Anaylsis on Howard Hawks' Movie "Scarface"

Name
Course
Professor
Date
Film Analysis On Howard Hawks’ Movie “Scarface”
The entertainment sector, including the film industry, is important in human life because it helps entertain, educate, and inform the audience. The film industry is particularly significant because its approach to societal issues is critical. An ordinary eye sees mere and pure entertainment in a movie while a critical audience sees through the audiovisual to the cinematography, camera techniques, editing, and sounds to interpret various societal themes. These techniques need an outgoing director, scriptwriter, sound engineer, lighting master, and an experienced producer to ensure the film achieves its objectives. Howard Hawks is a renowned film director, producer, and screenplay who achieved significant steps in directing, producing, and writing films during the classic Hollywood era. He lived between May 30, 1896, and December 26, 1977, and his most significant work include the film Scarface. The film is worth discussing because it was produced during a transitional era between silent and sound films. It also shows the significance of its director Howard Hawks, in the cinema productions based on the film’s production techniques unique to Hawks. Lastly, the film upholds Hawksian themes, as Richard Brody notes in his review of the film published in the New Yorker in July 2021.
Scarface was released in 1932 when the film industry was undergoing an important transition from the silent era film. The silent era existed between 1894 and 1929 (Kracauer 35). The film did not synchronize sound and audio in this era because the technology was not yet advanced. Images were filmed and edited to convey a simple message to the audience. A script explaining the successive shots was then placed between frames and scenes explaining the action. Scarface was produced three years into the early sound film era that involved synchronizing images and the characters’ voices. This means that Scarface was among the first films in the sound era to set the production tone for other films.
The film presents interesting themes that may confuse an audience who knows American history around Scarface’s production. It tells the story of organized gangs and crimes against society members aiming to grow wealth and maintain territorial control. The interest in the film’s themes is due to the confusion of whether Hawks meant to document the reality of gangsters in the United States during the time or a fiction film about gang lives and how they terrorize societies. This argument is triggered by the nature of films produced during the silent era. Most of them were real-life stories acted in films. They were meant for entertainment and to preserve history. This makes Scarface interesting to write about. It was produced during a transitional era making it hard to categorize it and its purpose.
Another reason to write about Scarface is that Howard Hawks directed films in the silent and sound films era. The silent era involved images without the audio from the characters (Kracauer 34). The film sound era must have presented challenges to Hawks because he was taking additional roles as a director. Therefore, it is necessary to write about the film to compare the various aspects of film during the transition period and the film’s content to the period it was produced.
One learns several lessons about Hawks’ role in the cinematic production, including the importance of resilience, creativity, and flexibility. Hawks, Scarface’s director, lived actively through the three film eras of silent film, early sound films, and late sound films. This means that he had adequate experience in the film industry. However, before gaining the experience, Hawks persevered and was resilient in his career. Hawks creativity as a director also kept him relevant throughout the three film transition periods. This teaches people that perseverance is a good thing in career development and success and that creativity is a significant quality for career success.
Another lesson from studying Hawks’ role in the film is the importance of uniqueness and creating a special professional brand. Hawks created a brand in his films where females did not play the traditional film role of eroticism. Instead, women compete with men for equal attention. Although, his style may have provoked hard criticism from people who thought he was going away from the traditional feminine roles in films.
Studying Hawks’ role in the cinema industry helps aspiring students shape their profession early enough to ensure a successful ...