TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17 @ 06:00 AM (ET)
Edward G. Robinson is probably best remembered today for his numerous and frequently compelling performances as a gangster, but classic film fans know his great versatility as an actor. His performance in Five Star Final (1931) shows that range. He plays Jack Randall, managing editor of a “great metropolitan newspaper” who bows to the pressure of sagging circulation and agrees to begin publishing articles of nothing but prurient interest. The owner of The Evening Gazette proposes a series dredging up the story of a 20-year-old scandal in which a woman was acquitted of the murder of a society figure, but ended up bearing his child. In the ensuing 20 years, she has made a life, found a husband and father for her child, and faded into obscurity. Now, they all face public humiliation and private tragedy as a result of the revelations.
The issue of journalistic integrity has existed as long as journalism has. In Five Star Final, The Evening Gazette faces no legal liability, as everything they’ve printed is factual. But as the circulation numbers go up, Randall must confront the moral consequences of his actions. He must finally decide if he will continue to do the bidding of a man to whom he refers as “The Sultan of Slop” (a reference to Babe Ruth’s nickname “The Sultan of Swat,” -familiar to 1931 audiences but maybe less so to today’s)
H. B. Warner (best known as Mr. Gower, the druggist in It’s a Wonderful Life (1946) is tremendously affecting as the husband, Michael Townsend. He’s joined in the supporting cast by Frances Starr as his wife, the infamous Nancy ‘Voorhees’ Townsend, Aline McMahon in her first film, and a creepy pre-Frankenstein Boris Karloff.
Five Star Final was released in September of 1931, several months after the release of Little Caesar, (also directed by Mervyn Leroy), the film which made Robinson a star. The cigar and the bowler and the “mnyah” would eventually become fused into an iconic image of the actor, even earning him a certain form of deification: appearance in a Bugs Bunny cartoon. It’s interesting to see him at the beginning. Likewise, Karloff’s personification of Dr. Frankenstein’s creation set the standard for generations of monsters (and Munsters), and again, became the iconic image of the actor. The 1931 audiences for Five Star Final were among the last to view Karloff without the overpowering spectre of this image.
One of the great benefits of watching classic films is to get glimpses of the small details of life in other eras. In the 1931 world of Five Star Final, prohibition was still a fact of life. I found it interesting to hear the characters refer to watering holes as “speakies,” obviously short for “speakeasies.”
Five Star Final was nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Outstanding Production (which, after several name changes, would, in1962, come to be known as the Academy Award for Best Picture.)