User reviews

A powerful, uncompromising early look at "Yellow Journalism" which made a great enough impact at the time to be counted among the year's best films at the Academy Awards – to say nothing of the rush of similar pictures which followed in its wake, culminating in Howard Hawks' masterpiece, HIS GIRL Friday (1940).

Edward G. Robinson is re-united here with the director of LITTLE CAESAR (1930), the film that made him a star, and delivers another great performance which is sufficiently nuanced to anchor the somewhat melodramatic plot in reality. Supporting him, among many others, are Aline MacMahon as his long-suffering secretary who's secretly in love with him and Boris Karloff in a marvelous turn as the most shamelessly hypocritical reporter on the newspaper's payroll. The cynical, rapid-fire dialogue gives it an edge and an authenticity that's almost impossible to recapture these days and, needless to say, became one of the key elements in this type of film.

The film features a number of good scenes but the highlights would have to be: the split-screen technique introduced to shut out the former convict, who is now being hounded by "The Gazette", from having a conversation with either the owner of the paper or its news editor (Robinson); the lengthy and heart-breaking scene in which the female ex-convict's husband (played by the ever-reliable H.B. Warner) bids farewell to their daughter and her soon-to-be husband without letting them in on the fact that the woman has committed suicide and that he intends to join her soon after; the hysterical tirade at the end by the daughter when she finally confronts the men who have destroyed her life, a brave tour-de-force moment for Marian Marsh (familiar to horror aficionados from SVENGALI [1931], THE MAD GENIUS [1931] and THE BLACK ROOM [1935]) who had so far only rather blandly served the romantic interest of the plot; the final shot of the picture, with the latest issue of "The Gazette" being swept into the gutter by street-cleaners along with the rest of the garbage, thus leaving no doubt whatsoever as to where the film-makers' true sentiments lay.

Five Star Final according to Edward G. Robinson in his memoirs was a favorite role for him. He enjoyed having to go through a film without once taking up a weapon. But Robinson did have a weapon at his disposal here, one deadlier than the tommy gun. The power of yellow journalism to ruin and destroy lives for the sake of circulation.

Circulation is down at the New York Graphic, the sleazy tabloid where Robinson is the hardboiled editor. Publisher Oscar Apfel decides to rake over a 20 year old murder, one of those where are they now pieces. A woman killed a man who got her pregnant and refused to marry her and another man stepped up to the plate and raised her baby girl as his own. The couple, H.B. Warner and Frances Starr have lived quietly and anonymously on the west side of Manhattan the daughter, Marian Marsh is about to marry Anthony Bushell the son of a manufacturer.

The poking and prying of Robinson's reporters results in tragedy. It also gives Robinson a severe attack of conscience, encouraged by his girl Friday, Aline McMahon.

Stealing the film in the small part he's in is Boris Karloff as disgraced seminarian who affects the guise of clergyman to get the story he's after. It's one of Karloff's best non-horror film roles, he's positively creepy in the part.

The reason for Karloff's disgrace is sexual one and getting Karloff's mojo going as well is Ona Munson who also has a great part as the Nellie Bly of the tabloids. She tops Karloff in what she'll do for a story.

Five Star Final is a hard hitting well acted drama that does tend to go a bit overboard into melodrama, especially when H.B. Warner and Frances Stark are on screen. It was nominated for Best Picture of the year, but lost to the immortal classic Grand Hotel. It was later remade five years later as Two Against The World with Humphrey Bogart taking the Robinson part and the locale changed from a newspaper to a radio station.

I can easily see Five Star Final being remade for this century with the protagonist being the owner/operator of an internet website. The media may have changed, but sleaze is still sleaze.

Five Star Final (1931)

*** (out of 4)

An editor (Edward G. Robinson) at a sleazy newspaper makes a mistake by bringing a 20-year-old murder case back to the headlines. Earlier this year I watched the remake One Fatal Hour with Bogart, which pretty much followed this film word for word but this one here is slightly better due to the rich performance from Robinson and a powerful ending attacking the media. Some racy Pre-Code dialogue centered around a gay reporter is pretty eye catching as is the pre-Frankenstein performance by Boris Karloff as a drunken reporter.

