MUBI

Having seen Hawks’ “The Big Sleep” I had high expectations for this, the film that kicked off 17-year-old Lauren Bacall’s career. Her acting off Humphrey Bogart is nothing short of marvelous, especially considering this as her debut on the silver screen. Their two characters jump off the screen as quite different and at the same time the same, as they make their own way in the world and seemingly are attracted to each-other by being too alike not to. I find the plot akin to that of “Casablanca”, but not too much; Morgan (Bogart) is a free agent type of person with an alcoholic sidekick. They run through life on the island of Martinique during WW2 by letting tourists fish on Morgan’s boat. Browning (Bacall) drops down, seemingly from nowhere and things start to conspire as Morgan tries to get hold of money that a tourist owes him. Entertaining dialogue, tight direction, great music and atmosphere and above all, wonderful acting and brilliant script at times. Highly recommendable just for the atmosphere brought in, which is not easily found in films made today.

(Originally written May 28, 2005)

The plot of To Have and Have Not is similar to that of Casablanca, but Howard Hawks’ film is not nearly as impressive as the world-renowned 1942 classic. Although Lauren Bacall exudes a mysterious sense of sexuality in one of the most impressive screen debuts of all time, Humphrey Bogart is not at his best. He brought more of a sense of complexity to his character in Casablanca. The ability to find optimism in the midst of the heartache and the troubles is what made Rick such an engaging character. To Have and Have Not works out too neatly with the good characters rewarded and the villains punished. The happy ending was a bit too smug in the context of a film that is a bit more risqué and dark. The dialogue is sharp, and the direction is superb in this film. However, the content does not appear to rise up to the form, and the story is not as engagingly told as in the rest of director Howard Hawks’s films.