Tony: “I don’t want anyone putting their hands on you!”
Cesca: “What do ya think you’re doing?”
Tony: “Well, I’m your brother.”
Cesca: “You don’t act it – you act more like. . . I don’t know. . . sometimes I think.”
A rare Pre-Code film that still echoes through the lineage of movies to this day, influencing the gangster genre is the Howard Hughes produced, Howard Hawks directed, Ben Hecht written Scarface (1932) – with its elements playing an integral part in setting up the archetypal template for generations to come (just think of the works of Martin Scorsese, Brian De Palma and Francis Ford Coppola four, five, and six decades later).
Ripped from the headlines at the time, this fast paced and snappy gem doesn’t feel like it’s made in 1932, the limitations of the early ‘talkie’ era hardly noticeable. The camera gracefully moves around, be it reenacting the movement of a Tommy gun or introducing us to the players in a room. Following the death of the last great old school gangster, ‘Big’ Louis Costillo (Harry J. Vejar) – done by a shadowy whistler no less, the city of Chicago is basically up for grabs for any thug with some friends and a gun.
Case in point, Johnny Lovo (Osgood Perkins – father of Anthony), a guy with enough Chutzpah, brains, and friends to take over the South side. . . with thuggishly ambitious enforcer Tony ‘Scarface’ Camonte (Paul Muni), who has a scar on his face, doing his bidding. . . though sometimes overstepping the boundaries his boss has instructed. Though Tony leads with an iron fist, he is always keeping a distracted eye on his party happy younger sister, ‘Cesca’ (Ann Dvorak), who likes to get into as much trouble as him.
Wreaking havoc, soon Tony is starting a turf war with the dreaded Irish in the North of the city, including Gaffney (Boris Karloff – Frankenstein; The Strange Door), much to the chagrin of Lovo. And then it is not too long before Tony and his right hand man, Rinaldo (George Raft – They Drive By Night; Some Like It Hot – who’s always flipping a coin and catching it without looking) consider taking over the outfit, partially due to Scarface’s blunt leadership, partially due to his infatuation with nabbing the boss’s gal, Poppy (Karen Morley).
As things get ever more hairy, will Tony get the girl and take control of the operation? Might his sister cause her own set of issues? Or might Rinaldo finally fall for Cesca’s many seductions? Finally, could the rather ineffective cops manage to get a backbone and put up a stand against the mob?
Coming with a certain comedy and cheeky charm on top of the harsh violence, perhaps the most humour comes from Tony’s Italian secretary, Angelo (Vince Barnett), a bumbling, heavily accented chap who is not only oblivious, but really struggles to take a message. Plus, Tony, perhaps because he is also Italian, tends to misinterpret when Poppy and others poke fun at his childlike joy of having everything (clothing, a swanky place, etc.).
But, the violence cannot be ignored. Pulled from the headlines of the time, Ben Hecht (Notorious) was a former Chicago journalist who was familiar with Al Capone and his work – you’ll see scenes reminiscent of things like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Done in very visually stunning ways, no death is similar. . . from a bowling alley (with pins sounding a bit like ammo going off) and drive-by bombings, to wild car chases, also keep an eye out for a motif of Xs and crossfire shadowing, subliminally reminding the viewer that no one is safe from the dreaded gunfire (which looks real – like markings on the bulletproof glass, shots through newspapers, holes in walls, so on and so forth). In fact, Tony fortifies his home with bulletproof shutters and his car with reinforced glass and metal.
Also pushing the boundaries like most Pre-Code pictures, on top of the stylistic bombast of the action, if you read between the lines of the slightly subtle dialogue, there is no denying that Tony is in love with his sister (see the quote that open this piece). . . and she is just as cutthroat as him (not expected of a woman of that time). In fact, all the characters feel real. . . the women are mouthy and aren’t just pretty faces sitting around, while Muni and the other actors all come across like big kids having too much fun following their own version of the American dream. In fact, Muni really leans into the role of Tony, committing to the Italian immigrant (despite being born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire).
A mesmeric gem of a gangster flick, Scarface is a must see from the Pre-Code era. In fact, it has long been rumoured that Al Capone got an original copy of the film so he could watch it all the time. . . so much so that Howard Hawks received a miniature machine gun as a gift from the gangster (though Hawks was known to exaggerate or fabricate stories to publicize his movies, so who knows). So, don’t feel like you’re getting trapped into seeing this film, ‘the world is yours’ if you see this classic.