To Have and Have Not

To Have and Have Not is one of the most beloved romantic dramas of the Golden Age of Hollywood thanks to the smoldering chemistry of stars Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, a 19-year-old model who made her memorable screen debut in this classic. Although based on Ernest Hemingway's 1937 novel (featuring a script co-written by William Faulkner), the story essentially reworks Casablanca in a Caribbean setting, with Bogart as Harry Morgan, a cynical fishing boat captain in Martinique who reluctantly helps out the French Resistance and falls in love with smoky singer Marie Browning (Bacall). Hoagy Carmichael is the club piano player and Walter Brennan creates a memorable character as Harry's jittery but loyal alcoholic pal. The wartime patriotism is par for the course for a 1944 feature and the studio recreation of the Caribbean is done on the cheap, sketched in with stock studio tropical sets and painted backdrops, but it hardly matters. Howard Hawks directs masterfully, bringing a conventional tale to life with beautifully crafted scenes and colorful dialogue. Bacall here delivers the classic lines, “You know how to whistle, don't you? You just put your lips together and... blow." Ultimately, however, it comes down to the superb chemistry between the stars, who fell in love in real life and married a year later. Remastered for Blu-ray, extras here include a behind-the-scenes featurette, a vintage cartoon with Bogie and Bacall caricatures, and a radio adaptation of the film with the two stars. Highly recommended. (S. Axmaker)