Scarface
1932
Loosely based on the life of Al Capone, Howard Hawks's SCARFACE is one of the most shocking and powerful gangster films ever made, setting the standard for Hollywood screen violence for years to come. Tony 'Scarface' Camonte (Paul Muni) is an enforcer for Johnny Lovo, an ambitious gangster who wants to combine all the liquor .. Read more
| Starring | Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, George Raft, Boris Karloff |
|---|---|
| Director | Howard Hawks |
| Genres | Drama |
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Scarface
Loosely based on the life of Al Capone, Howard Hawks's SCARFACE is one of the most shocking and powerful gangster films ever made, setting the standard for Hollywood screen violence for years to come. Tony 'Scarface' Camonte (Paul Muni) is an enforcer for Johnny Lovo, an ambitious gangster who wants to combine all the liquor rackets in Prohibition-era Chicago into one crime empire. To achieve this goal Tony embarks on a reign of terror, threatening citizens and clawing his way to power until he is the number one mobster in town. Muni's fierce performance established the model for the Hollywood mobster, a violent yet charismatic figure. Censorship battles over the film delayed its release for two years, and resulted in additional moralizing scenes and an alternate ending. Visually dynamic and provocative, SCARFACE, produced by Howard Hughes, is one of the best films of the 1930s and the forerunner of the modern gangster film.
| Starring | Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, George Raft, Boris Karloff |
|---|---|
| Director | Howard Hawks |
| Studio | UNIVERSAL PICTURES UK |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 26 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | English |
| Released | DVD: 26 Dec 2005 Production year: 1932 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (3)
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The greatest gangster movie of the 1930s — and that means the greatest ever. It was produced by Howard Hughes who told director Howard Hawks to make it “as realistic, as exciting, as grisly as possible”. Hawks happily obliged, though Hollywood's moral watchdog, the Hays Office, interfered throughout the shooting and later insisted the ending was softened and a subtitle was added —Shame of the Nation. The story is a thinly disguised biography of Al Capone, with Paul Muni as Tony Camonte, a monster who lusts after his own sister, Ann Dvorak, yet whose business acumen embodies the American Dream. Hawks saw it as the Borgias in Chicago and it's filled with m oments that define the gangster genre — terrific shoot-outs, psychotic characters and George Raft spinning a coin. Seventy years after it was made, Scarface remains a bracingly violent and subversive tragicomedy that says crime pays and that mowing people down is fun. It was remade by Brian De Palma in 1983.
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Obviously modelled on Al Capone, with an incestuous sister thrown in, this was perhaps the most vivid film of the gangster cycle, and its revelling in its own sins was not obscured by the subtitle, The Shame of a Nation.
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Most helpful member's review
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6 out of 6 people found this review helpful
Perfect ultra-violent gangland drama from pre-code Hollywood
Prior to 1934, American cinema was free and unecumbered by any censorship restrictions. What this meant in practice was that as far as filmic subject matter was concerned, anything was permissable - drugs, sex, nudity, violence and general amorality. Of all the films from this era, Scarface (1932) was perhaps the most celebrated. It was considered to be so outrageously violent for its time that it prompted the introduction of the Hays Code, a 'moral' code that all films were required to adhere to which didn't disappear until 1968. Scarface (1932) is without question one of the great masterpieces of cinema. Although Little Caesar & The Public Enemy had already been made, this particular gang-banger pushed the life of a hoodlum into the realms of epic territory. Still very theatrical, but encompassing many sub-plots within the major one to make it much more than just a rise-and-fall. Many of the elements of the Brian De Palma remake are here including the incest overtones which are actually MORE pronounced here than the 1983 version! (i.e. she's into it). And then there's the terrific humor. Dig the fake Italian accents! And the character who plays 'Tony Camonte's secretary' has to be one of the great comic performers in history - he's hilarious! And how does Scarface (1932) compare to the remake? Well, the De Palma version chiefly benefits from the unmatchable charisma and intensity of Pacino but basically it's just a remake of a classic, in the true sense of the word. Scarface (1932) pretty much justifies the invention of cinema alone.
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Most recent members' review
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1 out of 1 person found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
dated gangster worth a revisit from time to time
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- duke51 from Peterlee
- Posted 04 Aug 2008 14:17
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