291. To Have and Have Not

Song - You Are So Beatiful (Joe Cocker)

Movie: To Have and Have Not (Howard Hawks, 1944)

It's hard to imagine now, but in 1960 Alfred Hitchcock had to explicitly ban audiences from entering Psycho midway through. It used to be common for many filmgoers to get in at any point during a screening, stay through the ending and the beginning of the new show, and then leave when they got to the point of entry. This was especially popular during double features or full programmes that contained newsreels, shorts, ads and other entertainment before the main feature. Currently, some small 'alternative' cinemas are trying to restore this practice. I am not the biggest fan, especially when you are not informed in advance. Recently a place like that was showing 80's wrestling clips and an episode of Twilight Zone before finally getting to the main event (The Producers), a movie that had no connection to what came before. The Twilight Zone episode was quite good even, but I couldn't fully enjoy it, as I was just waiting to get on with it. A better experiment might be to screen a triple feature of Casablanca, To Have and Have Not and Key Largo in a continuous loop throughout the day, allowing people to get in and out whenever they feel like it. 

The one issue here is that Casablanca is the obviously superior film, but setting that aside all three of these movies have so many thematic, narrative and stylistic similarities, scenes and moments from all three would start blending in with each other, creating one big narrative about 'Bogart's' World War 2 experience. emphasising the strength of his screen persona. At whichever point you start watching, it may take you a bit to get into the story, but within less then 5 minutes there won’t be any doubts about the feel and tone. It doesn’t matter that much whether Bogart is trying to mind his own business until forced into action by events beyond his control in a Nazi-occupied French colony in Africa or in the Caribbean. It’s of equally little importance whether he is undertaking a dangerous boat trip in a foggy ocean to evade gangsters or Vichy officials. It's all about how much his attitude guides every single aspect of these films.

Casablanca and To Have and Have Not both also have a piano player who supports Bogart’s romantic prospects with love songs and friendly banter, but it does make a difference whether Ingrid Bergman or Lauren Bacall is Bogart’s co-star. Casablanca may be the better film, but in seeing how much Bogart’s persona overshadows everything, you should also get more appreciation for Bacall. She is more than anyone else in these films able to evoke a style and mood that is her own and not beholden to Bogart (she also feels ahead of her time, paving the way for Michelle Pfeiffer). Her chemistry with him in To Hava and Have Not has, if anything, been undersold. They fell in love during the film's production, and even if you didn't know, you'd think it. There is a joy and attraction in their scenes together that feels completely and knowingly spontaneous. This is the film where Bacall says her famous line "You know how to whistle, don't you Steve. You just put your lips together and blow." The way Bacall puts it, she'd seduce any man, and Bogart's response is the most flappable you'll see him in any of these movies. 

To Have and Have Not ends with Bogart’s character deciding to help the French resistance get from Martinique to Devil’s Island (a notorious penal colony off the coast of French Guiana) to free some of their prisoners. The film ends before we see his new adventure, but it was interesting to find out that in 1944 Bogart also had a role in Escape to Marseille, directed by Casablanca’s Michael Curtiz. Here, he plays Jean Matrac, a French prisoner at DeviL’s Island who is helped to escape by the French resistance. Would it be too much to add a fourth film to our programme?