Five Star Final

Mervyn LeRoy's 1931 film is about a newspaper that will do anything for circulation. The owner wants sales up and orders his editor Randall to reopen a murder case closed twenty years earlier. The woman acquitted then has since married, raised a daughter and told nobody about her past; the paper finds her and runs the story in instalments. The result is destructive. The film takes direct aim at journalism using people as material and shows Randall as a man forever washing his hands. It belongs to the period before censorship rules were strictly enforced, which is why its criticism is so hard. Edward G. Robinson stars and Boris Karloff plays a bogus clergyman. It was nominated for an Academy Award. Who it's for: viewers who like classic Hollywood drama and criticism of the press. Who it's not for: anyone expecting a hopeful ending; the film ends in darkness.