Scarface: The Shame of the Nation

SCARFACE: THE SHAME OF THE NATION (BLACK AND WHITE, 1932)

Director: 

Richard Rosson and Howard Hawks

Cast: 

Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, George Raft, Boris Karloff, Karen Morley and Osgood Perkins

Ages: 

10 and up

Plot: 

Tony Camonte (Muni) is a gangster who had just shot a famous Chicago gangster. As he rises above many with his insanely violent ways, he falls in love with Poppy (Morley). He and his mob (Raft, Karloff and Perkins are just the main ones) soon see that they will fall down, and the cops soon catch Tony even with his sister (Dvorak) by his side. 

Still of Paul Muni in Scarface

Why it’s good: 

Because it is so filled with action, so filled with mystery, and just so tense. No film has ever been so violent and had so many censorship problems, and none shall ever be responsible for the dawn of gangster films than this film.

Yes, very little of today’s gangster films would be here today if not for Scarface. It was ‘a shame of the nation’, as mentioned in the tagline, but it is actually today ‘the birth of a nation’s film’.

No gangster film actually gets any better than this film nowadays, although James Cagney – actor of gangster – has a point to make.

Trivia:

Al Capone was rumored to have liked the film so much that he had his own copy of it.  Film debut of George Raft, who didn't have to go far for inspiration on how to play a gangster in this film. He grew up in a New York City slum alongside gangsters Bugsy Siegel, Meyer Lansky, Joe Adonis and Lucky Luciano. In an ironic twist, after the release of "Scarface", many of Raft's gangster pals would come to him for advice on how to dress, walk, talk, etc.

If you like this...: 

Paul Muni’s other great film was I am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, which was made the same year. It was about a criminal wrongly suspected of robbing a dinner, sent to a chain gang, and escaped. The Private Enemy (1931), Angels With Dirty Faces (1938) and White Heat (1949) are great Cagney gangster films.  

Ball of Fire

BALL OF FIRE (BLACK AND WHITE, 1941)

Director: 

Howard Hawks

Cast: 

Gary Cooper, Barbara Stanwyck, Dana Andrews, Oscar Homolka, Henry Travers, Tully Marshall, Lenoid Kinskey, Richard Haydn, Aubrey Mather, Allen Jenkins, Dan Duryea and Mary Field

Ages: 

7 and up

Plot: 

A group of nine lexicographers are working on a new encyclopedia. Their leader, Bertram Potts (Cooper), meets a garbage man (Jenkins) and Bertram feels that his own article on slang has no resemblance to the language used by the commoners such as the garbage man.  In fact, Bertram finds that his article is 20 years outdated. When Bertram goes off to find more users of slang, he ends up falling for a nightclub singer, Sugarpuss O’Shea (Stanwyck). Sugarpuss is actually the girlfriend of a gangster, Joe Lilac (Andrews), who is suspected for murder. Can he and his friends help Sugarpuss get out of the gangster plot?

Still of Gary Cooper in Ball of Fire

Why it’s good: 

Because it just is. The film is similar to Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but it is no worse than that 1935 Disney film.  In my view, Sugarpuss is Snow White, and the lexicographers are the dwarfs. The gangster is the evil queen (that goes a little too far, I guess). 

To the audience of that period, this film might’ve been a better option compared to Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.  That’s because it’s realistic. By that time, people have realized that evil queens and princesses like the ones in Snow White cannot be found in the real world (maybe only in the child’s imagination). Then, America still had gangsters (Al Capone was still alive) and singers like Katharine ‘Sugarpuss’ O’Shea weren’t uncommon.

The whole movie owes its comedy to the screenwriter – Billy Wilder. Billy Wilder would later reformulate this plot to write the script for Some Like It Hot. Billy Wilder was genius and created fun scenes – a shoe-changing scene which could have happened in Cinderella, a dance scene involving eight of the lexicographers and a scene of a housemaid locked in a closet.

Trivia: 

Even though they play two of the "old men" lexicographers, Leonid Kinskey (Prof. Quintana) and Richard Haydn (Prof. Oddly) were both under 40 years old when they made this movie.

Parent’s guide: 

A bit of the Roaring 20s fashion which features revealing clothes.

If you like this…: 

Cooper and Stanwyck’s other 1941 comedy, "Meet John Doe", about a man who acts as a non-existent person.      

