User Reviews

Most of the lines delivered in this film convey no emotional content. As a result, the entire film has little impact.

The story is not believable, mostly due to the performance of Richard Barthlemess, who plays the main character, Breckinridge Lee. Lee is a small-town reporter who moves to the big city and becomes a crime reporter. The love interest is played by Fay Wray, who has her moments. But only Clark Gable really shines through the dullness of this production.

It's a shame, really, because the storyline has real potential. If only it had been fleshed out and given to an actor who could portray the important emotions: the uncertainty of the fish-out-of-water, the man in love with the woman, the fear of the reporter involved in something dangerous, the distress of a man torn between love and shame.

Finger Points, The (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Static but entertaining gangster picture has a wet-nosed reporter (Richard Barthelmess) from the South going to the big city to become a star but he soon learns that nothing is easy. After busting a gambling operation and getting nothing out of it, the reporter decides to partner up with a racketeer (Clark Gable) but soon the reporter gets too big for his current situation. This film is based on the life of Chicago Tribute reporter Jake Lingle who got involved with Al Capone and the rest is history. This film version is pretty good, although it's a bit slugish at time but this is due mostly to just how movies were during this early sound era. Barthelmess is hit and miss in his role. He's somewhat shaky during the nervous reporter segments but he settles down once he starts to enter the big shot period. Gable steals the show with his supporting performance and Fay Wray plays the love interest.

Good story, but you can tell it was made in the early years of talkies - very slow, deliberate movements, and LOTS of dark eye makeup on everyone. The supporting cast is the strength of this movie - Fay Wray (2 years before King Kong) plays the love interest Marcia Collins. Clark Gable (eight years before Gone with the Wind) is the antagonist-designee Louis Blanco, who is helping to cover up the naughty things his boss is doing. Blanco is trying to convince reporter Breckenridge Lee, played by Richard Barthelmess to help them cover up the naughty things going on in this fair city. I love the line by Fay Wray that she can tell he's from the South from his accent, although the only accent I can hear is some dropped R's, (since he was raised in New York). Unfortunately, Barthelmess, who is very wooden and stiff, being used to working in the silent movies, is the main character and the weakest link here. Note in his list of films, he made about sixty silent films prior to 1930, but very few after that - probably his best known talkie would be "Only Angels have Wings" with Cary Grant.

This is another film I had to see in my unhealthy quest to see all of the available Fay Wray films out there. However, this film surprised me, as it was a pretty good story. It also has a young Clark Gable as a gangster in a scene stealing role that demonstrates his star power very early in his career.

The plot has been covered in other reviews, so I'll keep my review short.

The pluses: Fay looks great, Clark Gable is good, and the story is solid and interesting.

The minuses: Richard Barthelmess is fine, but being from the south, he shouldn't have even tried the accent.

Overall a fine film and definitely worth a viewing.

THE FINGER POINTS (First National Pictures, 1931), directed by John Francis Dillon, based on the story by John Monk Saunders and W.R. Burnett, is a fine blend of newspaper story and gangster melodrama. Starring Richard Barthelmess, a popular silent screen actor of the 1920s, notable for his early performances in both director D.W. Griffith's BROKEN BLOSSOMS (1919) and WAY DOWN EAST (1920), starring Lillian Gish, and subsequent starring roles of his own for First National Pictures, stars in one of his finer talkies of the 1930s. Though many of the sound films failed to recapture his success from the silent screen, THE FINGER POINTS is notable today more for his supporting players of Fay Wray ("KING KONG" (1933), and future top leading man of Clark Gable ("GONE WITH THE WIND" (1939), in a secondary role as a gangster.