Five Star Final (1931)

There is one main reason to watch this—Edward G. Robinson. I almost didn't continue after the first fifteen minutes because this newspaper office drama was so filled with convenient stereotypes and one-liners it was drab.

Then came the obsessive-compulsive reporter played by Robinson, Mr. Randall. He's intense, and he's not in the movie nearly enough. There is a wonderful quirky part by Boris Karloff (a few months before doing Frankenstein's monster). And a slew of decent smaller parts keep it interesting like Aline MacMahon, playing a stenographer (and in her first film role) and Marian Marsh who plays the daughter with increasing intensity right up to the highly volatile last scene.

This is the heyday of the unsung Mervyn LeRoy, a director with at least two unsurpassed movies ("Three on a Match" and "I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang"), not including his work on "Wizard of Oz." He has a dozen other really good films to his name, and this one survives despite some filler and a slightly functional approach to the acting and staging. This was the day when directors (and their crews) were pressed to shoot movies in a couple weeks or so, and it shows.

I only wish you could see the second half of this movie alone. It gets more dramatic, and more intense (and the one painfully wooden actress dies), and it really drives home the point against yellow, abusive journalism. The first half is stale enough to turn off a lot of viewers, I'm sure, and it brings down my overall impression of the totality. Luckily, if you make it to the end, you nearly forget the forgettable beginning and will leave with a good taste in your mouth.

And all the drinking in the movie? "God gives us heartache, and the devil gives us whiskey," Randall says as he downs a shot. He's seems to be standing at an ordinary bar, not an illegal speakeasy. But the year is 1931, just before the end of Prohibition. (The premiere was September 1931.) Drink is a frank and normal reality in much of the movie as people swig from bottles in their desk and meet at the bar after work, and it's an eye-opener to counteract the more extreme portrayals of alcohol in the movies. And of course, it's normal for the viewer in the theater at the time as well, part of the general feeling that the time had come to change the laws (which Roosevelt did in early 1933).

So, see this if you like pre-Code films, but stick it out through the more mundane parts. It's worth it.

This Oscar-nominated film (Best Picture) shows the dark side of journalism as a paper delves into the past of a woman (Frances Starr) who was impregnated by her boss and acquitted of his murder.

Edward G. Robinson (Little Caesar) is a newspaper editor that is interested in boosting circulation and is not concerned with the lives he destroys in the process. He goes after Nancy Voorhees (Starr), who is now Nancy (Voorhees) Townsend and is not concerned that she has not told her daughter (the doll-faced Marian Marsh), who is now about to me married, about her past.

Robinson was absolutely brilliant in the role and ably assisted by Boris Karloff and Oscar-nominated actress (Dragon Seed) Aline MacMahon in her first film.

A classic showing the seedy side of journalism.

The exploitativeness of tabloids is always a good subject, even back in 1931. "Five Star Final" is about a ruthless editor (Edward G. Robinson) who hounds a woman involved in a 20-year-old murder with tragic results. The film sports a good cast, including Boris Karloff, Mae Marsh, Ona Munson, Aline McMahon, and H.B. Warner.

Robinson, as the editor, decides to do a series on an old murder and track down one of the people involved, Nancy Vorhees. She is now married with a daughter about to get married. The film looks at the effect it has on the lives of everyone in the family.

I am not as enthusiastic about this film as some of the posters here, though I imagine it was very hard-hitting for 1931. The acting is very melodramatic, and while I appreciated the devastating effects of the story, I really thought a bad situation was made much worse by the behavior of the girl's parents at the end of the film.

It wasn't until the mid-thirties that the class system in America began to disintegrate, so it's still quite evident here, with the way the young woman's future in-laws react to the scandal and Robinson's analysis of black readers.

At the time the film was made, any publicity was looked down upon - today it's considered a great thing, though I don't suppose involvement in a murder would be. You might get a book deal out of it, though, and a TV movie. Nancy Voorhees today could have given the paper an exclusive interview and become a sympathetic character. But it was such a disgrace, and people seemed to have no understanding or compassion.

It's hard to judge the performances because the acting style and the dialogue are so different from even a few years later. Of all of them, Aline McMahon, as the cynical secretary, comes off the best.

Definitely worth seeing.

It's an obvious storline with one message - the press is too intrusive. That's it. Embelish it with some awful acting and it's not very good. Throw in reporter Boris Karloff (Isopod) and you get a bit of a laugh that brings things up into the ok category.

"Why did you kill my mother!", "Why did you kill my mother?" Why doesn't someone kill Marian Marsh (Jenny) who plays an irritating miss goody-two shoes. Her scene at the end of the film is embarrassing. Her mother, as played by Frances Starr (Nancy) is even worse. She is an awful actress that elicits no sympathy whatsoever. It is her story that is being dragged up in the press once again in order to sell papers. My goodness, she is such a frustrating bore. There is no way anybody would have any inclination to read about this waste of space. And then there is H. B. Warner (Michael) as Starr's partner. Wow - the poor acting just never ceases!

The good - editor Edward G (Randall) and Karloff. One of their scenes together at the beginning provides the film's standout moment of genuine entertainment. Watch how Robinson just can't help himself from smiling, laughing even, during his entire scene and dialogue delivery with Karloff. He must have been thinking - "This Karloff guy is hilarious" and he just can't contain himself. It's top quality. Shame these two can't quite overturn almost everybody else's abysmal acting.

Viewed this film years ago on a late late T.V. show and was able to tape it. The author of the original play, Louis Weitzenkorn, was once the managing editor of the New York Evening Graphic, a yellow journalism tabloid which gave him the idea for the main character of Hinchecliffe former publisher of the New York Mirror. The film was remade as Two Against the World in 1936. Bernard Hinchecliffe(Oscar Apfel) owner of the notorious scandal sheet, the GAZETTE and his managing editor, Joseph Randall(Edward G. Robinson), is ordered to boost the circulation by doing a story on the Vorhees case. Years ago, Nancy Vorhees(Francis Starr) murdered the man who betrayed her. Randall seeks the services of T. Vernon Isopod (Boris Karloff), an expelled divinity student. Isopod disguises himself as a clergyman and enters the Townsend home, gaining their confidence. Ona Munson, veteran film actress of the 1930's and 1940's along with Boris Karloff fullfil their newspaper duties perfectly. Five Star Final is a great film classic because of the great acting of Edward G. Robinson.

I woke my dog up who was sleeping next to me when at 1am I involuntarily clapped my hands in applause as this ancient yet very entertaining film finished!

Five Star Final is made by Mervyn LeRoy - he was called Warner's boy wonder and brought to life the vision of his boss, Daryl Zanuck that their films should grittily reflect social problems, corruption, inequality and crime. In this one he exposes the the insidious evil of the muck-raking gutter press - the other gangsters. The story concerns an unscrupulous editor digging up dirt which destroys a whole family. After all these years, despite not being a perfect film, it still packs a punch making you angry and indignant.

Unlikely TWO SECONDS which LeRoy made with Edward G the following year which is almost a perfect film, this, like LITTLE CAESAR which he made again with Edward G a few months earlier isn't. A year is s long time in early Hollywood - technological innovations were evolving almost daily so this film looks about ten years older than TWO SECONDS. Mervyn LeRoy however still had fun placing some lovely bits of symbolism (some subtle, some very unsubtle) into his motion picture. The main problem with this film is the unevenness of the acting. The transfer to talking pictures, even at Warners was still causing issues in 1930 - some actors just couldn't get used to it. Edward G Robinson was one who could and that makes his performance natural and authentic rather than a theatrical performance. He is helped in this by a fabulous, fast paced and witty script. For example when his boss tells him that an editor should not sit on a pedestal above his readers. His reply is: If I sat on a cigar box, I'd be above that lot.

Those of us used to seeing Boris Karloff just doing his usual dark and menacing thing, such as in the massively over-rated CRIMINAL CODE will be pleasantly surprised to see him doing a great little role in this. He's actually really amusing as the sneakiest, smarmiest and most despicable reporter of the city. He, along obviously with Edward G and also Aline MacMahon (in her first role) come across as completely authentic - these three seem totally at ease in their characters whereas the others seem to treat the microphone as some terrifying demon on the set which needs to be searched for and shouted at. It was shot in 1930 and it's understandable that a lot of the more established actors find these new-fangled talking pictures quite uncomfortable.

So is this worth watching? Yes, it's not one of the best but it's definitely up there with all those other Warner Brothers - Zanuck classics from LITTLE CAESAR (which actually isn't as good as this), PUBLIC ENEMY, CHAIN GANG, THREE ON A MATCH and let's not overlook TWO SECONDS.

Have for some time regarded Edward G. Robinson very highly as an actor, he was often a scene stealer in support and he had more than enough presence when he was a lead. Seeing Boris Karloff in a prolific year for him and Aline MacMahon in her first film added to the interest. As well as that it was directed by Mervyn LeRoy, who also directed 'Random Harvest' (a particularly wonderful film of his). Any film that explores the dark side of journalism should be applauded.

'Five Star Final' managed to be a very well done and powerful film. Well made, very well written and strongly acted, on the most part regarding the acting with a couple of exceptions. Anybody that loves Robinson, Karloff and LeRoy will be more than delighted. The subject is a bold one and well worth addressing, it was very relevant at the time and is also very relevant now. Even more so now and even worse than back then, scarily so.

The film is not perfect by all means. Some of the acting is patchy. Nancy is a dull character and Frances Starr has very little warmth and presence in the part. Ona Munson's character annoyed me to no end and Munson overdoes it.

Occasionally 'Five Star Final' is a little corny, but thankfully those moments are hardly any.

It is stylishly filmed and has a good amount of atmosphere and grit. The decision to not use music was a good one, meaning that in my view the dialogue and subject resonates more without worrying about potential intrusiveness. There are some clever use of sound effects, the sound of machines being almost eerie. LeRoy really allows the drama to remain gripping throughout the entire film and the film is leanly and intelligently scripted.

Moreover, the story is very absorbing. Personally don't think it has dated at all and absolutely agree with everybody that says that its theme is still relevant today (as said already one could say that it is more so today and to a degree that is enough to shock, can't believe that there are people still that believe everything they believe in the press). What is shown here, meaning the dark side of journalism, is very disarming and honest with the film being quite uncompromising which helps make it all the more powerful.

Robinson is truly excellent in the lead role and nothing short of magnetic. Matched more than ideally by shifty Karloff, an extremely impressive debuting MacMahon and heartfelt HB Warner. Marian Marsh also gives a brave performance and is very moving in her final scene which is agreed one of the dramatic highlights.

To conclude, very well done. 8/10

from a solid cast makes this film a must see. No wonder this earned a best-film Oscar nomination! Edward G. Robinson turns in another terrific performance as the tough editor of a sleazy NYC newspaper. Marion Marsh starts out iffy but her final scene is excellent. Frances Starr, H.B. Warner, Aline MacMahon (of course!), and Boris Karloff are all excellent as well. Nice comedic support from Polly Walters as the operator and Harold Waldridge as the office boy. But it is Robinson who carries this ensemble film through its twists and turns and has a few swell lines as well. The only problem is Ona Munson, who is pretty dreadful as the pretty dreadful character of Carmody. Marsh is remembered for her Trilby to John Barrymore's Svengali, but this is a better performance. And what a shame Starr made only 3 films! Her telephone scene is a cinematic classic!

The film is a pre-code talkie based upon a hit Broadway play that was written by a former newspaper managing editor. Long ago early talkies became dated (archaic sound, stagy performances) even though their messages may still be valid. So while we may dismiss the old-fashioned melodramatics of "Five Star Final," the movie message still holds true. Reckless news reporting is still a topic today, whether to improve television ratings, perk up website "hits," or advance a failing newspaper's circulation.

"Evening Gazette" publisher Bernard Hinchecliffe (Oscar Apfel), concerned because of a drop in circulation (circa 300,000), approaches intense Managing Editor Randall (Edward G. Robinson) to spice up issues with more "human interest stories" (meaning seedy stuff). Circulation and advertising execs French (Purnell Pratt) and Brannagan (Robert Elliott) concur with Hinchecliffe. So Randall cracks under pressure from his bosses and rekindles a twenty-year old sensational murder case. That involved a pregnant stenographer Nancy Voorhees (Frances Starr) who shot her adulterous lover for not marrying her. Hinchecliffe wants a follow-up story as to how Nancy is living. Of course, the fact that reopening the nearly forgotten case will hurt innocent people falls off the deaf ears of the three bigwigs. Nancy, who has moved on with her life, is living a quiet existence with bank cashier husband Michael Townsend (H.B. Warner) and college student daughter Jenny (Marian Marsh). Jenny does not know that (1) her mom once murdered a man and that (2) Mr. Townsend is not her biological father. Now Jenny is marrying nice-boy Philip Weeks (Anthony Bushell), son of well-to- do parents. His adamant father is a successful machinery manufacturer; neither he nor his heinous wife wants any bad publicity.

