The Finger Points (Warner Bros.) (1931)

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Remember “Dawn Patrol” tt —‘Little Caesar’’—? . [The Same Autor * Wrote “‘ The Finger Points’? Barthelmess Is Again issn In Crime Expose (Current Story) “The Finger Points,” the First National production starring Richard Barthelmess now at the Theatre, is the fourth Barthelmess cis Dillon. The first of the Barthelmess-Dillon productions was “The Noose,” which still stands as one of the outstanding roles achieved by Barthelmess. The second was “Out of the Ruins” and the third, “Scarlet Seas.” All three of these were before the talkie era. “The Finger Points” is the first talking picture in which Barthelmess and Dillon have been associated. “The Finger Points” is a sensational story based on a notorious underworld-despot of our most exciting Big Town. Barthelmess enacts the role of reporter who gets involved in gang wars. It offers the star the most forceful part of his career. The story of “The Finger Points” ig an original from the pens of W. R. Burnett and John Monk Saunders, authors of “The Dawn Patrol” and “Little Caesar.” Fay Wray plays the feminine lead and the cast includes Robert Elliott, Clarke Gable, Noel Madison, Regis Toomey, Oscar @ mane \ across — bd LL PRINT Py WHAT | PY KNOW!” Directed By Dillon You Can t + Kill A Reporter’ feature to be directed by John Fran| § SS SV GCO This reporter’s racket was the biggest shakedown of them all! He sold his honor to the underworld for a million a RICHARD ARTHELMESS oR et FIN G ER MST POINTS with FAY WRAY REGIS TOOMEY Robert Elliott, Clark Gable Directed by JOHN FRANCIS DILLON " JOHN MONK SAUNDERS (author of “Dawn Patrol”) and W. R. BURNETT 3 & (who wrote “Little #2 % Caesar”) combined 8 %, to give Dick his g sreatest story. 2 A First National & Vitaphone Hit Cut No. 7 Cut 60c Mat rsc Apfel, dare to hope e that some day he might Mickey Bennett and many others. 5 Barthelmess Fan Gets Bit In Big Gangland Expose| (Current Reader) When Herman Krumpfel—ardent film fan—took up tailoring, he didn’t be in the movies. Four years ago, when he had a shop in Lincoln, Nebraska, he wrote a fan letter to Richard Barthelmess, told him how much he enjoyed his work in “The Patent Leather Kid” and asked him for an autographed photograph to hang in his store. The request was promptly granted. Herman informed Barthelmess when he moved his tailoring establishment to Hollywood, and when a. tailor was needed for a scene in “The .| Finger Points,” the Barthelmess pro FAMOUS NEWSPAPERMEN ASSIST POINTS” DIRECTOR IN MAKING “FINGER SCENES AUTHENTIC ie Mitchell and Frank B Butler, Famous Men of the Press, and John Barrymore, Formerly a Reporter, Lend Aid (Interesting Feature) A nose for news and an appetite for trouble are prime re quisites for a police reporter. His is the most interesting and the most dangerous run on a newspaper. Ke knows the seamy side of life, and what he tells the public is only a fraction of the unpleasant things he finds out. The skeleton in everyman’s closet is his legitimate objective. It is a police reporter that Richard Barthelmess portrays in his new picture, “The Finger Points.” In the big city he becomes a person of power and importance. He is a dangerous enemy and a_ valued friend. That power proves a mighty temptation for the ambitious boy— a temptation which is faced sometime by every man assigned to such duty. Newspaper history is full of famous police reporters. They are the district attorneys, the judges, the editors, the novelists of today but some of them are still police reporters, with story material enough in their minds to fill a library. Theirs is a strange experience and a job peculiarly rich in contact with human nature. Generally, however, it is a job for youth, for reckless courage and defiant perseverance. It is only recently that the sinister shadéw of bribery and corruption Sa Page Six hag fallen across the police pages of the big city dailies. So certain were editors of the sanctity of ‘news” in the minds of their employes, that they seldom considered it possible that a trusted reporter could be guilty of double crossing them. It was axiomatic in the news paper parlance that while much po lice news could not and would not be printed, yet no item would ever be held out because a paper, or a paper’s reporter, was paid to hold it out. The discovery that the underworld had invaded the sacred precincts of news, startled a calloused world. It was poison at the very root of truth and for once the axiom, “no newspaper man is front page copy” was abandoned by the press of the nation. Like a father confessor, the police reporter is a repository for many secrets. No one expects him to tell all he knows but what he doesn’t tell must be from principle and not from profit. His badge and hig reporter’s card get him into places where no ordinary citizen has a right to be. He represents the public there. If he sells out, the public as well as his paper is betrayed. John Monk Saunders, who wrote the story, knows about it from actual experience. Barthelmess knew about it also from Jim Mitchell, one of Hollywood’s best known newspaper men and a close personal friend of many film celebrities. Other information came from John Barrymore, who has also spent early years on New York newspapers, much in the company of Frank Butler, one of the most famous of all old time reporters. Butler was one who never “sold out” and consequently spent most of his days in comparative poverty. A detachable gold tooth, which could be pawned for seventy cents in times of stress has been immortalized by Barrymore in his autobiography, “The Confessions of an Actor.” Barrymore admits he frequently shared the seventy cents and he has now shared his reportorial experiences with Barthelmess for use in this picture. Whether or not a newspaper man is ever front page copy, the story which Barthelmess made into a picture is destined to take an impressive place in the realistic and authentic history of the American press as visualized in a half a dozen great pictures of the past twenty years. “The Finger Points” brings newspaper history down to date on the screen. It comes to the Theatre for an extended run. Fay Wray is the leading lady and John Francis Dillon directed. ce | duction now at the Theatre, the star telephoned his friend. Herman arrived with chalk and tape and was photographed for posterity. “The Finger Points” is a daring story, the most sensational in which Barthelmess has yet appeared, based on the life of a notorious crime king of the present day. er a mY * it hot affaia of the gangs. I've fy got the goods on them and they know it. I can put the finger on every racketeer in ge, And unless they come across with the heavy dough, I'm going to spill what I know." RICHARD DARTHEIMES He FINGER with % FAY WRAY Cut No. 9 Cut 20¢ Mat 5c Big Newspaper Of In “The Finger Poir 3” (Advance Story) Eighty-four typewriters we; sed in the big newspaper editorial oms set to be seen in “The Finger Po_ats,” the First National production starring Richard Barthelmess which comes to thie ee ee Theatre . next. This set, covering twenty thousand square feet of floor space, was modeled after a metropolitan daily newspaper office. There was a desk for each typewriter and a reporter for each desk. Greatest Hit from RICHARD APOLLO Idol of millions! @@ Never greater! Dick brings you the screen thrill of the year. As a racketeering reporter he spills the story no newspaper dared print! The \FINGER \POINTS \ with FAY WRAY | REGIS TOOMEY A First National & Vitaphone Hit Cut No. 3 Cut goc Mat roc