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.
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.