To Have and Have Not (1945)

Howard Hawks 'To Have And Have Not' feels to much like Casablanca and the familiarity is to its disadvantage. Set in the French island of Martinique, the film has Humphrey Bogart as the cynical boat skipper, Steve Morgan who underneath has a heart of gold. Along with his drunken mate Eddie (Walter Brennan) while low on cash Steve gets drawn into helping the French resistance to smuggle people on to the island that runs him on a collision against Nazi controlled police captain Renard.Romance comes in the shape of Lauren Bacall who plays the streetwise sultry lounge singer Marie Browning at the local hotel and both have the hots for each other. Piano music and some excruciating songs come courtesy of Hoagy Carmichael who plays Cricket but I noticed he seemed to have played similar acting roles in other movies.Apart from the chemistry between Bacall and Bogart which also contains the now famous lines about 'knowing how to whistle' the film is too much of an inferior carbon copy of Casablanca for me.

All Harry "Steve" Morgan wants to do is to take Martinique vacationers and tourists deep-sea fishing. The year is 1940, and the expatriate American has his world jolted when the first waves of World War II reach the Caribbean. Martinique is a French colony and France has just fallen to the Germans. The Vichy government is now in charge. This makes for an interesting movie from here on, and "To Have and Have Not" is similar, as many others have noted, to "Casablanca" of 1942. The story is supposed to be based on a 1937 Ernest Hemingway novel by the same title. And, Warner Brothers touted it as such in the credits and the build up to the movie. But, about the only things that resemble the original novel are the names of some characters, and the fact that they are in the Caribbean. A featurette short on my DVD gives some interesting background on the making of this movie. "A Love Story: The Story of 'To Have and Have Not'," tells of the real romance that begins in this film between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. But it also tells of the difficulties with the film and how it wound up so different from the novel. Apparently, director Howard Hawks boasted that he could make a movie out of the worst thing Hemingway ever wrote. "What's that?" Hemingway asked. Hawks replied, "That bunch of junk, 'To Have and Have Not.'"I read the story, which took place during the depression years of the 1930s. Harry got into running rum, guns and illegal aliens. The setting was completely different – between Florida and Cuba. This movie was made in 1944 and the government had a good neighbor policy with nations of the Caribbean, so nothing could shine a negative spotlight on Cuba. The short featurette explains that in more detail. And, since WWII was underway, it made for a logical tie-in. So, Howard Hawks brought in William Faulkner who completely revised the Hemingway plot, the setting and many characters. So, this turns out to be a sort of "Casablanca" of the Caribbean. Bogart plays Steve Morgan who owns and operates a fishing boat for hire. He takes an old sot with him, an old timer who helped him once in the past. Now Steve looks after Eddie (played by Walter Brennan), and gives him just enough money to keep him from getting the DTs. Rick's … er, Steve's love interest in this film isn't an old flame as in the Mediterranean "Casablanca," but a new young, sultry gal named Marie Browning. Steve immediately tags her as "Slim." It was Lauren Bacall's film debut, as a co-star, and her star rose thereafter. Rare indeed is the performer who has had a first role with a major lead that catapulted her or him to stardom; but Bacall got it in this film. The featurette special explained that Hawks had brought her to Hollywood after he discovered her modeling. Apparently, he was taken with her and became upset when she and Bogart began to click. At the time, Bogart was in a tumultuous marriage to Mayo Methot. She was sinking deeper in her alcoholism and they fought often. Hollywood lore of the time referred to them as the battling Bogarts. A couple more comparisons with the 1942 "Casablanca" seem appropriate. Dooley Wilson played Sam in the first film. He sat at the piano, played and sang. In "To Have and Have Not," Hoagy Carmichael does the piano and singing honors as Cricket. Conrad Veidt was the nasty Nazi, Major Heinrich Strasser in the 1942 film. In this film, Dan Seymour plays the unsavory Vichy Captain M. Renard. In "Casablanca," Rick (Bogart) helped French expatriate Victor Laszlo (played by Paul Henreid) escape the clutches of the Nazis. Here, Steve helps French expatriate Paul de Bursac (played by Walter Szurovy, aka Walter Molnar) avoid the clutches of the Nazis. All of these characters and some more are superb in their roles in this film. Among the others is Dolores Moran as Hellene de Bursac. Marcel Dalio plays Frenchy, and Sheldon Leonard plays Lt. Coyo. This is an excellent, entertaining film with a good mix of drama, a little intrigue, some action, romance, war and wartime underground. Oh, yes, and just the right amount of witty and clever lines. Only here, they mostly are between Slim and Steve, where in the first film they mostly are between Rick and Capt. Louis Renault (Claude Rains). The first film was shot in three Arizona locations, a California airport, and on several Warner Brothers stages. But this one was shot completely on two WB stages in Burbank, California. Yet the harbor, street, sea and café scenes seemed as real as could be. That's a fine testimonial to the quality of the major studio productions of the past.The best line in the movie belongs to Bacall. Slim says, "I'm hard to get, Steve. All you have to do is ask."

I have always been a Casablanca fan and considered it my top movie, for some crazy reason I never really gave this a serious look until this week. Bogie is a boat captain in Vichy Martinique who gets caught between the Nazis and Free French wanting to get onto the island. Just the idea of Nazis legitimately in the Caribbean during WWII is something to work with. Into the mix steps Bacall, looking and acting more than her 19 years. And there's the Walter Brennan lovable drunk character (which I found annoying), Bogie employs him and is particularly attached to him. There's a lot in this reminiscent of Casablanca, including the casino manager, here as hotel operator ("ah, a few thousand less than I expected...."), but the mood is lighter than in Casablanca. Some of the story is a little bit much, but over all this the interplay between Bogie and Bacall is absolutely sexy, fresh and enchanting. The back and forth can look very staged when the feeling isn't really there, but the chemistry between the stars on this one is as good as it gets. Particularly amusing is the way Bogie grudgingly appreciates and even encourages the scoundrel side of Bacall, while wondering if she's working that side on him too. So to sum up, intriguing location, average plot but great leads, it's worth watching just for them.

Skipper Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart) reluctantly transports a French Resistance leader and his wife, running afoul of evil police captain Renard (Dan Seymour). He also makes time with sexy young singer Lauren Bacall.Bogart is great as usual. Bacall shines in her film debut. Quite possibly her best role. Their chemistry and legendary scenes together are the film's main selling points. Walter Brennan is memorable as Harry's drunkard sidekick Eddie. Yes, the plot is bare bones similar to Casablanca and yes, it bears little resemblance to the Hemingway novel. But so what? It's a classic movie with great dialogue, nice pacing, and fun characters. A must-see for Bogart fans or anybody really who enjoy good movies.