This is the basis for the film with the same name, directed by Brian de Palma in 1983, with Al Pacino in the leading role.
In this film, 'Scarface' - Tony Camonte - is created by Paul Muni.
Camonte is an ally to a gangster boss by the name of Johnny Lovo (Osgood Perkins, the father of Anthony Perkins) and obviously it's Camonte who kills Big Louis Costillo (Harry J. Vejar), another mob leader, thereby helping Lovo taking control over the South Side in the city.
Acting as Lovo's 'lieutenant', Tony starts selling illegal alcohol but he gets more and more 'ambitious' and in spite of Lovo's warnings, he starts to attack the North Side, run by an Irish gang led by a certain O'Hara (original Irish name!)
Lovo realizes that Tony is constituting a threat to his power and tries to assassinate him but Tony survives and instead he kills Lovo, thereby taking control of the whole town, from a gangster point of view.
He have to face the North Side gangs however and they are led by Gaffney and in this role we see Boris Karloff. I don't know if I've seen him in this kind of roles before but he is good and you don't think of 'F'.
Tony has also persuaded Lovo's girlfriend Poppy (Karen Morley) to become his girlfriend, something she didn't want in the beginning but gradually when he becomes more and more influential, she changes her mind.
Tony's sister Cesca (Ann Dvorak), who he is being overprotective of, marries Tony's best friend Guino (George Raft), something Tony can't accept and the only solution in his black and white world is of course to kill Guino.
His sister first wants to kill Tony but later on she joins him when he is trapped in a building surrounded by the police, trying to shoot themselves out.
This is a very classic film noir, gangster story and in spite of some exaggerations in the acting, we found this film very charming, if one can say so about a film where people are being killed all the time and where dishonesty and cruelty rules.
When it comes to some parts in the story it's built on 'real events' being somewhat modified.
The shootout between Tony's gang and the North Side is taken directly from the so called 'Saint Valentine's Day Massacre'. This was the name given to the murder of 7 mafia members in 1929 during the prohibition era and a conflict between two powerful gangs in Chicago: the South Side Italian gang led by the incarnation of a mob leader, Al Capone (also nicknamed 'Scarface' and of course the inspiration of the Tony character) and the North Side (actually) Irish gang led by Bugs Moran.
I very much like the 1983 version of this film but I think that Paul Muni is at least as 'crazy' acting as Pacino, or even more, rending his character a very 'primitive' and savage exterior. Pacino is perhaps somewhat more 'refined' in his role interpretation but the differences are small.
In this film, 'Scarface' - Tony Camonte - is created by Paul Muni.
Camonte is an ally to a gangster boss by the name of Johnny Lovo (Osgood Perkins, the father of Anthony Perkins) and obviously it's Camonte who kills Big Louis Costillo (Harry J. Vejar), another mob leader, thereby helping Lovo taking control over the South Side in the city.
Acting as Lovo's 'lieutenant', Tony starts selling illegal alcohol but he gets more and more 'ambitious' and in spite of Lovo's warnings, he starts to attack the North Side, run by an Irish gang led by a certain O'Hara (original Irish name!)
Lovo realizes that Tony is constituting a threat to his power and tries to assassinate him but Tony survives and instead he kills Lovo, thereby taking control of the whole town, from a gangster point of view.
He have to face the North Side gangs however and they are led by Gaffney and in this role we see Boris Karloff. I don't know if I've seen him in this kind of roles before but he is good and you don't think of 'F'.
Tony has also persuaded Lovo's girlfriend Poppy (Karen Morley) to become his girlfriend, something she didn't want in the beginning but gradually when he becomes more and more influential, she changes her mind.
Tony's sister Cesca (Ann Dvorak), who he is being overprotective of, marries Tony's best friend Guino (George Raft), something Tony can't accept and the only solution in his black and white world is of course to kill Guino.
His sister first wants to kill Tony but later on she joins him when he is trapped in a building surrounded by the police, trying to shoot themselves out.
This is a very classic film noir, gangster story and in spite of some exaggerations in the acting, we found this film very charming, if one can say so about a film where people are being killed all the time and where dishonesty and cruelty rules.
When it comes to some parts in the story it's built on 'real events' being somewhat modified.
The shootout between Tony's gang and the North Side is taken directly from the so called 'Saint Valentine's Day Massacre'. This was the name given to the murder of 7 mafia members in 1929 during the prohibition era and a conflict between two powerful gangs in Chicago: the South Side Italian gang led by the incarnation of a mob leader, Al Capone (also nicknamed 'Scarface' and of course the inspiration of the Tony character) and the North Side (actually) Irish gang led by Bugs Moran.
I very much like the 1983 version of this film but I think that Paul Muni is at least as 'crazy' acting as Pacino, or even more, rending his character a very 'primitive' and savage exterior. Pacino is perhaps somewhat more 'refined' in his role interpretation but the differences are small.
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