Scarface (1932)

Directors:

Howard Hawks
Richard Rosson (co-director)

Writers:

Armitage Trail (novel)
Ben Hecht (screenplay)

Release Date:

9 April 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Film-Noir

Plot:

An ambitious and near insanely violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.

Plot Keywords:

Gang War | Gangster Film | Tommy Gun | Irish Mob | Mafia

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Paul Muni	...	Antonio 'Tony' Camonte
Ann Dvorak	...	Francesca 'Cesca' Camonte
Karen Morley	...	Poppy
Osgood Perkins	...	John 'Johnny' Lovo
C. Henry Gordon	...	Insp. Ben Guarino
George Raft	...	Guino Rinaldo
Vince Barnett	...	Angelo
Boris Karloff	...	Gaffney
Purnell Pratt	...	Mr. Garston, publisher
Tully Marshall	...	Managing editor
Inez Palange	...	Mrs. Camonte
Edwin Maxwell	...	Chief of detectives

Also Known As:

Scarface, the Shame of the Nation
The Shame of a Nation

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Italian

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:15 (video rating) | Brazil:14 | Netherlands:6 (DVD rating) | Finland:K-15 (2005) (DVD) | UK:A (original rating) | Norway:16 (1984) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG (re-release) | USA:Passed (original rating) | Germany:16

Company:

The Caddo Company

Trivia:

Al Capone was rumored to have liked the film so much that he had his own copy of it.

Quotes:

Tony Camonte: Listen, Little Boy, in this business there's only one law you gotta follow to keep out of trouble: Do it first, do it yourself, and keep on doing it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Paid in Full (2002)

Soundtrack:

St. Louis Blues

Ugly and brilliant

Rat-rat-a-tat goes Hawks's direction, opening and closing with a bang, and what's in between is pretty sensational, too. Muni, who could be an awful ham, is just right here -- slick and sexy and a little stupid, a hot-tempered paisano unable to control his ambitions or passions. The incest subplot, never overtly stated but always close to the surface, makes the movie seem startlingly modern. And the dialogue goes snap, snap, snap. The only place the movie stumbles is in a civics-lesson scene where the self-important newspaper editor spells out exactly what's wrong with the criminal justice system of 1932 and delivers his dull speech straight to the camera, like a high school lecture. It's the briefest of lulls in one of the most exciting early talkies, and certainly one of the greatest of all gangster flicks.