Individual Commitment in To Have and Have Not (1944)

Shaw I Individual Commitment in To Have and Have Not Daniel C. Shaw Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania Individual Commitment in To Have and Have Not (1944) Casablanca plus commitment?They had it all 72 I Film & History World War II in Film | Special In-Depth Section Films produced during World War II tend to wear their ideological commitments on their sleeves. Indeed, Warner Bros, itselfwas unequivocal in stating its intentions in the press releases for one of the biggest hits of 1944: To Have and Have Not (which takes up entertainment -wise where Casablanca left off) serves thunderous notice that "combining good picture-making with good citizenship" is a permanent Warners policy.' The following essay clearly spells out how that "good citizenship" was expressed in this famous Humphrey Bogart vehicle, and examines the differences between Howard Hawks' film and Michael Curtiz's Casablanca, to which it has often been compared . To Have and Have Not is a clearer and less problematic expression of the American democratic ideology than its predecessor, precisely because it traces a more believable arc from autonomy to lasting commitment. Humphrey Bogart was one of the most visible Hollywood stars in wartime films that depict the fight against the Axis. He uncovered a Japanese sneak attack on the Panama Canal in Across the Pacific (1942); was a gangster kingpin rooting out Nazi fifthcolumnists in AU Through the Night (1942); sank German U-boats in Action in the North Atlantic (1943); commanded a tank in Sahara (1943); and led a breakout of patriots from Devil's Island in Passage to Marseilles (1944). In all these movies, he played a willing participant in the conflicts. He played a visible personal role as well; in late 1943 and early 1944 he traveled 32,000 miles entertaining the troops at military installations in Africa and Italy.2 In both of his most memorable (and financially successful) wartime pictures, however, he played a recalcitrant individualist , entering grudgingly into a struggle which he at first tries to avoid. Superficially, the plots of Casablanca and To Have and Have Not are strikingly similar. In both, Bogart is an apolitical loner who has been soured on all women due to some previous romantic disappointments . He initially refuses to get involved in the fight between the Vichy government and the Free French, but eventually is moved to cooperate with agents of the latter organization, for reasons connected with his relationship with a woman. Political intrigue does not constitute the dramatic center of these films, which are essentially romances in wartime settings. Finally, both take place before America's involvement in World War II, with Bogart's movement from apathy to commitment mirroring America's transition from isolationism to involvement. These parallels were probably not accidental, being motivated in part by Warners' hopes of cashing in on the financial success of Casablanca, which spawned many imitators. Director Howard Hawks originally intended to film a more literal rendition of Ernest Hemingway's hard- boiled novel about rumrunning and revolution in Cuba. But when initial script treatments ran afoul ofJoseph Breen, director of the Federal Production Code Association,3 it became clear that the plot ofthe novel would have to be abandoned, although some of the characters and situations were salvaged. The rewrites were so extensive that the principal author of the eventual screenplay, James Furthman, was paid $42,000 for his efforts, an exorbitant sum at the time—about which Jack Warner complained bitterly.4 Casablanca and To Have ... many parallels. The similarities between the resultant scenario and Casablanca can be overestimated, as Robin Wood does in stating: The deBursacs of Hawks' film are quite blatantly modeled. On the Bergman/Henreid couple of Casablanca; deBursac even looks rather like Paul Henreid .... To restore the main plot line of To Have and Have Not to that of Casablanca, all that is necessary is to eliminate the Lauren Bacali character and have Bogart in love with Madame deBursac.5 In fact, it is possible to argue that the deBursacs Vol. 27.1-4 (1997) | 73 Shaw I Individual Commitment in To Have and Have Not provide much greater contrasts than parallels to the Bergman/Henreid couple. More importantly, parallels...