To uncover the latest information on Voorhees, Randall hires sleazy reporter Kitty "Legs" Carmody (Ona Munson) and teams her with amoral undercover reporter Isopod (Boris Karloff). Isopod was formerly kicked out of divinity school. Using some of the most sordid tactics seen in early talkies, the latter takes the unsuspecting Townsend couple into his confidence (bad mistake) and so they provide him with the information that he needs. Soon the story hits the headlines just before the planned wedding and results in more than one tragedy and a volatile finale.

Robinson was good as usual, and he is better here than when snarling (and without any virtues) as a gangster in those stereotypical and violent movies that starred him. Here he is constantly washing his hands and drinking at Corcoran's speakeasy (The Volstead Act is still in force), symbolic of his guilty conscience bubbling just below the surface. Aline MacMahon, as outspoken stenographer Taylor in love with Randall, is satisfying also. So was pretty Marion Marsh ("Why did you kill my mother?"). Karloff succeeds as the repulsive reporter. Catch his signature line when he enters Randall's office: "Good e-e-evening." Known for sharp dialog, sexual innuendo, and social satire, "Five Star Final" was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, but it lost to "Grand Hotel". Like many early talkies it is quite histrionic.

A curious item of note involves pint-sized George E. Stone who plays contest manager Ziggie Feinstein. Now Ziggie calls up Dinky Ginsberg complaining about "a wise Arab" on 46th Street who owns a rival newsstand. "Take a couple of brass knuckles and do your stuff. Wow, the guy's a thug! Ziggie then calls City Commissioner Jim Donovan on the telephone to "lay down a route" as he will stage a one thousand-car cab race from the Bronx to the City Hall. Feinstein's reward to Donovan is a case of "cut" scotch. So much for the Volstead Act! Now Randall had earlier quipped that the race will kill a hundred people. But Ziggie is persistent, and tells Donovan that he already has the race fixed: "I'm gonna let an Irishman, a Jew, and a Wop win." Whoaaaa, now we know the flick's pre-code! And where is the protest for such a slur?

The muckraking editor of The Gazette revives an old murder case (with a FIVE STAR FINAL) to increase the paper's circulation.

Movies have long been fascinated with the fast-paced action of the journalistic newsroom and have mined stories about newspaper shenanigans for both comedies & dramas. Here, from First National Pictures, was one of the earliest talkies to have a real success in exploring the medium. The action is fast and the dialogue fits. The film goes further, however, reaching beyond the newspaper staff and focusing on a family who becomes the victim of untrammeled yellow journalism.

Pugnacious Edward G. Robinson gives a vivid portrayal of the unscrupulous editor who slowly begins to develop a soul when he is confronted by the turmoil his decisions have on the lives of innocent folks. Seemingly incapable of giving a bad performance, Robinson fascinates as he chews the scenery with his full-throttle performance. The always sterling Aline MacMahon scores as his wise, levelheaded secretary who nurses a secret love for him. Their scenes together are riveting.

In supporting roles, creepy Boris Karloff plays an alcoholic reporter without any morals whatsoever. Wisecracking Ona Munson has fun with her role of a floozy who becomes a girl reporter. Oscar Apfel is good as the paper's spineless owner. Rat-faced George E. Stone is rather repulsive as the guy who sends out the goons to strong-arm newspaper vendors on the street.

H. B. Warner & Frances Starr both shine as an innocent couple whose lives are made a misery by the rapacious Gazette. Playing their daughter, Marian Marsh has a terrific scene at the film's climax when she confronts the three newspapermen who destroyed her home. Sturdy Anthony Bushell appears as her steadfast society boyfriend.

Movie mavens will recognize little Frank Darien as an eager undertaker. And that's blonde Polly Walters as the Gazette's kooky-voiced telephone operator.

