Don't listen to the negative reviews

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

"Five Star Final" is dated but its message, about unscrupulous journalism, is not. Most of the reviewers have recapped the story, so just a few observations.First, the presentation is very stagey, and, in fact, it was adapted from a stage play for the screen by its author, who was a newspaperman at one time. This accounts for the exaggerated acting styles, as some of the performers are former stage actors. H.B. Warner was outstanding as the innocent bystander husband, while Frances Starr, the 'fallen woman' of the piece, was too theatrical. I thought Boris Karloff was a hoot as a lecherous ex-priest.Most contributors liked the last scene but I felt it was over-the-top. It was also Marian Marsh's best scene. Overall, I thought most actors in the film were excellent; acting is what does it for me because it can put an ordinary picture over, even if the screenplay is not up to snuff. But, readers, this is not an ordinary picture. It garnered a richly deserved Best Picture nomination, and even today is a tribute to Hollywood''s ability to produce superior, thought-provoking motion pictures.

Scathing Indictment on Yellow Journalism. It is a Timeless Tale of the Human Condition. Sordid Gossip and the Exploitation of Anyone or Anything Used to Sell Something. Today it's Ratings, in 1931 it was Circulation.Edward G. Robinson is Energetic and Willing to Do What the Bosses Want and Dig Up Dirt and Mud Sling just Because it's His Job, and He is Good at it and gets Well Paid. Damn the Consequences.In this Pre-Code Movie the Reporters Stereotypical Drinking is in Full Force with Little Regard for Prohibition and there are Racial Slurs and Other Pre-Code Stingers. The Cast are All Delivering Expected Dated Histrionics with Boris Karloff Giddy as a Defrocked Priest Posing as a Priest to Get the Goods. Overall, Above Average Pre-Coder with Some Interesting Montages Amidst the Sleek Photography, and a Distinct Message that is Still Relevant Today. Nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

Ordered to up the sleaze quotient for increased circulation, New York "Gazette" newspaper editor Edward G. Robinson (as Joseph W. Randall) dredges up the story of a local woman who shot her adulterous lover dead, and earned a scandalous reputation. The serialization sells newspapers, but the subject Frances Starr (as Nancy Voorhees) has changed her life with second husband H. B. Warner (as Michael Townsend); moreover, the couple has kept the sordid past secret from pretty daughter Marian Marsh (as Jenny), who is about to marry handsome high society's Anthony Bushell (as Phillip Weeks). When boozy staff reporter Boris Karloff (as Isopod) absconds with Ms. Marsh's picture, the consequences could prove tragic...This is a fine if dated early "talkie" with a message still reverberating. The ensemble cast, sometimes venturing into melodramatics with understandable verve, is fun. Successful Broadway star Aline MacMahon makes an impressive film debut as Mr. Robinson's lovelorn secretary. Director Mervyn LeRoy moves it nicely and includes some rich "split-screen" work.******** Five Star Final (9/10/31) Mervyn LeRoy ~ Edward G. Robinson, Frances Starr, Aline MacMahon, Boris Karloff

As a former jackal of the press myself, I get a big kick out of newspaper movies. FIVE STAR FINAL is one of the best, ranking alongside THE FRONT PAGE and its various remakes, CITIZEN KANE, MEET JOHN DOE, the little-known DEADLINE, U.S.A. (with Bogart as a crusading editor), ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN, and ABSENCE OF MALICE. (I'm probably leaving out a couple of other favorites but those are the ones that come to mind at this writing.) This film has three things going for it. The story, based on a play that opened in 1930, was probably more relevant in that era than today. Most news outlets (excluding those that are exclusively on the internet) now are more respectful of the privacy of private citizens than are the employees of the Evening Gazette; and I've never known a reporter or photographer who lied about being one to get a story. But an intimate followup on the "crime" committed twenty years earlier by Nancy Voorhees -- and for which she was not convicted -- was the type of sensational bread-and-butter that certain sleazy newspapers pursued before World War II. (Today's sleazy tabloids, print and electronic, are far more likely to go after real celebrities who hunger for any kind of publicity. And many so-called internet journalists, without training, editing, or professional standards, are much worse.) Though this kind of yellow journalism is an aberration in today's newspaper industry, in 1930 it was all too prevalent, especially in the cut-throat world of New York City's intensely competitive dailies. It's very representative of the era, and on top of that it's just a good yarn.The supporting actors are extremely well-cast. Aline MacMahon as the editor's lovelorn secretary, George E. Stone as the paper's staff bootlegger and fixer, H.B. Warner as the understanding husband of Nancy Voorhees, and Oscar Apfel as the villainous publisher Hinchcliffe are particular standouts. It's interesting to see Boris Karloff in a pre-FRANKENSTEIN role, though it's difficult to think of him as a womanizing reporter. Some may find the acting in the film too stagy and overdone, but if you can adjust your expectations and accept the dated style, it works very well.Then there's Eddie G. He had just achieved stardom with LITTLE CAESAR when FIVE STAR FINAL was made, and despite the excellent competition he commands the screen as the Gazette's editor, who is both repelled by the betrayal of his journalistic ideals and excited by the repellent story he's ordered to pursue. The hand-washing (which actually occurs only about three times in this 90-minute movie) is a perfect metaphor for his guilt, and his reliance on the bottle was (maybe still is) all too common an occupational hazard for newspapermen of this era. At film's end, we finally get the emotional explosion that has been building in Robinson throughout the movie. Very satisfying. What a shame this actor never received even an Oscar nomination, much less a statuette (except for an honorary one awarded after his death.)FIVE STAR FINAL was nominated for the best picture Oscar in 1931 but lost out to CIMARRON. Guess which film has aged less. Despite the dated setting and story, FIVE STAR FINAL still crackles with passion and humor. It is an enduring example of what Warner Brothers accomplished, altogether unintentionally, in documenting America in the 1930s. I can understand that it's not to all tastes, but this jackal of the press finds in FIVE STAR FINAL characters and issues that still resonate with journalists today.