit by mentioning that his housekeeper stopped buying the newspaper when that happened!).The plot of the film is that a twenty year old homicide that resulted in the acquittal of the perpetrator is resurrected for circulation. The woman (Marian Marsh) has married (H.B.Warner) and has a daughter (Frances Carr) who is getting married to the son (Anthony Bushnell) of the a wealthy manufacturer. The revelation of the old scandal (skillfully hidden by Marsh and Warner) is threatened by the newspaper series. The older couple then compound the problem when they mistakenly trust Boris Karloff as a clergyman (he was a defrocked theology student, who now is a sleazy reporter). The revelations lead to deeper and deeper problems, and eventual tragedy.Aline MacMahon is Robinson's secretary (and girlfriend) who knows he is better than his activities suggest. But it is not until the tragedy that Robinson's self-loathing for his activities emerges. It determines him on a showdown with Apfel, which is complicated by the arrival of another party who wants a confrontation and an explanation.The film is good, if some of the dialog turns to be too racy (and even bigoted) at times. The issue of the limits of a free press are always with us, and this presents it quite well up to Robinson's final commentary and actions to show his disgust with his job.How true is it that we do not forgive old felons or suspects in crimes? It varies. Those who are pedophiles or sex criminals are rarely forgiven, especially as they have to register with the police in many jurisdictions. As for our murderers, well you have the example of O. J. Simpson, and how he may now be finally facing a delayed punishment in a different crime. On the other hand, you have the case of the successful detective story novelist Anne Perry, who went to prison as a juvenile for murder. There is no universal rule on accepting these people one way or another. It probably depends on the crime involved.