The contemporary critical assessment of 1944’s “To Have and Have Not” is that it was too derivative of “Casablanca.” At first glance, those critics had a point.
Humphrey Bogart once again plays an American expat who finds himself embroiled in the struggle for French Liberation during World War II. In place of Claude Rains’ Captain Renault is the decidedly more villainous Captain Renard. In place of Dooley Wilson as Sam, Hoagy Carmichael intermittently fills a break in the action by playing piano for the barroom of castaways.
In lesser hands, it could have been a retread of the Warner Bros. 1942 classic, but thankfully “To Have and Have Not” – playing on Thurs., Sept. 5, at the Ambler Theater – was in the hands of masters. Directed by Howard Hawks from a script by William Faulkner, the film is in turns thrilling, funny, and swooning, and sets the stage for one of Hollywood’s most sparkling on and off-screen romances between Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.
“To Have and Have Not” is what we might politely call a loose adaptation of the Ernest Hemingway novel of the same name. Initially reworked for the screen by Hawks and Hemingway himself, the film takes significant liberties with its source material. Gone is the Key West setting in favor of Martinique, and the dwellings on class disparity that inform the title of the book are largely excised, focusing instead on the resistance against Vichy France.
While the change may ruffle the feathers of Hemingway purists, it makes for exciting cinema. Faulkner, in collaboration with veteran screenwriter Jules Furthman, polish the initial revisions by Hawks and Hemingway and craft a gripping story that sees its cast of expats and exiles pulled into heroic circumstances. Furthman, who previously wrote pictures for Marlene Dietrich, imbues the film with the same sultry dialogue and snappy repartee of the best Dietrich pictures. Faulkner tightens the story up, ratcheting up the tension and the stakes of the story. A foggy, late night smuggling mission takes on the eerie, tense quality of a horror movie through Hawks’ direction and the moody cinematography of Sidney Hickox. Where “Casablanca” is a grand melodrama, “To Have and Have Not” is a rousing thriller.
The real attraction, of course, is the palpable chemistry between stars Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. While the film is fun and gripping from the start, it doesn’t become truly electrifying until Bogey and Bacall share a scene together. In a film filled with memorable and thrilling set pieces, perhaps no scene is more memorable than an early scene in which the two, having just returned from questioning by Nazi authorities, pry at each other’s defenses and posturing to try to expose the real person beneath. What in a lesser film could play out as boilerplate melodrama is instead in turns playful, fraught, and charged with the sort of sensual energy that strained against limits outlined in the industry’s Production Code guidelines.
The megawatt charisma between the two leads is allowed to take center stage, as the rest of the film often feels like a support structure built to facilitate the romance between Bogart’s Harry and Bacall’s Marie (or “Steve” and “Slim” as they call each other). This is no accident, as director Hawks would emphasize Bacall and the romance plot as filming proceeded. Hawks, however, was unable to prevent the all-too-palpable chemistry between his leads from making the leap off the screen. A real-life romance blossomed between Bacall and the older Bogart, and the two were married the following year and remained married until Bogart’s death in 1957.
What critics of the 1940s saw largely as an attempt to recapture the magic of “Casablanca” looks very different to modern eyes. Today, “To Have and Have Not” is the work of artists collaborating at the height of their powers. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the book is not always better, and it’s a view of a romance that burns so brightly that we need the protective layer of film to glimpse it.
“To Have and Have Not” will play at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 5 at the Ambler Theater. For more information on showtimes and ticketing, visit amblertheater.org.
