Scarface (1932)

Directors:

Howard Hawks
Richard Rosson (co-director)

Writers:

Armitage Trail (novel)
Ben Hecht (screen story)
(more)

Release Date:

9 April 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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:

Murder | Police | Bootlegging | Gangster | Mob

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Paul Muni	...	Tony
Ann Dvorak	...	Cesca
Karen Morley	...	Poppy
Osgood Perkins	...	Lovo
C. Henry Gordon	...	Guarino
George Raft	...	Rinaldo
Vince Barnett	...	Angelo
Boris Karloff	...	Gaffney
Purnell Pratt	...	Publisher
Tully Marshall	...	Managing Editor
Inez Palange	...	Tony's Mother
Edwin Maxwell	...	Detective Chief
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Henry Armetta	...	Pietro - Barber (uncredited)
Gus Arnheim	...	Orchestra Leader (uncredited)
Eugenie Besserer	...	Citizens Committee Member (uncredited)
Maurice Black	...	Jim - Headwaiter (uncredited)
William Burress	...	Judge (alternate ending) (uncredited)
Gino Corrado	...	Waiter at Columbia Cafe (uncredited)
Virginia Dabney	...	Mabel (uncredited)
William B. Davidson	...	Citizens Committee Member (uncredited)
James Durkin	...	Newspaper Man (uncredited)
Eddie Fetherston	...	Reporter (uncredited)
Paul Fix	...	Hood with Gaffney (uncredited)
Francis Ford	...	Prison Guard (alternate ending) (uncredited)
Gus Arnheim and His Orchestra	...	Paradise Club Orchestra (uncredited)
Jean Harlow	...	Blonde at Paradise Club - Cameo appearance in nightclub (uncredited)
Howard Hawks	...	Man on Bed (uncredited)
Brandon Hurst	...	Citizens Committee Member (uncredited)
John Kelly	...	One of Costillo's Hoods (uncredited)
Hank Mann	...	Stag Party Janitor (uncredited)
Dennis O'Keefe	...	Night Club Patron (uncredited)
Jack Perry	...	One of Costillo's Hoods (uncredited)
Pedro Regas	...	Tony - Bodyguard (uncredited)
Warner Richmond	...	Cesca's Dance Partner (uncredited)
Constantine Romanoff	...	Henchman (uncredited)
Bert Starkey	...	Epstein - Lawyer (uncredited)
Charles Sullivan	...	One of Costillo's Hoods (uncredited)
Harry Tenbrook	...	One of Costillo's Hoods (uncredited)
Helen C. Thompson	...	Sadie Thompson (uncredited)
Nick Thompson	...	One of Costillo's Hoods (uncredited)
Ellinor Vanderveer	...	Theatregoer (uncredited)
Harry J. Vejar	...	Big Louis Costillo (uncredited)
Douglas Walton	...	Cesca's Boyfriend (uncredited)

Directed by
Howard Hawks
Richard Rosson		(co-director)

Writing credits
Armitage Trail		(novel "Scarface")
Ben Hecht		(screen story)
Seton I. Miller		(continuity) &
John Lee Mahin		(continuity) &
W.R. Burnett		(continuity)
Seton I. Miller		(dialogue) &
John Lee Mahin		(dialogue) &
W.R. Burnett		(dialogue)
Howard Hawks		uncredited
Fred Pasley		adaptation (uncredited)

Produced by
Howard Hawks	....	producer (uncredited)
Howard Hughes	....	producer (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Lee Garmes
L. William O'Connell		(as L.W. O'Connell)

Film Editing by
Edward Curtiss
Lewis Milestone		(uncredited)

Set Decoration by
Harry Oliver		(settings)

Production Management
Charles Stallings	....	production manager

Sound Department
William Snyder	....	sound engineer

Visual Effects by
Howard A. Anderson	....	process photography (uncredited)

