The Finger Points (1931)

Writers:

W.R. Burnett (story)
Robert Lord (adaptation)

Release Date:

11 April 1931 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Plot:

Lee is a fresh young kid from the South when he gets a job with The Press. His first assignment on gangsters gets his name in the paper...

Plot Keywords:

Newspaper | Beating | Bribery | Corruption | Debt

Cast

Richard Barthelmess	...	Breckenridge 'Breck' Lee
Fay Wray	...	Marcia Collins
Regis Toomey	...	Charlie 'Breezy' Russell
Robert Elliott	...	City Editor Frank Carter
Clark Gable	...	Louis J. Blanco
Oscar Apfel	...	Managing Editor Ellis Wheeler
Robert Gleckler	...	Larry Haynes, Sphinx Club Manager
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Noel Madison	...	Larry Hayes (scenes deleted)

Runtime:

90 min | USA:85 min (Turner library print)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono | Vitaphone

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Company:

First National Pictures

Trivia:

The film is based on Chicago Tribune reporter Jake Lingle, who was shot and killed the day before he was to meet with federal agents in connection with 'Al Capone (I)' 's finances. Lingle was on Capone's payroll.

Soundtrack:

Funeral March (Marche Funèbre)

Gangsters in the press

This is typical of the social dramas, or hollywood gangster films of the thirties, except its protagonist is a newsman, who gets no thanks for being a good reporter, (he gets beat up, and his bosses refuse to foot the hospital bills) and thus decides to be a finger pointer for the mob, while being fed stories by one mob to knock off the operations of its rival mobs. Certain scenes are overplayed and dreary while others are quiet with a lot of pathos to it. The once great star of silent cinema, Richard Barthelmess, was not great at delivering dialogue and is much the same here. But you've got Gable playing a gangster and a last fifteen minutes where given no dialogue, Bartelmess gets to shine and show us the actor he was. Overall, a good gangster flick dealing with the stories of the time that the press had been infiltrated by the mob to withhold harmful stories against them. It also was a hit, if that's a plus.