Scarface

Movie Review: Scarface

Year of Release: 1932
Country of Origin: USA
Director: Howard Hawks
Cast: Paul Muni, Ann Dvorak, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins, C. Henry Gordon

Plot outline: An ambitious and near insanely violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall (IMDb).

If Little Caesar and The Public Enemy represent the prototypical amoral and moral takes on gangsterdom, then Scarface is gleefully immoral, its sermonising opening titles representing little more than over-compensation. This is tacitly acknowledged in the media frenzy that surrounds Antonio Camonte's (Paul Muni's) ruthless acts of killing, which both inculcates a connection between criminality and celebrity that the movie itself never really escapes, and brings out the sinister underbelly of the inspirational, musical narrative of fame and glamour, most explicitly in Camonte's confession that his ultimate ambition is to get his name in lights. The voyeuristic aesthetic that results finds equal expression in consumer fetishism, particularly evident in the self-conscious gaudiness of Camonte's apartment, and a preoccupation with shocking violence that radically exceeds any narrative or aesthetic necessity, ultimately construing the machine gun itself as just another glamorous accessory. This is all enhanced by fairly functional cinemtography, which mirrors the gritty newsreels that Hawks ostensibly condemns, as well as Paul Muni's acting which, in diametric opposition to I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang, is overwhelmingly hammy, with every line followed by a more or less direct acknowledgment of the audience. That said, Hawks' approach probably comes closer to a sheer embodiment of the 'gangster problem' than the earlier two films, resulting in the haunting appeal of a historical artefact. (BS)

My judgement: ***1/2 out of 4 stars