It pays to watch a movie more than once. When I first saw "The Finger Points", I found it to be an enjoyable Warner Bros crime flick with few surprises. I just had the opportunity to see it again, and I found all kinds of interesting gimmicks.
A young reporter, played by Richard Barthalmess, migrates from Savannah, to the big city to make his mark. He is picked up by a tabloid and charged with exposing the political/criminal junta that runs the town. He falls in love with his coworker, played by a yummy Fay Wray, and in his quest to hit the big time, gets his hands dirty. He throws in with the mob, eventually double crosses them for love, and gets his in the end.
What is interesting about this movie, and what I never realized the first time I saw it, was that it was a tale ripped from the headlines of the day. After extorting money from the mob to bury the corruption, he is finally introduced to "Number One". We don't get to see his face, but he obviously represents Al Capone. The biggest scam of them all involves the mob moving in and taking over an entire city. They transform it into a mecca for gambling, bootleg liquor, speakeasies, and all manner of corruption. In the movie they call it Waverly, but it describes Capone's takeover of Cicero perfectly. Finally, the corrupt reporter with mob connections is gunned down in the street. I finally made the connection to a real life incident involving a reporter in Chicago named Jake Lingle. They even had a funeral procession down the main boulevard just as they did for Jake.
These details may not mean much to everybody, but they make for a realistic story that, left to the hack writers imagination, would probably not be nearly as good. The dialog is kind of stilted, and the likable Richard Barthalmess' performance is predictably wooden, but nothing is perfect. If you're a crime buff, this is a winner.
Note: In 1931, Clark Gable was just getting a toe hold in the business. In this movie he gets 4th billing as a gangster henchman.
A young reporter, played by Richard Barthalmess, migrates from Savannah, to the big city to make his mark. He is picked up by a tabloid and charged with exposing the political/criminal junta that runs the town. He falls in love with his coworker, played by a yummy Fay Wray, and in his quest to hit the big time, gets his hands dirty. He throws in with the mob, eventually double crosses them for love, and gets his in the end.
What is interesting about this movie, and what I never realized the first time I saw it, was that it was a tale ripped from the headlines of the day. After extorting money from the mob to bury the corruption, he is finally introduced to "Number One". We don't get to see his face, but he obviously represents Al Capone. The biggest scam of them all involves the mob moving in and taking over an entire city. They transform it into a mecca for gambling, bootleg liquor, speakeasies, and all manner of corruption. In the movie they call it Waverly, but it describes Capone's takeover of Cicero perfectly. Finally, the corrupt reporter with mob connections is gunned down in the street. I finally made the connection to a real life incident involving a reporter in Chicago named Jake Lingle. They even had a funeral procession down the main boulevard just as they did for Jake.
These details may not mean much to everybody, but they make for a realistic story that, left to the hack writers imagination, would probably not be nearly as good. The dialog is kind of stilted, and the likable Richard Barthalmess' performance is predictably wooden, but nothing is perfect. If you're a crime buff, this is a winner.
Note: In 1931, Clark Gable was just getting a toe hold in the business. In this movie he gets 4th billing as a gangster henchman.