Scarface (1932)
Acting sensation Paul Muni, who came out of nowhere and made a splash in 1932 with Scarface and I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, couldn’t have picked two more dissimilar roles in the same year. In the latter, he plays an innocent man wrongfully imprisoned, and in Scarface, he plays a crime boss responsible for countless deaths!
To me, the best part of the 1932 version was Howard Hawks’s directing. It’s a very violent film, but he managed to rarely show it. Instead, during the Valentine’s Day Massacre scene, he panned the camera away from the action and merely showed the shadows on the wall. It was much more effective, and much creepier, to show shadows crumble. Using inventive camera angles and lighting techniques, Hawks makes the film seem like it was made in 1942, when film noir ran rampant, rather than only three years after talkies.
Most of you out there are familiar with the Al Pacino version, but if you love that one, you might want to pay your respects the original. It’s different, because instead of drugs there’s bootlegging, and there’s no nudity or sex scenes, but it’s still virtually the same story. Instead of Cuban, the lead is Italian, but he still rises through the crime world by providing illegal substances and killing his enemies. He’s still overprotective over his sister, and she still rebels against his warnings. Paul Muni never says, “Say hello to my little friend!” though.
Want to watch it? Click here to watch it on ok.ru. And thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
Be sure to check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of 1983's Scarface here!
More Paul Muni movies here!
To me, the best part of the 1932 version was Howard Hawks’s directing. It’s a very violent film, but he managed to rarely show it. Instead, during the Valentine’s Day Massacre scene, he panned the camera away from the action and merely showed the shadows on the wall. It was much more effective, and much creepier, to show shadows crumble. Using inventive camera angles and lighting techniques, Hawks makes the film seem like it was made in 1942, when film noir ran rampant, rather than only three years after talkies.
Most of you out there are familiar with the Al Pacino version, but if you love that one, you might want to pay your respects the original. It’s different, because instead of drugs there’s bootlegging, and there’s no nudity or sex scenes, but it’s still virtually the same story. Instead of Cuban, the lead is Italian, but he still rises through the crime world by providing illegal substances and killing his enemies. He’s still overprotective over his sister, and she still rebels against his warnings. Paul Muni never says, “Say hello to my little friend!” though.
Want to watch it? Click here to watch it on ok.ru. And thanks "Classic Movies Kristine Rose" for posting!
Be sure to check out Hot Toasty Rag's review of 1983's Scarface here!
More Paul Muni movies here!