The Finger Points (1931) in Color — Starring Richard Barthelmess & Fay Wray

The Finger Points (1931) — Buy This Classic in Color

Experience the hard-hitting pre-Code crime drama The Finger Points (1931), now available as a professionally colorized digital download for only €15.00. Directed by John Francis Dillon and starring Richard Barthelmess, Fay Wray, and a young Clark Gable in a riveting early role, this unflinching story follows an idealistic journalist whose crusade against organized crime leads not to glory but to moral corruption when he discovers that the gangsters he exposed are willing to pay handsomely for his silence. Download instantly in DRM-free MP4 format and enjoy this provocative classic in vivid color.

Plot Summary

Breezy Russell arrives in a big-city newsroom with the ambition and moral certainty of a young man who believes that journalism’s purpose is to expose evil and protect the innocent. Richard Barthelmess plays him with the earnest, slightly provincial sincerity of a reporter who hasn’t yet learned the rules of the world he has entered. His first big story targets the operations of Number One, the city’s most powerful crime boss, and Breezy’s fearless reporting earns him headlines, praise from his editors, and a savage beating from Number One’s enforcers that nearly kills him.

Clark Gable plays Number One with the magnetic, dangerous charisma of a man who treats violence as a business expense. In this early role — filmed just before the performances in A Free Soul and Night Nurse that would make him a star — Gable dominates his scenes with an animal confidence and casual brutality that announced a major screen presence. Number One does not rage at the reporter who exposed him; instead, he makes Breezy an offer that reveals far more about the relationship between crime and journalism than any crusading editorial could.

The offer is simple: Number One will pay Breezy not to write certain stories. The corruption of Breezy Russell is the film’s devastating center — not a sudden fall but a gradual, rationalized slide from accepting a single payment to suppress one story, to actively soliciting payments from every criminal who wants to keep his name out of the paper, to running what amounts to a protection racket disguised as journalism. Barthelmess traces this arc with impressive nuance, showing the audience exactly how a decent man convinces himself that each small compromise is justified.

Fay Wray plays Margy Kennedy, a fellow journalist whose love for Breezy gives her a front-row seat to his destruction. Wray, best known for her scream in King Kong two years later, brings intelligence and emotional depth to a woman who watches the man she loves transform into the thing he once fought against. Her attempts to pull Breezy back from the edge provide the film’s moral compass and its emotional heart.

The pre-Code frankness of the film allows it to explore the corruption of journalism with an honesty that the Production Code would later make impossible. The newsroom scenes show editors who know perfectly well that their reporters are compromised but look away because the paper benefits from the arrangement. The criminal world and the press operate as complementary systems, each needing the other, each corrupting the other, with the public — supposedly served by both — being the ultimate victim.

Regis Toomey provides strong support as Charlie, Breezy’s colleague and friend whose own integrity highlights how far Breezy has fallen. The film builds toward a violent conclusion in which the structures of corruption that Breezy built ultimately collapse on him, proving that the finger that points at guilt can point in every direction, including back at the one who pointed it.

Cast & Crew

Director: John Francis Dillon

Stars: Richard Barthelmess, Fay Wray, Clark Gable, Regis Toomey, Robert Elliott, Oscar Apfel, Robert Gleckler

Richard Barthelmess delivers a courageous performance as a man whose moral collapse is portrayed without sentimentality or easy redemption. Clark Gable, in one of his breakout early roles, commands the screen as the crime boss whose business proposition sets the tragedy in motion. Fay Wray brings warmth and moral authority to the woman who sees the truth before anyone else.

Why Buy This Classic in Color?

This professionally colorized restoration brings new visual richness to the film’s urban settings. The warm amber of newsroom typography and desk lamps, the cold steel blues of rain-slicked city streets, the smoky gold of speakeasy interiors, and the harsh white of hospital rooms all gain atmospheric power in carefully restored color. The visual contrast between the legitimate world of journalism and the shadow world of organized crime is strikingly enhanced. Now also available in colour.

Buy now for €15.00 — instant DRM-free digital download, compatible with all MP4-capable devices.

Historical Significance

Based partly on the real-life story of journalist Jake Lingle, a Chicago Tribune reporter revealed to be on Al Capone’s payroll, The Finger Points is one of the most honest pre-Code examinations of media corruption ever produced. Its unflinching depiction of the symbiotic relationship between organized crime and the press was possible only during the brief window before the Production Code shut down such candid social commentary. The film is also historically significant for featuring Clark Gable in one of the early roles that demonstrated the raw magnetism audiences would make him Hollywood’s biggest star. Through colorization, this daring pre-Code classic is preserved for modern audiences who can appreciate its uncomfortable truths in vivid new color.

Technical Details

• Format: MP4
• Resolution: HD 720p
• Colorized: Yes, frame-by-frame restoration
• Audio: Original English mono
• Runtime: 90 minutes
• DRM-free: Yes
• Instant download: Yes
• Price: €15.00

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Movie-Specific Questions

Q: Is this film based on real events?
A: The screenplay draws on the real-life case of Jake Lingle, a Chicago Tribune reporter who was murdered in 1930 when it was revealed he had been secretly on Al Capone’s payroll while publicly crusading against organized crime. The parallels give the film an unsettling authenticity.

Q: How significant is Clark Gable’s role?
A: Gable plays the crime boss Number One with the magnetic intensity that was about to make him Hollywood’s biggest star. Filmed just before A Free Soul made him famous, this performance captures Gable’s raw, unpolished screen power at its most dangerous.

Q: What makes this a notable pre-Code film?
A: The film’s frank depiction of journalistic corruption, its refusal to provide easy moral redemption, and its honest portrayal of the relationship between crime and the press were all possible only before the Production Code restricted such candid social commentary.

Digital Download Questions

Q: What format is the download?
A: The film is delivered as a high-quality MP4 file in HD 720p resolution, playable on virtually any modern device.

Q: Is this download DRM-free?
A: Yes, the download is completely DRM-free for your personal, non-commercial use.

Q: How quickly will I receive my download?
A: You will receive a secure download link on the confirmation page immediately after purchase, with a backup link sent to your email.

Related Colorized Classics

• The Public Enemy (1931)
• Little Caesar (1931)
• The Legend of Rudolph Valentino (1961)
• Front Page Woman (1935)
• Scarface (1932)