Howard Hawks' SCARFACE
October 11th 2010 22:53
At first blush, Howard Hawks's 1931 film Scarface seems dramatically out dated, but upon finally seeing it for myself, leaving my preconceived notions at the door, I realise that even if a film has dated on the surface, the impact of great story telling doesn't diminish. Scarface strides out as an example of lean, mean film making. 50 years later when Brian DePalma remade Scarface with Al Pacino in the role of Tony Montana, the original by Howard Hawks achieves everything narratively that took script writer Oliver Stone and director Brian Depalma's operatic remake to do, in half the time.
DePalma's remake was interested in being consumed by decadence and dripping with the excesses of the 80's. Al Pacino's character was power mad, showing us the 'American Dream' on too much cocaine. Howard Hawks's original, though, is thematically quite different, perhaps it's balls aren’t as big and brassy, but instead it uses a very similar story line to explore something quite different about America, which is why it's so necessary for Scarface to be seen in the correct context.
Around this time in particular in film making, the introduction of sound was still quite new. Film making suddenly gave precedence to sound technicians. The gimmick of sound and how microphones could be snuck into the frame, became more more important than what the camera did, or even worse, the story. It seemed for a while that cinema completely fell to the mercy of sound and there were certain directors who brought films back to life again, in particular Howard Hawks was one of these directors, refusing to let microphones restrain how he chose to shoot a film.
Scarface is one fierce morality tale, economically shot and utterly brutal. It's simple message, you live by the sword you die by the sword, but the revelation that makes Scarface so fascinating is the casual, happy go lucky attitude our main character has towards everything around him. Actor Paul Muni plays Tony Carmonte, an opportunist, looking to take the place of his king pin boss. Tony looks out the window and sees the flashing neon sign across the street, which reads “THE WORLD IS YOURS”. Yes Tony is power hungry, but he has no sense of consequence to his actions, the violence around him, he sees as adventurous, a game and approaches his power trip with a devil may care demeanour.
With the deft blend of comedy (in this case, amusingly out dated) in Scarface, even the audience get seduced by the violent allure of this life style. There's something shockingly irresponsible about the violence seen on screen and Tony takes this all on with a wink and a smile, throwing wise cracks like party confetti. Despite violence having become much more explicit in the following decades to come, very few films portray violence and death in such an inconsequential way. We feel the pangs of injustice, yet it's clear to us from the way Hawks shoots the violence that he too condemns it, which creates a sub-conscious tension that is the work of a master film maker.
Actor Paul Muni bears a resemblance to Benicio Del Toro, armed with a smart mouth and never taking things seriously, he easily leads the wife of his boss astray, as everything else fuels his ego. Plot lines and even dialogue and images from the remake remain in tact here, but this original version feels significantly different. Hawks shoots the film at eye level, the camera is invisible, restrained, stripped down story telling is the order of the day. Scarface is baron of any music, aside from a few moments of source music in one scene. This gives the film a gritty street wise feel, providing cold, dead, moments that build organically.
Where it's remake commented on excess, the original is fascinated by violence, but their is a fearful sense of the divine, condemning these acts, with visual symbols of an 'X' that appear when there is a murder on screen, at once acting like a warning, condemnation and a perhaps a God fearing disclaimer. At it's deepest level, Scarface reminds us just how in touch and connected with violence we are as a culture.
What took me most by surprise was how moved I was by the film towards it's end, Paul Muni plays a scared little boy trapped in a man's body and many of it's scenes work far better than it's remake. Yes, Scarface is now over 70 years old, but if have an interest in seeing it you may be surprised by how well the film still plays. Paul Muni's performance still stands as a solid one, it's amazing to think that one of the most minimal, sharp, whip smart and dangerously charming films (charming for all the wrong reasons) would inspire a film that was so different in it's approach and attitude yet so similar in it's story line. Scarface was one of the first really great films of the sound era - one that still holds a great impact.
A SCENE FROM SCARFACE (CONTAINS SPOILERS)
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Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Matt Shea
20/20 Filmsight
Comment by David O'Connell
Screen Fanatic
Comment by ShaunK
Screen Adventure
Thanks Matt and Dave, i think that you need to be able to see past the old fashioned production to see value of this film, it tells a very similar story in half the time.and the way the violence is depicted in this original seems to be done in a more interesting way, which makes fascinating statement about man's identification with violence and death.
Be warned though Dave - there's no music at all in this
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I still remember the first time I saw this back when I was about 9 or 10 years old with my mum. I was shocked by the brutality and amazed at the power of things I didn't fully comprehend at the time.
Revisiting the film numerous times during my life it has never lost that cold edge that attracted me a child.
Paul Muni is magnificent as Capone and the dedication to making sure that violence has consequences still resonates.
Love that still with the bullet holes in the wall, have always wanted it as a poster. (All i ever got was a postcard image).
Don't know if you have read it but I did a post titled "36 Essential Film Noirs" back in the day that you may have some contributions for.