Scarface (1932 Film) Literary Elements

Scarface (1932 Film) Literary Elements

Director

Howard Hawks

Leading Actors/Actresses

Ann Dvorak, Paul Muni

Supporting Actors/Actresses

Boris Karloff, Karen Morley, Osgood Perkins, George Raft

Genre

Crime Drama / Gangster Movie

Language

English

Awards

The movie was given the Best Movie of the Year award by the American Movie Board in 1932

Date of Release

1932

Producer

Howard Hawks, