Movie review - "Five Star Final" (1931) ** (warning: spoilers)

A bit disappointing. It sounded great - Edward G Robinson, a newspaper story in the vein of The Front Page, pre-code, David Shipman gave it a good wrap... but it's too creaky for me, as 1931 talkies tended to be. Also Robinson's character was passive most of the time - it's his publisher who wants to boost circulation, it's his publisher who gets the idea of re-activating an old scandal, it's his dodgy reporter (Boris Karloff!) who pretends to be a clergyman who get the inside scoop, it's the reporter's off sider who photographs the corpses. All Robinson does really is feel guilty and resign.

It's a shame because he makes an ideal newspaper editor and Aline MacMahon is a perfect yen-for-the-boss secretary. Karloff isn't quite believable as a journo but his presence adds to the fun. There's some hammy acting from the support cast - the woman who is the subject of the scandal and her husband and daughter. They do carry on and it's like "alright already calm down". But the scenes where the wife and then husband kill themselves pack a wallop - got to love pre code Cinema!