The story begins on a train bound for New York City where Breckenridge Lee (Richard Barthelmess), a young reporter from Georgia, comes to The Press, "The World's Best Newspaper," looking for a job and better career. Presenting a letter of recommendation by Charles Davis of the Savannah Constitution to its managing editor, the impressed Mr. Wheeler (Oscar Apfel) offers Lee a job regardless of having no openings at present. Working under Frank Carter (Robert Elliott), the city editor for $35 a week, Lee soon makes the acquaintance of Marcia Collins (Fay Wray), "Queen of the Sob Sisters," and ace reporter, Charley "Breezy" Russell (Regis Toomey), both of whom would become his closest friends. With gang war on the rise, it's The Press to put a stop to it by having its reporters assigned to investigate and expose the crime wave in the city by putting them out of business. Lee's first assignment is to investigate the tip given to him on the Sphinx Club of 628 Riverside Drive. With this being the notorious Larry Hayes (Robert Gleckler) district, Lee gets to meet both Hayes and his chief informer of the mob, Louis J. Blanco (Clark Gable) with enough evidence to have this private club exposed as a gambling casino, putting it out of business with a police raid and arrests. Because of this, Lee is followed and beaten in a dark alley by a couple of hired thugs, placing him in a hospital with broken ribs. Returning to work following his release, Lee finds he's unable to pay off his hospital bills, and asks Carter for either a raise or an advance in salary, but is refused. Realizing he has to look out for himself, Lee comes to Blanco for financial support on a promise of not exposing his crime ring to the press. Marcia becomes suspicious of Lee for mysteriously coming up with large size of money he places in his savings account in the bank, while his editor becomes disappointed for he not coming up with any exclusive stories of criminal activities. Lee continues getting paid by the mob and asking for more to the Number One Crime Boss of the new gambling casino, The Waverly, but gets the pointed finger towards him if he should ever double-cross him with any newspaper exposes. Things go well for Lee until his pal, Breezy, comes up with enough expose on The Waverly to have as front page news without Lee's knowledge. Others in the cast include: Robert Perry and Lew Harvey (The Henchmen); Noel Madison and Adele Watson.

Overlooking the fact of some jump cut editing early in the story, THE FINGER POINTS at 85 minutes is fine newspaper/crime entertainment. While Barthelmess is convincing as a good-natured reporter who wises up with enough confidence to stand up to the mobsters, since they go by the motto, "they never kill reporters," it's Clark Gable, in one of his 12 movie releases of 1931, who's the center of attention. Even had Gable not become a major actor who drifted to obscurity, his performance here is good enough for anyone seeing this actor decades after its release to wonder "whatever became of him?" Fortunately his career would last thirty more years. Sporting a derby and minus his later famous mustache, Gable's forceful voice makes him both believable and likable as a tough gangster, a sort of role he commonly played during his early years in motion pictures. Though Gable never became a Warner Brothers stock player as James Cagney, for example, better roles were ahead of him at his home studio of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (1931-1954). Fay Wray, assuming a role that could have gone to Mae Clarke, Marian Marsh or Joan Blondell, is quite effective as the gal reporter. The actor playing the Number One crime boss is uncertain, considering the fact that his face is never exposed, seen only from the back of his head and his pointed index finger towards the camera. That would have been an interesting cameo played by some notable actor of its day. Fine suspense conclusion with a couple of incidents reminiscent of Alfred Hitchcock's style of direction.

Never distributed to home video but on DVD, THE FINGER POINTS began to surface regularly in the late 1980s on public television before shown regularly on cable TV from Turner Network Television (TNT) in 1988-89 to Turner Classic Movies since 1994. That's the power of the press. (**1/2)

Early WB "Pulled from the Headlines" Story that in this Case the "Headlines" were Literally the Gist of the Movie. This is One of those Newspaper Exposes Popular in the Early Thirties when "Print" was The Thing.

Gangsters could be Exposed and Brought Down by "The Press" that could Alert Authorities and Stir Public Outrage. "Crusaders" was a Term Often Used to Describe those Pushing to Remove Vice and Murder from the Streets.

In this One, Silent Star Richard Bartholomew, Regis Toomey, and Fay Wray are the Headliners with Clark Gable (in his fourth film) Supporting. The Film has its Moments of Intrigue Concerning Payoffs and Gangs, Crime Reporters and Ethics.

There is Quite a Contrast here from the Spit-Fire Dialogs that were a Trademark of the Genre and Bartholomew's Slow Delivery and Stiff Performance may put Some to Sleep. But it is a Relief from the Usual Machine Gun Spouting that was Routine at the Time.

Regis Toomey is, well, Breezy as Breezy the Third Wheel in this Triangle and Fay Wray has that Pleasant Voice and Delivery and is Filmed Quite Cute. Clark Gable, some say, Steals the Show but His Character here doesn't do much Except Maybe in a Scene or Two, and is OK but Surely Nothing Special.

There are some Pre-Code Interest like an Unrepentant Protagonist and Pre-Marital Overnighting, but Not Much Else. Overall, Based on a True Story and with Enough Interest to Recommend, this One is Not a Must See but is Worth a Watch.

Savannah, Georgia born newspaper reporter Richard Barthelmess (as Breckenridge "Breck" Lee) takes a job at a "big city" (presumably Chicago) publication called "The Press". Right away, Mr. Barthelmess becomes a crusading investigator. Working for a measly $35 per week, he finds romantic compensation with pretty newspaperwoman Fay Wray (as Marcia Collins). Regis Toomey (as Charlie "Breezy" Russell) provides friendly competition. Alas, Barthelmess' investigative story gets him severely beat up by gangsters. After he gets out of the hospital and can't pay the bills, Barthelmess is tempted by the local crime lord's payroll, alongside tall gangster Clark Gable (as Louis Blanco). Never too convincing.

***** The Finger Points (4/11/31) John Francis Dillon ~ Richard Barthelmess, Fay Wray, Clark Gable, Regis Toomey

I looked at this movie mainly because of the leading man. I never saw him in a talkie before. He was no worse then most silent actors who came into talkies. He plays a new reporter from the south working at a big city paper.

I must tell you I was not prepared for what was to come. And I am not going to spoil it. But he was such a fresh nice face that I actually thought in the end we would find out he was working undercover for the cops. But no he is mad because the newspaper would not give him a raise or advance his salary because he had gotten shot doing a story for them and he feels they should help with the Medical bills. So he becomes a reporter for the syndicate. He gets paid well for not writing stories. The problem is that his girlfriend, who also is working at the paper as a Ann Landers type columnist wants nothing to do with what he has become. I am not going to tell the ending. But I was surprised.

Afterwards I found out this was based on a true story. The supporting cast was very good. I never realized how pretty Fay Wray was. She is striking. She always had a pretty face to me, but she is gorgeous. She is the girlfriend. She has a nice role. You can tell this was pre code because she had a good job and she was fairly aggressive about her feelings toward him.

Regis Toomey was very good as a fellow reporter and best friend who also likes the Fay Wray character. But he a very nice guy and we do not get the usual rivalry that turns nasty. Which is good.

Clark Gable was at the point of of his career when he played bad guys. Like in Night Nurse where he was smacking around old ladies and his girlfriend and trying to poison her children. He is not any nicer here. I actually like Gable in these roles. I would recommend this movies because it goes in a different direction that I thought and it was very nice seeing actors in the crossroads of their careers.

Socially-conscious Warners/First National delivered a corker of a newspaper melodrama in 1931, but this wasn't it: It was "Five Star Final." This fast-moving but muddled early talkie shares the crowded city desk with editors yelling "stop the presses!" and a cursory examination of the process of putting out a news daily. But here, the paper is genuinely excellent and socially responsible, not a muckraking tabloid. And the idealistic cub reporter (Barthelmess, who looks far too old to be a cub reporter) turns rotten awfully quickly, becoming a yes-man to a mobster (Gable in a typical early role, and effortlessly natural and likeable). It drains audience sympathy for our hero, and we don't see why his journalistically wise, sob-sister colleague (Wray, who looks too young to have Seen It All) would stick around with him, or take him back without his having really reformed. The motivations are confused throughout, and when our hero meets an unhappy fate, the movie seems to mourn him, but we don't. It's like a morality tale without a clear moral. Warners got better at its social realism quickly, and Barthelmess went from this comparative potboiler to the far more interesting "Cabin in the Cotton" -- again playing an idealistic sap, albeit one with more consistency.

"The Finger Points," from 1931, is an early Clark Gable film. In fact, that's why I earmarked it for my DV-R.

There are very, very few actors from the early Hollywood years I don't like. I can probably count them on one hand. Richard Barthelmess is at the top. I'm being honest, I can't understand his appeal, I can't understand how anyone thinks he can act, I don't know how he decided to go into acting as a career.

