I can’t believe I’ve never
seen this movie! The whistling scene is certainly one I know by heart, but I’ve
never caught the movie in its entirety. To
Have and Have Not was on PBS last night and it wasn’t even interrupting it,
to beg me for money. Usually, they save all the good stuff for that time of
year when they are hoping to raise funds. It’s been something I’ve wanted to
donate to for years, but I’ve never had any extra dough. Oh, to be rich and be
able to give money away, instead of a performer who has to be a miser to stay
afloat!
Anyway, the movie stars
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Let’s start with him. I’ve always thought he
looked like my Grandpa. There is an everyman quality to him, a gruffness that
comes out even in his walk. He looks beaten down by life, by age, by
circumstances. He was 45 years old. He looks every year his age. But, you can’t
deny his ease on screen. He takes his time and, a decade before Brando,
delivers a very “real” take on his character.
Bacall was 19 and it was her first
film. You would never know it. She is simmering, sexy, understated. There is a
sense of humor that is constantly bubbling on the surface. I smiled every time
she came onscreen, wondering what was next. What line had Faulkner written to
pass through her gorgeous lips next?
The chemistry between the two
of them was incredible. They danced around each other, eyeing the other up and
down. At one point, he asks her to walk around him (to see there are no strings
on him), a full 3 beats are taken as she slowly walks around him. She is so
close to him. The look on each of their faces…they are really enjoying
themselves.
I could go on…but, I want to finish with a paragraph about the music. Hoagy Carmichael plays Cricket, the piano player. He is my favorite composer and I had no idea he was in this! At first I heard the lilting strains of Baltimore Oriole. I thought, that was a funny thing to hear in this French resistance pic. Then we entered the front room of the hotel and there was Hoagy, playing the piano…ala, Sam! He accompanies Lauren on Am I Blue and How Little We Know.
Her voice is in the octave of “man”, but she is passable in a
Dietrich sort of way. He also plays one of his novelty tunes Hong Kong Blues. Now, the crazy thing is
that I’m doing a Charles Strouse review on Monday and I’m singing But Alive from Applause. You remember Applause
don’t you? Lauren Bacall won a Tony for this musical. Now, granted, it was the
same year Katharine Hepburn was up for a Tony for Coco…so the competition was hardly stiff! But, I digress…Lauren was
a fabulous foil for Bogey, even if she had to sing! You should all check it
out!