His Girl Friday

HIS GIRL FRIDAY (BLACK AND WHITE, 1940)

Director: 

Howard Hawks

Cast: 

Cary Grant, Rosalind Russell, Ralph Bellamy, Gene Lockhart, Cliff Edwards, Porter Hall, Helen Mack and John Qualen

Ages: 

10 and up

Plot: 

‘Hildy’ Hildegard Johnson (Russell) was once married to Chicago newspaper editor Walter Burns (Grant), who was her boss. One day, however, she tells Walter she is retiring from the newspaper business to marry a good-hearted insurance man Bruce Baldwin (Bellamy). Burns, however, wants Hildegard to report on murderer Earl Williams (Qualen) first. Hildegard is reluctant, and Burns tries all means to get Bruce into lots of trouble, winning Hildegard’s heart in the process.

Still of (from left): Ralph Bellamy, Cary Grant, and Rosalind Russell

Why it’s good: 

It is probably the most speedy screwball comedy of all time. The script was completely made to overlap each other’s rapid-fire dialogue, especially with those cronies in the background set against the dramatic case of John Qualen, the murderer.

John Qualen isn't really important, and solely communicates with Rosalind Russell’s Hildegard and Sheriff Peter B. Hartwell (played by Gene Lockhart from "Miracle on 34th Street"), and the B stands for ‘Brains’ or was it ‘Bull’?            

The answer is both, since the cronies call him the latter and Johnson the former as she says,"Peter B. Hartwell. B for Brains.”

The sheriff also isn't that important, even though the election is. It was based on a play by Ben Hecht, and it was adapted once before, but was a flop. So the light bulbs to make a good picture were a) use a new technique with rapid and overlapping dialogue and b) change the gender of one of the characters (which was Rosalind Russell’s).

So, in short, it is the battle of the sexes.  Watch this movie for its rapid-fire dialogue.  It will blow you away, being twice the speed of our normal speech.

Parent’s guide: 

Cary Grant takes off his shirt in one scene for a medical check-up. Earl Williams’ girlfriend jumps off a building to her near death. Rosalind Russell jumps onto Gene Lockhart’s back and he falls onto the ground. 

Trivia: 

Five actresses, including Ginger Rogers, were asked to play Hildegard Johnson. Ginger Rogers declined, but when Cary Grant was cast as Walter Burns, she came to regret her decision.

If you like this…: 

"The Front Page" (1974) with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau follows the play more closely without changing the gender. Directed by Billy Wilder, who also wrote the screenplay.                            

Rio Bravo

RIO BRAVO (COLOUR, 1959)

Director: 

Howard Hawks

Cast: 

John Wayne, Dean Martin, Ricky Nelson, Angie Dickinson, Ward Bond, Walter Brennan, Claude Akins, John Russell and Pedro Gonzalez

Ages: 

7 and up

Plot: 

Small-town sheriff John T. Chance, with the help of a drunk, Dude (Martin), manages to capture local bad guy Joe Burdette (Akins), brother of a rancher named Nathan (Russell). Many of Joe’s gang, including his brother, want him out of jail and captures Dude. To help him, John hires shady lady/card player Feathers (Dickinson), Colorado Ryan (Nelson), who used to help out John’s old friend Pat Wheeler (Bond), jail guard Stumpy (Brennan) and hotel owner Carlos (Gonzalez). When they decide to trade Joe back for Dude, the two parties start a battle against one other.

From left: Ricky Nelson, John Wayne and Dean Martin 

Why it’s good: 

Because it is the most classically classy western with a really splendid cast, from John Wayne as a sheriff, Dean Martin the comedian as a drunk, early rock star Ricky Nelson as Colorado Ryan and Angie Dickinson as the extremely shady card player.

But most of all, it is the opposite of the values presented in "High Noon" (1952), another classic western. "High Noon" presents the view that leaders should ask for help while this film says that leaders should not beg for help but rather allow other people to help them. This film says that in brilliant Technicolor.

Laying their messages aside, it has a rather slow pace which could be quickened somehow. But the slow pace showcases the acting skills and story plot of this film. John Wayne isn’t really fast or dynamic, but still a moving piece of a movie star.

The singing is also a close equal of the action. Stumpy and Colorado sing ‘My rifle, my pony and me’ and ‘Do not forsake me, oh my darling’ - two great pieces of music you might want to hear over and over again.

Parent’s guide: 

It was G-rated by the Canadian censorship. There are some violent action sequences, where Joe Burdette’s gang pushes Dude into a bucket of water. Pat Wheeler is shot in a warehouse while one man falls off the ceiling in a bar.

Trivia: 

During filming, Ricky Nelson celebrated his 18th birthday. As a gift, John Wayne and Dean Martin gave him a 300 lb. sack of steer manure, which they then threw Nelson into as a rite of passage.

If you like this…: 

Check out the extremely loose remakes, "El Dorado" (1966) and "El Lobo" (1970). Both of them are made by the John Wayne-Howard Hawks team. They were also together for Red River (1948), co-starring Montgomery Clift and Walter Brennan again.