Five Star Final
| Five Star Final | |
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1931 Theatrical Poster
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| Directed by | Mervyn LeRoy |
| Produced by | Hal B. Wallis (uncredited) |
| Written by |
Louis Weitzenkorn (play) Byron Morgan Robert Lord |
| Starring | Edward G. Robinson |
| Cinematography | Sol Polito |
| Edited by | Frank Ware |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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89 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Five Star Final is a 1931 American Pre-Code film about crime and the excesses of tabloid journalism. The picture was written by Robert Lord and Byron Morgan from the play of the same name by Louis Weitzenkorn, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, starring Edward G. Robinson, and featuring H. B. Warner, Marian Marsh, Oscar Apfel, Aline MacMahon, Frances Starr, Ona Munson, and Boris Karloff.
The title refers to an era when competing newspapers published a series of editions during the day, in this case marking its final edition front page with five stars and the word "Final." "Five Star Final" is also a font similar to those often used in newspaper headlines.
Warners remade the film in 1936 as Two Against the World, also known as One Fatal Hour, starring Humphrey Bogart in Robinson's part and set in a radio station instead of a newspaper.
The film was nominated at the 5th Annual Academy Awards in 1931/1932 in the category of Outstanding Production, which later became known as the Academy Award for Best Picture.
Joseph W. Randall (Edward G. Robinson), the city editor of a tabloid newspaper, reluctantly agrees when publisher Bernard Hinchecliffe (Oscar Apfel) plans to boost circulation with a restrospective series on a 20-year-old murder and scandal, involving a secretary, Nancy Voorhees (Frances Starr), who shot the man who got her pregnant and then refused to marry her. Nancy is now married to Michael Townsend (H. B. Warner), an upstanding member of society, and has a daughter, Jenny (Marian Marsh), about to marry the son of a socially prominent family, Philip Weeks (Anthony Bushell). She reacts with horror at the renewed interest in the scandal she had put behind her.
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Wikipedia