Uma Aventura na Martinica

There's not a lot of difference from before, as Martinique trumps Morocco and takes the floor, for two people to engage, to take true love right off the page, along with passion, feeling, fire, it's still amour. This time it's Steve, or is it Harry, could it be Rick, who sides against the baddies with their stick, although Dan Seymour isn't Claude, and his accent is a fraud, Slim as Ilsa brings the right amount of click. Perhaps events that happened away from the screens, suggests this film has more importance than it seems, but I'm not sure just what arouses, Lauren's interest in those trouser, as men of a certain age, should not wear jeans.

A good movie with weird and wonderful touches. It's not quite as good as its best scenes, but it's got a quirky sense of humor and honor. Like Bacall calling Bogart "Steve" throughout the movie. Or Hoagy Carmichael's odd musical numbers. Or the casting of Walter Brennan opposite Bogart - two more different styles of acting you will never find.

What makes it all work is the white hot chemistry between the two leads.

The screen adaption of Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not enjoys its place in cinematic history because it is the first screen teaming of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Turns out to have been a personal milestone for the both of them as well.

I was watching my VHS copy of To Have and Have Not today and included was the movie trailer and in it Warner Brothers announced it was introducing two exciting new screen personalities, Lauren Bacall and Dolores Moran. Ms. Moran was pretty enough and gave a nice performance as the wife of the resistance leader, but some careers take off and some don't. Didn't hurt Lauren that she married her leading man either.

The location of our story is Martinique right after the fall of France in 1940. As a French colonial possession Martinique fell into the hands of the Vichy collaborationist government. They didn't get free of them until 1943, months after the Germans occupied all of France in November of 1942.

Humphrey Bogart is an expatriate American along the lines of his Richard Blaine character in Casablanca. He doesn't own a swank nightclub, he's just got a charter fishing boat that lives on and runs with an alcoholic pal, Walter Brennan. But like in Casablanca, a shooting in a nightclub of his client Walter Sande gets him involved with the local Vichy police and the politics of the island.

It also gets him involved with Lauren Bacall who's just looking for a way to get back to the USA. She's not above a little light fingered action to help herself, but all that does is get her introduced to Bogey. And their sizzling scenes made cinematic history.

To Have and Have Not is fortunate to have the presence of Hoagy Carmichael one of the greatest musical talents America ever produced. He plays Cricket, the club piano player and he sings and plays Hong Kong Blues one of his greatest songs. Hoagy also wrote for this film, How Little We Know, which Bacall sings for her supper.

Dan Seymour and Sheldon Leonard play a couple of especially smarmy Vichy police officials. They have the upper hand until the very end when tables get turned rather suddenly. The only two film I've ever seen something turn that quickly is John Ford's Wagonmaster and the Richard Widmark police drama, Madigan. You can only push Bogey just so far.

Even in revivals today when Lauren Bacall tells Bogey all he need do is whistle and she'll come running, the whistles of affection will go up in theater. As well they should.

... Bogart is held in high esteem for his career of acting. He was just that damn good.

Forget all of the top ten lists, awards, honorable mentions, etc. It's really hard to put a finger on it exactly, but his ability to transform what in a script is a mediocre character with average, even sometimes corny lines, into someone who you always seem to be rooting for - someone who's delivery is always convincing - has to be proof of natural skill.

The interplay between he and Bacall is some of the most unforced, natural acting ever to grace the big screen. And what could be sexier than Bacall's flirting before they kissed? One not to be missed.

This film has nothing to do with the Ernest Hemingway's book, which is not one of his best novels. Howard Hawks took a big gamble in trying to have the great Hemingway write the screen treatment, but Papa didn't comply with the request. Instead, Mr. Hawks hired two other writers to work on the scenario for this movie, William Faulkner and Jules Furthman, not too shabby a combination! Mr. Hawks had an enormous talent for giving the American public films that were entertaining, as well as well crafted. Mr. Hawks is responsible for discovering Lauren Bacall, a young model from New York with no experience in the cinema. Well, Mr. Hawk's instinct paid handsomely as Lauren Bacall went to have a fabulous career of her own.

This film is interesting as well, for it marked the beginning of the romance between Mr. Bogart and Ms. Bacall. Their love is there in front of the viewers to see. This movie shows us a Bogey with a heart. He was an actor that excelled in this type of picture and under Mr. Hawks's direction, his Capt. Morgan makes a remarkable impression.

The story has all the right ingredients to keep us interested in what is going on with all these characters in Martinique. World War II makes a detour and comes to the island.

The cast for this movie is first rate. Humphrey Bogart is a tough Capt. Morgan who falls head over heels for young and lovely "Slim" Browning, a mysterious young woman who loves adventure. Ms. Bacall has a way to sing a song that makes it unique because of her sense of style. Both these stars smolder the screen in their love scenes.

Walter Brennan plays Eddie, the drunken sailor that helps Morgan take tourists on fishing junkets. Marcel Dalio, is Frenchy, the owner of the local hotel; he is the one responsible for putting Morgan in touch with the partisans operating in the island. Dolores Moran and Walter Szurovy are the De Bursac, who are smuggled into the island by Morgan, at his own risk; they are sought by the local branch of the Gestapo.

Hoagy Carmichael, the great musician puts an appearance as Cricket, a pianist that entertains at the hotel lounge. The three musical numbers are done flawlessly. Mr. Carmichael's rendition of "Hong Kong blues" stays in one's mind forever. Also we hear two other of his songs, "Am I blue?", and a sultry rendition by Lauren Bacall of his hit, "How little we know". Hearing sung by Bacall makes any other interpretation superfluous.

This is a film to see to enjoy great acting under the magnificent direction of Howard Hawks.