The Five Star Final Review

The Five Star Final is a 1931 American drama about the harm sensational journalism can cause. The movie follows the perspectives of different characters and how their lives are changed due to shady journalistic practices. When the Gazelle decides to revive the scandal of a woman who shot her lover over 20 years ago, we witness the effects this has on her life and the harm this action caused for the people around her.

Despite being hindered by the technology at the time, this movie delivers a solid story and a clear message about the harm that sensationalism in journalism can cause to people.

A lot of the imagery used in this movie also holds up very well. The final shots of the newspaper being swept up with the muck on the street help solidify the ideas this movie was trying to portray while also being a great shot to end on. Another example of great imagery in this movie is the reoccurrence of Joseph Randall washing his hands, showing how he wants to clean himself of all the guilt he feels for his participation in the paper's unethical practices.

The acting was also done well; you are able to clearly understand the feelings of each character and their motivations. The inner struggles the main character goes through in order to come to his decision to leave the Gazelle was entertaining to watch and a well-deserved moment of triumph for not only Joseph Randall but the audience as well.

Despite what this movie did right, there were still a few flaws that hindered the movie. Some scenes were a little too long and could have been cut to help the pacing of the story. The beginning especially suffers from this, as the pacing is incredibly slow, and it takes until the halfway point for the plot and action of the movie to kick in. Cutting some of these scenes down could help with this problem and get the audience to the main meat of the story quicker. 

Some characters also did not really need to be in the movie; their roles and actions could have been easily given to other characters, and this could have helped with the slow pacing in the beginning. Doing some research into this film uncovers that this movie was based on a play written by Louis Weitzenkorn also called Five Star Final. This could explain why some characters were in the movie when they did not impact the plot in any meaningful way and were only kept in to be more accurate to the original play. However, I believe that this was not the best course of action, and their scenes could have been better used to deepen the characters that were already established.

Despite some of the issues with this movie, it is still a very solid watch. The acting and message still hold up today and give great insight into how much of a problem sensationalism can be. If you are looking for an older movie to enjoy, then The Five Star Final is definitely one to watch.