Review of To Have and Have Not (1945) by Paavo L — 17 Aug 2011

Howard Hawks' TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT [1944]: Stories of love and romance are definitely not an uncommon subject to cinema, regardless of what genre a romantic subplot seems an almost mandatory thing especially with a lot of classic films. When the iconic Humphrey Bogart had achieved super stardom in the wake of starring in films like THE MALTESE FALCON [1941] and CASABLANCA [1942], audiences just loved seeing the rugged and charming Bogart being a conquering silver screen hero with a romantic conquest attached. In the wake of the now infamous romantic war time drama CASABLANCA in 1942 Bogart proved to audiences that even he could be a romantic hero.

In 1944 when the legendary Movie producer and director Howard Hawks wanted to adapt one of the novels by one of the most Celebrated writer of the 20th century Ernest Hemingway . Hawks boldly proclaimed he could successfully adapt what he believed was the worst thing Hemingway had written, the novel TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT having the story changed and eventually ending up with a script that later bore next-to-nothing in common with the novel. The decision to place the middle Aged Bogart in this wartime star vehicle along side with a young new comer called Lauren Bacall sparked one of Hollywood's most iconic romances of the classic era. So in this instalment of this review series I now take look at the film that gave birth to the romance between Bogart and Bacall.

THE HUMPHREY BOGART FORTNIGHT.

Day Two: TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT [1944] before and during the production of this film, Bogart's third marriage to Mayo Methot was already on shaky ground when Bogie met Bacall upon the set of this film. The romance ended Bogart's relationship marriage to Methot and not long after the completion of this film the pair ended up becoming married, which was to last until the death of Bogart in 1957. As a result of the real onscreen passion between Bogart and Bacall the film became a huge box-office success and gave rise to Bacall's stardom. Despite the legendary romance that this film sparked, the film's plot draws heavily upon that classic earlier Bogart film CASABLANCA rather than Hemingway's Novel. Despite all of this the film itself today holds up as a simple piece of entrainment from the Wartime era.

THE PLOTLINE.

Set in 1940 upon the French Colony of Martinique shortly after the fall of France and the establishment of the German friendly Vichy-France regime of the Caribbean Island. TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT sees Bogart's character a world -weary American Fishing Boat Captain called Harry "Steve" Morgan, his pal the Alcoholic Eddie, his crew on a fishing charter that seems to be going with a stubborn Client who won't pay up for the charter. Back at the Hotel were Harry and the Client are living, Harry meets an American Drifter called Helene (Bacall) who reviles that she stole his client's wallet. When Harry examines the wallet he discovers that his client was planning to leave the Island without paying him. Upon trying to question his client in the bar, the client gets killed amidst a shootout between Vichy Police and Free-French Resistance members. After the Vichy Police pulls in Harry, Helene and the Hotel owner Frenchy for integration, Harry's passport and money are taken from him.

With his client dead and wanting to get Helene off the Island, Harry in need of some money takes up a job to help the remaining Free-French associates of Frenchy. The mission is to get an important member of the Resistance off Devil's Island and take them to Martinique. When Harry makes the pickup with the drunken Eddie, the pair's situation ends up in a lot of danger when they shot up a search light of a Vichy Patrol boat and having the important figure wounded in the chaos. Upon arriving backing in Martinique Harry, Helene and the resistance struggle to nurse back to health and keep the wounded figure hidden from the Vichy Regime. Unfortunately it isn't all clear sailing ahead for the main cast when the lead Vichy Police Chief figures out the culprits responsible for the destruction of the Patrol boat's searchlight.

THE ACTING, DIRECTION, SCRIPTING AND CINEMA-PHOTOGRAPHY.

For starters the performances by Bogart and Bacall are very good but their onscreen chemistry can't be criticised at all for the simple fact the pair were falling in love with each other on the set. With the legendary dialogue with a fair degree of sexual innuendo like Bacall uttering her infamous line "You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and... Blow" it's no wonder why this film became a box office hit for Warner Bother Studios due to the romance between Bogart and Bacall. The rest of the cast give fairly decent performances around this, as for the direction by Hawks it's very good to say the least as the same can be said with the cinema-photography.

With the Script it's almost impossible not to see the similarities between CASABLANCA for its Vichy controlled setting, the main hero (an American) who is reluctant to fight at all, a bar were the workers are involved with the resistance and so on and so forth. Despite it being a hybrid adaptation of Hemingway's Novel and the screenplay to CASABLANCA, the story to this World War Two era romantic-thriller is never the less highly entertaining film overall , but the real focus of the film regardless of everything is of course Bogart and Bacall while everything takes a backseat. My rating is a solid 80% for this classic Bogart gem of the wartime Bogart films.