Scarface (The Original)

Scarface (1932)

Runtime: 93 minutes

Directed by: Howard Hawks

Starring: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, George Raft, Boris Karloff

From: United Artists

Yes, this is the original Scarface, not the greatly entertaining-but lengthy-version from the 80’s with Tony Montana and all those coked-up excesses. Instead, this one (the earliest movie I have reviewed so far) I’ve seen before and I caught it again earlier tonight when Turner Classic Movies showed it. It turns out that I enjoy watching those sorts of gangster movies from the 30’s… I just haven’t seen too many of them yet in my life.

Once seeing it again, I realize I did not remember much from my first viewing. Also, the 80’s version takes quite a bit from this. Here, the story concerns Tony Camonte (Muni), an Italian who moves to Chicago and with his big mind and brash attitude, he takes over the Chicago gangland and the bootlegging business-back in the horrible days when alcohol was illegal in the United States-but a lot of elements will seem familiar with those who have seen the 80’s movie plenty of times.

For example, Tony has a scar on his face too… it wasn’t from eating “pineapple” but rather it came from some lady in a speakeasy, or so a character stated. Tony battles with the boss who hired him… including his lady (Morley); Tony has a sister who he’s overprotective of (Dvorak) for creepy reasons, Tony’s pal is fond of the sister… and that’s not all, but I won’t reveal more, except that there's even a "The World Is Yours" reference. So, I say that if you enjoy Tony Montana and his adventures, then you just might enjoy this too. After all, some moments in the script were taken from Al Capone’s life.

There’s your fair share of violence, usually either heard and not shown or done in shadows, but there’s still a lot of it and while some things were definitely dated (such as the odd humor at a few points or the hammy acting or the oh so stereotypical Italian accents) it overall is an entertaining and fun yarn to watch. As it was in the “pre-Code” era, it meant there was no censorship so that’s why you had a lot of shootings with Tommy Guns and a brother with an unhealthy relationship with his sister.

I'll be back Saturday night with a new review.