blanche-2 I started watching this film, "Two Against the World," then thought I'd seen it, and consequently found out it's a remake of "Five Star Final." It's been a while, but the story is basically the same. Humphrey Bogart plays Sherry Scott, the manager of a radio station. His boss suggests that may he's aiming the programming above the heads of the audiences. "You could sit on a toadstool and be above this one," Bogie sneers. The station owner wants a serial based on a twenty-year-old murder case, in which a woman killed her husband but the homicide was found to be justifiable.The woman, now Edith Carstairs (Linda Perry) at this point is married to a banker (Henry O'Neill) and their daughter (Helen MacKellar) is about to be married to a man from a very good family (Carlyle Moore, Jr.). When the show starts to air on the radio, Edith, whose daughter knows nothing of her past, begs her husband to do something about it. He tries, but to no avail.This film is an indictment against tabloid radio, as opposed to what we have today -- tabloid everything. Bogart is good in a real '30s melodramatic role, and Beverly Roberts has a nice turn as the know-it-all secretary. Linda Perry is sympathetic as Edith.I think "Five Star Final" is slightly better, but this film, for its time, was well done.

bkoganbing Jack Warner was a movie mogul who never let a good story go to waste. After doing an acclaimed version of Five Star Final with Edward G. Robinson four years earlier, Warner Brothers did a cut rate B picture version, shifting the location to a Fox News like radio station.Humphrey Bogart steps into Robinson's role as the programming director of the radio station where the owner has a new idea for ratings. He commissions a dramatization of an old murder to be done as a multi-part serial over several weeks.Helen MacKellar is the woman in question. She killed her husband and a jury acquitted her. Since then she's been living quietly, married again with a daughter. The daughter, Linda Perry, is about to be married to the son of a steel tycoon and she knows nothing about her mother's past. After MacKellar and her husband Henry O'Neill try every means of pressure to bring to bear against the radio station, they fail and tragedy results.If it all sounds melodramatic, take my word for it, it is. Still it has Humphrey Bogart in it and there's a nice performance by Harry Hayden who is the genius behind the program in question. Boris Karloff did the part in Five Star Final, but Hayden is fine as the sanctimonious fraud.Really though for dedicated fans of Bogey.

drednm This cheapo remake of the terrific Five Star Final suffers from terrible acting. Humphrey Bogart stars as the manager of a sleazoid radio station that is desperate to boost sagging ratings. The owner decides to have a series of morality plays written about a famous murder case from 20 years ago. So they hire the fake preacher (Harry Hayden) to track down the murderess, who was acquitted and has been living quietly under a fake name. The preacher arrive on the daughter's wedding day, but the ruthless radio station refuses to back off exposing the mother and ruining their lives.Bogart is always good. Hayden is good the the slimy preacher, and Henry O'Neill is good as the father. Everyone else is just awful. Helen McKeller wins no sympathy (crucial for the role), Linda Perry is a lousy actress, Beverly Roberts is OK but always looks old, Claire Dodd and Hobart Cavanagh have no parts, Carlyle Moore is a dud as the boy friend, Virginia Brissac is miscast as the society mother, Robert Middlemas overacts as the station owner.This one comes in under an hour but is a pale copy of the original which boasted dynamic performances by Edward G. Robinson, Aline MacMahon, Frances Starr, and Boris Karloff. But it's always worth watching Boagrt.

SkippyDevereaux Only five years after making "Five Star Final", Warner Brothers decided to remake it and this is what came of it. A very short, fast paced film that is very entertaining in its own way. Another good performance by Humphrey Bogart and company. The plot is about a radio station that decides to boost their ratings by bringing back to the public, a 20 year old murder and what happened to the lady who committed the crime. It has dire consequences for all those involved. A very good film, but not as good as "Five Star Final", which in 1931 was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture.