Five Star Final

It’s tough to pass up a movie made in 1931 starring Edward G. Robinson as a fast talking newsman. Five Star Final, directed by Mervyn LeRoy, does not disappoint, but it does surprise. This pre-code gem takes an unflinching look at the yellow tabloid journalism rampant in its own day and the ways in which the press ran rough shod over the public in the name of news (read, circulation). This is, of course, not an unfamiliar debate even today (hello, Murdoch).