It wasn't very long into this picture that I realized I had seen it before, only the first time it was called "Two Against The World" starring Humphrey Bogart. First National Pictures apparently decided to do a remake of "Five Star Final" in 1936, and selected a radio venue to retell the story. Bogey has the Robinson role, and virtually everything about the film is a dead on copy, as a twenty year old murder case is revived in a fifteen chapter radio play. Quite honestly, if you've seen one of these pictures, you've seen them both, but don't let that dissuade you from doing just that. Robinson and Bogart are two of my favorites, so neither should be denied your attention. By the way, the TV title of the Bogey flick is "One Fatal Hour", so if it shows up on Turner Classics, you know you've got the right one.
There's one inherent problem with these films from the Thirties that prove to be quite distracting. Consider the wedding day of Jenny (Marian Marsh) and Phillip (Anthony Bushell). The early edition of The Gazette carries the announcement of the upcoming Nancy Voorhees murder case. Even though the pictures of Jenny and Phillip are prominent on the front page, they both make it through the entire day without becoming aware of it. Nancy Voorhees (Frances Starr), now Townsend, attempts to get the newspaper to kill the story, and failing, takes her own life. Beleaguered husband Michael (H.B. Warner) also commits suicide after sending the young couple off to the church, saying he'll meet them there later with Nancy. Front page headlines of the double suicide hit the street the same day! OK, there was a late edition of the paper, but seriously, the real time concurrence of events as they happen with their reportage in the paper is just too much of a stretch.
What you might better concentrate on here are the performances. Edward G. Robinson in a non-gangster role as Gazette editor Randall is quite compelling. A surprising presence in the picture is Boris Karloff as a sleazy tabloid reporter taking on the Voorhees assignment with relish. Of the remaining support cast, editor Randall's secretary (Aline MacMahon) raises eyebrows early when she comments on a female reporter's firing because she was 'flat-chested', then uses her hands to gesture the bosomy figure of her prospective replacement, Kitty Carmody (Ona Munson). You never know what hidden gems you'll find like this in pre-Code films, so it's worth the effort just for that.
Other reviewers for the film on this board make a point of mentioning Jenny Townsend's confrontation with the newspapermen at the finale. It's a stirring rebuttal against the sleazy sensationalism of tabloid journalism, and an indictment of the press in the culpability of her mother's death - "Why did you kill my mother"? It's enough to make Randall quit, and it would have been a kicker if he stormed out of The Gazette with Miss Taylor in tow the way Bogart did with his secretary in the later picture. Instead, the story closes with a copy of The Gazette being swept up in a gutter, hostage to the rest of the trash that has a way of accumulating in the grime of the city.
There's one inherent problem with these films from the Thirties that prove to be quite distracting. Consider the wedding day of Jenny (Marian Marsh) and Phillip (Anthony Bushell). The early edition of The Gazette carries the announcement of the upcoming Nancy Voorhees murder case. Even though the pictures of Jenny and Phillip are prominent on the front page, they both make it through the entire day without becoming aware of it. Nancy Voorhees (Frances Starr), now Townsend, attempts to get the newspaper to kill the story, and failing, takes her own life. Beleaguered husband Michael (H.B. Warner) also commits suicide after sending the young couple off to the church, saying he'll meet them there later with Nancy. Front page headlines of the double suicide hit the street the same day! OK, there was a late edition of the paper, but seriously, the real time concurrence of events as they happen with their reportage in the paper is just too much of a stretch.
What you might better concentrate on here are the performances. Edward G. Robinson in a non-gangster role as Gazette editor Randall is quite compelling. A surprising presence in the picture is Boris Karloff as a sleazy tabloid reporter taking on the Voorhees assignment with relish. Of the remaining support cast, editor Randall's secretary (Aline MacMahon) raises eyebrows early when she comments on a female reporter's firing because she was 'flat-chested', then uses her hands to gesture the bosomy figure of her prospective replacement, Kitty Carmody (Ona Munson). You never know what hidden gems you'll find like this in pre-Code films, so it's worth the effort just for that.
Other reviewers for the film on this board make a point of mentioning Jenny Townsend's confrontation with the newspapermen at the finale. It's a stirring rebuttal against the sleazy sensationalism of tabloid journalism, and an indictment of the press in the culpability of her mother's death - "Why did you kill my mother"? It's enough to make Randall quit, and it would have been a kicker if he stormed out of The Gazette with Miss Taylor in tow the way Bogart did with his secretary in the later picture. Instead, the story closes with a copy of The Gazette being swept up in a gutter, hostage to the rest of the trash that has a way of accumulating in the grime of the city.