So I go into this with a prejudice. The story concerns a young reporter named Breckenridge Lee (Barthelmess) who comes highly recommended from Savannah and gets a job on The Press in a big city. Since there are so many gangsters around, it's probably Chicago.

As a crusading reporter, Breck doesn't know how far to go, so he goes pretty far in upsetting the gangster population - and he is beaten for it. Loaded down with huge medical bills, such as $12 for anesthesia, that the paper refuses to pay, Breck decides to move over to the dark side. He takes money from the crime lord's payroll to keep stories from being reported, and the money is doled out by one Blanco (Gable). Breck becomes greedy and ups his price to the criminals.

A woman interested in him at the paper (Fay Wray) becomes disillusioned when she realizes that Breck has a lot of money he definitely didn't earn at the paper.

Other than Barthelmess, the acting is lively from Regis Toomey as another reporter on the paper, the lovely Wray, Robert Elliot as the city editor, and especially Clark Gable as Blanco. As was the style in those days, some of the acting is a little overdone by today's standards.

Dimpled and virile, Gable does a great job as a tough guy. He could always play a good meanie, though he was cast less and less that way as his star ascended.

The film seemed overly long at 1:25 - I attribute that to poor directing. This type of film needs to move.

I love movies which give you a sense of what it was like to be living & working in the time. (It's the sociologist in me. ) This movie is one of these. The plot is very interesting and the acting is first rate all round. Fay Wray is very good, but Richard Barthelmess steals the show and not just in the "silent" parts. Never seen him better.

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.

After talkies came in, Warner Brothers didn't really seem to know what to do with Richard Barthelmess, but he hung around in starring roles quite a bit longer than most of his silent counterparts - from 1929 to 1934.

Normally Barthelmess played thoughtful guys put into tight circumstances, and this was probably supposed to be one of those roles, but it doesn't' quite come across right. Breckenridge Lee (Richard Barthelmess) starts out as a totally green and conscientious reporter up from a Savannah paper into a press room of the big city. When the editor announces a campaign against the mob, Lee is the only reporter that takes his assignment seriously. He even walks right up to a speakeasy and asks probing questions to the mobster in charge. Unable to be bribed he writes an expose on the place and it is thus raided by the police. The mob then beats him up one night in retaliation, badly enough that he needs hospitalization and his medical bills pile up. He is surprised when the city editor balks at helping him financially, as he denies that Lee's beating had anything to do with the paper at all and hints that Lee's injuries probably had something to do with him drinking and hanging around unsavory people after work.

Now this is where things get a bit unrealistic. Lee instantly turns from green honest reporter to money hungry and corrupt. He figures if you can't beat them, join them. He takes money from the mob and in return agrees to keep the paper and thus the cops off of their backs. He justifies this by saying that the only way that the mob will ever pay is with money to him - but he's not exactly giving the loot away to charity.

Fay Wray plays Lee's love interest as fellow reporter Marcia who at first suspects then knows the truth and loves him just the same. Regis Toomey plays a supporting role as someone who would like to win Marcia's heart but knows when he's beat. Robert Elliot is the gruff tough city editor who often played a cop in the early talkies. Of course, most notable here is Clark Gable, sitting in the palm of Jack Warner's hand, and not being recognized by him as a star in the making. Gable is impressive here as a spats-wearing charming sinner, the gangster who sees Lee as a useful idiot - for awhile anyways.

In order for gangsters to thrive, three forms of corruption are required; the corruption of politicians, the police and finally the press. Unlike the newspaper in Warner Bros' Five Star Final (also released in 1931) the paper of The Finger Points known simply as The Press are proud to be socially responsible and even calling themselves "the world's best newspaper". However the paper's employee's don't entirely relish in this corny mentality as seen when the editor gives a speech at the end of the working day on what he calls the paper's crusade, yet afterwards, the employees just laugh it up. Likewise, we also discover that reporters for The Press often just avoid reporting on the activity of gangsters in order to avoid the consequences.

