Scarface (1932 film)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about the 1932 film. For the 1983 remake, see Scarface.
| Scarface | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Howard Hawks |
| Produced by | Howard Hawks and Howard Hughes |
| Written by | Armitage Trail (novel) Ben Hecht Seton I. Miller John Lee Mahin W.R. Burnett |
| Starring | Paul Muni Ann Dvorak George Raft Karen Morley |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
| Release date(s) | April 9, 1932 (USA) |
| Running time | 93 min. |
| Country |  United States |
| Language | English Italian |
| Allmovie profile | |
| IMDb profile | |
Scarface (also known as Scarface: the Shame of the Nation and The Shame of a Nation) is a 1932 gangster film of the Pre-Code era which tells the story of gang warfare and police intervention when rival gangs fight over control of a city. It was directed by Howard Hawks and produced by Howard Hughes. It stars Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins, C. Henry Gordon, George Raft, Vince Barnett, Edwin Maxwell, and Boris Karloff.
Contents |
[edit] Production
The movie was adapted by Ben Hecht, Fred Pasley (uncredited), Seton I. Miller, John Lee Mahin, W.R. Burnett and Howard Hawks (uncredited) from the novel Scarface by Armitage Trail.
The film is loosely based upon the life of Al Capone (whose nickname was "Scarface"). Capone was rumored to have liked the film so much that he had his own copy of it.
The first version of the film (Version A) was completed on September 8, 1931, but censors would not allow its release until 1932, because of concerns that it glorified the gangster lifestyle and showed too much violence. Several scenes had to be edited, the subtitle "The Shame of the Nation" as well as a text introduction and epilogue had to be added, and the ending had to be modified. Howard Hughes disowned this version and it was created without his input.
Two other gangster movies produced at about the same time were Little Caesar (1931) and The Public Enemy (1931).
[edit] Cast
- Paul Muni - Antonio 'Tony' Camonte
- Ann Dvorak - Francesca 'Cesca' Camonte
- Karen Morley - Poppy
- Osgood Perkins - John 'Johnny' Lovo
- C. Henry Gordon - Insp. Ben Guarino
- George Raft - Guino Rinaldo
- Vince Barnett - Angelo
- Boris Karloff - Gaffney
- Purnell Pratt - Mr. Garston, publisher
- Tully Marshall - Managing editor
- Inez Palange - Mrs. Camonte
- Edwin Maxwell - Chief of detectives
[edit] Alternate ending
With the disapproval of several censors regarding the film, producer Howard Hughes, being wealthy enough to spend as much money as needed on the picture, willingly brought the film back to production by re-shooting an alternate ending.
The alternate ending is not different from the original ending (Version A), except for a certain sequence of events. Unlike the original ending where Tony Camonte escapes the police and dies getting shot several times, the alternate ending begins with Tony reluctantly handing himself over to the police. After the encounter, there is a scene where a judge is addressing Tony (who is offscreen, probably because Paul Muni was not involved in production anymore) during sentencing. The next scene is the finale where Tony (seen from a bird's eye view, probably played by a stand-in) is brought to the gallows where he is finally put to an end by being hanged as soon as the policemen cut the ropes. This ending is quite unrealistic in its approach to killing off the protagonist.
After such effort, the censors still rejected this version. Afterwards, Hughes discarded Version B and restored the film to its original ending and wisely screened the film in states where the censors have not affected them, thus leading to bona-fide box office status and positive critical reviews.
[edit] Significance
In 1994, Scarface was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". The character of Tony Camonte ranked at number 47 on "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains" list.
The film was named the best American sound film by critic/director Jean-Luc Godard in Cahiers du Cinéma. Brian De Palma directed a 1983 remake which has become a cult favorite in its own right. A 2005 DVD special edition release of the 1983 version included a copy of its 1932 counterpart.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Scarface (1932) at the Internet Movie Database
- Paul Muni: Scarface and Beyond
- The World is Yours: The Writing of the Original Scarface by Stephen Jacobs at Creativescreenwriting.com
- Scarface at Rotten Tomatoes
- Bibliography
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
