The newspaper film, a genre Warner Brothers explored during the Depression years, like the studio's better known social conscience and gangster films, usually centered on an exploration of morals. Tonight we present, in a newly restored print, Five Star Final, an irresistible example of the genre. Edward G. Robinson plays a newspaper editor who is pressured by his “sultan of slop” publisher into reviving a twenty-year old murder case to boost circulation. Circulation increases, but at human cost. Although a little ruthlessness is encouraged in Depression economics, when principles are abandoned in pursuit of money, it's no longer “business as usual,” but dirty business. And while Robinson's hands are dirtied, so are ours. As the 1931 Variety reviewer noted, “Story is a hard rap at the readers of such tabs, besides at the papers themselves, and while these readers will make up a large part of its audience, they won't mind.” Although social criticism may lose some of its sting when mixed with entertainment, the mixture proved to be good business for Warner Brothers. Mervyn LeRoy's strong direction was supported by a fine cast, including Aline MacMahon as Robinson's voice-of-conscience secretary and Boris Karloff as an on-again, off-again minister who will stoop to anything to “get the story”.