Breckenridge Lee (Richard Barthelmess) on the other hand goes on step further and takes bribes from gangsters in order to suppress stories. The plot of The Finger Points was inspired by the true story of Alfred "Jake" Lingle, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune whom had been suppressing stories for $60,000 a year from Al Capone. Lingle was shot to death on June 9th, 1930 - a day before he was to testify against Capone.

Richard Barthelmess was an actor with a gentle and sensitive nature that had a lot going on behind his deep-set brooding eyes. I don't think any other actor could have performed the role of the naïve but eager go-getting southerner Breckenridge "Breck" Lee. At the beginning of the film he gives a letter to the managing editor of The Press from his former editor of the Savannah Constitution, calling Breckenridge Lee "one of the best reporters I've ever had" and "He's got the stuff. All he needs is a chance to show it. Give him a break into the big league". Breckenridge mentions he only did general reporting although can I assume Savannah isn't as tough as New York City in a movie which showcases the divide between northerners and southerners. Likewise, Breck's group of friends along with Marcia (Fray Wray) and Charlie (Regis Toomey) really make for a fun trio.

I've read a number of reviews calling Breck's transition to corruption unconvincing - I must disagree. I find the film makes this transition convincing in several ways; the pressure he's under from the hospital bills he has to pay, his general naivety plus it is evident from his previous journalistic success that the recognition is slightly going to his head.

The Finger Points opens with an impressive, showy shot of a moving train as the camera pans from one side of it to another, once again disproving the notion that films from the early 30's where largely static. This is also exemplified with a number of long panning shots of the expansive and busy newspaper office with the sound of typewriters going on non-stop in the background; I never tire of the classic atmosphere of a newspaper office. My main reason for seeking out this obscurity was for a certain Clark Gable in an early supporting role while on loan to Warner Bros from MGM. Along with Warner's Night Nurse released the same year, Gable is the show stealer. He is nowhere near as overtly evil than his role in Night Nurse, instead of playing a sympathetic but still manipulative gangster in The Finger Points. He is also given more screen time than in Night Nurse, in this one of his best early screen roles.

The crime boss in The Finger Points is simply referred to as "Number 1" and during his one scene in the movie, he is only seen sitting from behind a desk with his back to the camera with a face which is never seen like Dr Claw from Inspector Gadget. There is even a shot which visualises the title of the movie in which we see a close up of Number 1's hand holding a cigar and pointing his finger towards the camera. I love this whole sequence as it leans towards being a live-action cartoon but doesn't take away from the serious nature of the film.

The Finger Points has never seen the light of day on home video. As I've said before, no other decade seems to have as many hidden gems as the 1930's; a real archaeological site of cinema.

If you like the older crime drama's, this one is well worth watching! !

I DON'T KNOW WHY I BOTHER DOING THIS; A PERVERSE HABIT, I SUPPOSE. AND SUCH REVIEWS TEND TO BE "ALL OVER THE PLACE", THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE THEMSELVES IN PRINT TENDING TO BRING FOOLISH COMMENTATORS OUT OF THE PROVERBIAL WOODWORK, MANY WHO LITTLE QUALIFY TO GIVE VALID EVALUATIONS, THEIR KNOWLEGE OF CINEMA BEING SO OBVIOUSLY LACKING, RELYING ON TASTE INSTEAD (ALBEIT OBVIOUSLY POOR TASTE).

"THE FINGER POINTS" IS, TO ME, OBJECTIVELY AND SUBJECTIVELY, A GEM, FOR VARIUS REASONS, SUCH AS A FINE CAST, SCRIPT, AND CAMERAWORK (ERNEST HALLER'S VERY UNUSUAL TRAVELING SHOTS). AND THE CLIMACTIC MACHINE-GUNNING SCENE THE MOST IMPRESSIVE I'VE EVER SEEN, HAVING NO IDEA HOW IT WAS ACHIEVED (BACK WHEN EXPERT MARKSMAN WERE EMPLOYED FOR SUCH). CLARK GABLE IS SUPERB, BUT DARRYL F. ZANUCK CONSIDERED HIS EARS TOO LARGE, WHICH DIDN'T STOP MGM FROM SIGNING HIM SOONAFTER.