This largely forgotten film stars Edward G. Robinson and was one of the Best Picture Oscar nominees in 1931-1932. Robinson plays the editor of a newspaper whose publisher instructs Robinson to come up with a story that will increase circulation. Robinson's solution is to track down a woman who killed the father of her child twenty years before when he refused to marry her, but she was acquitted, largely because of her child. She has since married, and her daughter is on the eve of her own marriage and has no idea of her mother's past. Robinson's "what ever happened to" idea is a success, but at a horrible cost to the family involved.

Not on DVD or VHS, the film uses some techniques that were rather odd for Warner Bros at the time, considering that their urban dramas usually were very fast-paced. To begin with, the film makes a big production of introducing Robinson to the audience, having the other players talk about him at length, and even showing a shot of just his hands as he washes up before he makes his big entrance. Then - the whole movie proceeds to switch its dramatic center more to the family that Robinson's newspaper is writing a scandal piece on and its tragic effect on them.

Robinson and Boris Karloff - in an odd turn as an alcoholic reporter just prior to his star-making role in Frankenstein - have acting in the age of sound down to a fine art. However, the actors playing the roles of the family targeted by Robinson's scandal sheet seem to be hold-overs from the silent era, the best known being silent star H.B. Warner. Their speech is somewhat slow and over-dramatic, and their gestures exaggerated, but not ridiculously so. This might have been to contrast them with the hard-boiled occupants of the newsroom, but it makes the film look like it has two entirely different directors.

This pre-code drama is very shocking. It may seem like an ordinary newspaper movie, with journalists trying to meet deadlines and editors yelling through the phone, but it is not. Edward G. Robinson plays an editor who would like his paper to be elevated and report intelligent news. The owners disagree and order him to print scandal and smut. To keep his job, he agrees and he orders his head newspaperman, the unscrupulous and drunken Boris Karloff, to find the secret identity of a convicted murderess from twenty years ago.

Frances Starr plays the woman in question, and she has successfully rebuilt her life since that terrible ordeal. She has a beautiful home, a devoted husband, and lovely daughter who is about to be married to an equally lovely young man. No longer associated with that type of life, both her family and her future in-laws are highbrow; But if her tragedy is brought back into the newspapers, her daughter's future will be in jeopardy.

H. B. Warner steals the show. Yes, you'll see a solid Edward G. Robinson performance, and Marian Marsh was as cute as it gets, but H. B. is so wonderful, when he's on the screen, you think he's the lead. I've only seen him as the broken down druggist Mr. Gower in It's a Wonderful Life, and I couldn't believe the different type of character he played in five star final. In this movie, he was wealthy, suave, and intelligent. A devoted man and a loving husband, he shows a range of emotions as he does everything possible to protect his wife and daughter. This is a very heavy movie, which I wouldn't really recommend, but H. B.'s tender expressions and tragic scenes are the highlight of an upsetting film.

If you like movies that shed light on the bad parts of human nature, like Ace in the Hole, you might appreciate the message of this movie. I found it sad that almost 100 years later, the problem of ruthless journalists still exists. "Smut sells" is still the undercurrent of journalism, regardless of who the headlines will hurt. It was very entertaining, though, to see Edward G. Robinson shout, "Stick it up your-" and throw a telephone through a glass door.

I have tried, Lord knows I have tried, but I have never found Edward G Robinson to be an actor even rating a Grade B actor, let alone a Grade A actor. Five Star Final is a schmaltzy film that circulates around a newspaper editor (Robinson of course) who will stop at nothing to get the scoop on his competition to sell more papers. He is handed a story to follow up on by the papers owner about a young couple's upcoming social event marriage but the story is really about the new bride's mother being a convicted (past) murderer who hides her maiden name with her wealthy husbands married name.

You can guess the outcome, but this Five Star Final would only be fit to use on the bottom of the cat litter box because it stinks as did Edward G. Robinson. How he ever made 100 plus films is beyond wonderment because I always thought back in the 1930's and beyond, the box office dollars dictated the stars of the day and not for someone like a cardboard actor of Edward G. Robinson's lack of ability.

Now do you want to know how I really feel about Five Star Final? See below rating.

2 out of 10