The 1932 Take On Scarface Still Remains One Of The Best Gangster Movies!

Howard Hughes is like a never-ending source of historical trivia. The guy's eccentric and reclusive private life is already the stuff of legend, and while I was well aware of him having a heavy hand in the film industry, I had no idea he was a staunch fighter against The Production Code (an entity meant to curb raunchy or unsavory behavior in American cinema) while he was the producer of the 1932 version of Scarface. Apparently, he told the directors in charge of this project (Howard Hawks and Richard Rosson) to forego any consideration for having their Scarface adhere to the guidelines of The Production Code and instead focus on making the most realistic and highest quality movie they could.


Thank God they decided to just make a good movie instead of trying to mold this ultra-violent gangster violence into the restrictive mold of The Production Code since it's the ability to depict the cruel mayhem its gangster characters commit in such an upfront and unglamorous manner that helps make Scarface one of the best gangster movies of its era and a superb movie on its own merits. Taking place a decade prior to its April 1932 release, Scarface is all about the rise to great power that Tony Camonte (Paul Muni) experiences as he becomes a hugely influential gangster while working for Johnny Lovo (Osgood Perkins).

On his way to the top, Tony makes plenty of enemies while also gaining all kinds of weapons like Tommy guns that help him secure his place as the biggest gangster in the area. Akin to the then future Martin Scorsese movie Raging Bull, Scarface is all about examining what kind of monster an already troubled man will become when his life becomes nothing but ruthless violence from day-to-day. While Tony may secure his place as a formidable criminal, he does so while being an abusive presence to his sister, Cesca Camonte (Ann Dvorak), with the two's relationship serving as a microcosm of the kind of cruelty Tony uses as his go-to method in human interactions.

While many in the 1930's felt Hollywood pictures were desensitizing the populace's feeling towards organized crime by making the world of mobsters "glamorous", it must be said that such claims being lobbied at Scarface feel as inaccurate as individuals in modern society claiming The Wolf Of Wall Street is an endorsement of the depravity committed by Jordan Belfort. Scarface is clearly all about casting an eye on mobster activity (some of which are intentionally meant to evoke real life crimes) and depicting it in a way that emphasizes the cruelty and inhumanity of such actions, with directors  Hawks and Rosson putting a spotlight on all of this mayhem and then explicitly asking the audience in opening text "What are you going to do about this?".

Similar to how Francis Ford Coppola shot scenes of mobster violence in The Godfather in a way that emphasizes their insidiousness, there isn't any glamor in the way Scarface depicts gunfire mowing down innocent civilians in the streets. Tony's excitement over having a Tommy gun in his possession is clearly meant to horrify viewers as they witness the prospect of spreading more fear into the innocent masses bringing a gleam to his eye. That's what makes Scarface such a haunting movie and one that shows how foolhardy such complaints of Hollywood spreading and glorifying depravity (those are the kind of complaints that led to The Production Code in the first place!) really were incredibly foolhardy!

In the lead role, Paul Muni is exceptional as Tony Camonte, giving off an unnerving performance that makes even the slightest bit of agitation that comes out in his body language a sign that Hell is about to be unleashed. Only a man giving off this intimidating of a performance could make the innate act of whistling one of incredible intimidation.  Ann Dvorak pulls off a more tragic turn as Cesca while Boris Karloff is a lot of fun in a brief but memorable supporting turn. These actors lend a lot of depth to Scarface in their performances which is really saying something considering how much the film already has to say on a story level about the horrors of mob violence.