Review of Five Star Final (1931) by Robert B — 09 Sep 2012

Five Star Final (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931).

If you're a fan of Edward G. Robinson's (and if you're not, you should be), you've gotta get your hands on this ridiculously over-the-top melodrama, made very early in Mervyn LeRoy's career and nominated for the best Picture Oscar in 1932 (it lost, and deservedly, to Grand Hotel). Robinson plays Randall, the newly-installed editor of a New York tabloid who wants to turn the paper in a more traditional direction, so he assigns muckraker Vern Isipod (Boris Karloff) to the society pages. You can see where this could go wrong, and indeed it does, in record time, with Isipod attempting to dig up dirt on a socialite in order to prevent her upcoming society marriageâ"and in the process causing her family irreperable harm. There is much scenery-chewing from everyone involved, an inspid script delivered with great gusto by the cast, and that still-early-in-the-world-of-talkies overexpression rampant. It's ridculous fun. ***.