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SCARFACE
6/10
aka Scarface
– The Shame of the Nation : USA 1932 : Howard HAWKS : 90 mins
Semi-legendary
gangster film has enough fast-moving thriller elements (most scenes are
short) to still hold up pretty well seven decades on, despite some absurdities
in Ben Hecht’s script. Hawks (who supposedly has a cameo as ‘man on bed’)
handles things with his usual efficiency – and has a lot of fun seeing
how many crosses he can sneak into the frame in countless different forms.
A religious subtext? References to the anti-hero’s scar? Or an exhortation
to the viewer/voter, reminding us of our ballot-box duty? Democracy, we’re
told, means the people must hold the government to account on the subject
of organised crime – rampant, then as now.
Supposedly
based on Al Capone, the movie traces the not-so-meteoric rise of crime-boss
Tony Camonte (Paul Muni). It takes a while for Camonte to bump off his
boss Lomo (Osgood Perkins, father of Anthony), and (implausibly) seduce
Lomo’s sophisticated mistress Poppy (Karen Morley). In fact, so late in
the day does Camonte take over as Chicago’s top dog – memorably disposing
of gimlet-eyed English crook Gaffney (Boris Karloff!) in a bowling-alley
along the way - that his reign is surprisingly brief. In hardly any time,
it seems, he’s holed up in his (amusingly) heavily-armoured apartment
with his sister Cesca (Ann Dvorak) while the cops unleash their firepower
from the street below.
Much has been
made over the years of Tony’s supposedly incestuous (but unconsummated)
interest in Cesca. His excessive protectiveness is, however, more a function
of his general macho ignorance than any kind of taboo sexual perversion.
Camonte must be among the most knuckle-headed of movie heroes - he’s only
a fraction smarter than his hapless, illiterate ‘secretary’ Angelo (Vince
Barnett), a stooge who functions as the film’s main comic relief. He’s
certainly much more doltish than his laconic best pal and second-in-command
Guino (George Raft) – whose love-affair with Cesca ends in (predictably)
tragic circumstances when Tony (predictably) discovers it, gets the wrong
end of the stick, and murderously over-reacts.
Tony’s killing
of Guino neatly sets up Cesca as a steely-eyed angel of vengeance – so
it’s ludicrous when she abruptly changes her mind, and takes up arms alongside
Tony as he battles the cops. Then again, this fickle turnaround is no
less unlikely than Poppy’s volte-face: amused contempt at Tony’s brute
inarticulacy one minute, swooning passion the next. So much for those
strong ‘Hawks women’!
23rd
October, 2003
(seen 19th October : CineSide,
Newcastle)
by Neil
Young
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