Stunts
Frances Miles	....	stunt double: Ann Dvorak (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Charles Bohny	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Roy Clark	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Warner Cruze	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Eugene Kornman	....	still photographer (uncredited)
Warren Lynch	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Douglass Biggs	....	editorial advisor

Music Department
Gus Arnheim	....	musical director
Adolph Tandler	....	musical director

Other crew
W.R. Burnett	....	continuity
Howard Hughes	....	presenter
John Lee Mahin	....	continuity
Seton I. Miller	....	continuity
E.B. Derr	....	supervisor (uncredited)
Howard Hughes	....	direction supervisor (uncredited)
Lincoln Quarberg	....	general press representative (uncredited)

Production Companies

• The Caddo Company

Distributors

• United Artists (1932) (USA) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1934) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Atlantic Pictures Corporation (1938) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Astor Pictures Corporation (1947) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Universal Pictures (1979) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• United Artists (1981) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• MCA Home Video (1983) (USA) (VHS)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Benelux (2005) (Netherlands) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures Finland Oy (2005) (Finland) (DVD)
• Universal Pictures (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• United Artists Video (UAV) (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• CIC Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Silver Screens
• Universal Studios Home Video (2003) (Canada) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Metropolitan Sound Studios  sound

Also Known As:

Runtime:

93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Norway:16 (1984) | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG (re-release) | USA:Passed (original rating) | UK:15 (video rating) | UK:A (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (1998) | Netherlands:6 (DVD rating) | Brazil:14 | West Germany:16 (f) | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Australia:PG

Company:

The Caddo Company

Trivia:

Screenwriter Ben Hecht was a former Chicago journalist familiar with the city's Prohibition-era gangsters, including Al Capone. During the filming Hecht returned to his Los Angeles hotel room one night to find two Capone torpedoes waiting for him. The gangsters demanded to know if the movie was about Capone. Hecht assured them it wasn't, saying that the character Tony Camonte was based on gangsters like "Big" Jim Colosimo and Charles Dion O'Bannion. "Then why is the movie called Scarface?" one of the hoods demanded. "Everyone will think it's about Capone!" "That's the reason," said Hecht. "If you call the movie Scarface (1932), people will think it's about Capone and come to see it. It's part of the racket we call show business." The Capone hoods, who appreciated the value of a scam, left the hotel placated.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Closeup of score sheet in bowling alley scene defies all rules of traditional scoring.

Quotes:

Poppy:Why don't you get yourself a girl, Tony?
Tony Camonte:I'm workin' on that now.
Poppy:Yeah? Well, don't tire yourself out.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Saviano racconta Scarface (2011)

Soundtrack:

St. Louis Blues

Arguably superior to De Palma's remake

Many purists would jump at this as being the definitive "Sacrface," but so much had changed in the fifty-one years between the two movies that it is nearly impossible. Whereas the Al Pacino cult classic spanned close to three hours and included almost every imaginable cause of death, this version is a mere hour and a half, give or take a few minutes, and unlike the remake, takes place entirely in Chicago.

Made as an anti-gangster film, with a message buried under the many bodies that pile up, this is a surprisingly brutal movie for its time, and got a reputation as such. This was just before the so-called "Golden Age" of cinema, and in a time like that, chances are a movie this unapologetic wouldn't get made. But it is a masterful gangster film.

Paul Muni is Tony Camonte, a pseudo-Capone psycho who believes in doing the dirty work himself, is a sleazebag. He talks in a lisp that holds him apart from the gangsters of Cagney and Bogart as a man who, even then, seems ethnic. To boot, his "secretary" is an immigrant who is only semi-literate and can't hear people well on the phone. Boris Karloff shows up as an Irish gangster, Gaffney, who falls under Camonte's gun. Aside from an entire segment where Camonte goes seemingly from point A to point B with the same tommy gun and kills off the competition, this is a brilliant milestone in the gangster genre, and probably the best of the era. Even now, it proves what people could accomplish by mere suggestion, sparing much of the language that is in movies (and, indeed, used in real life) today.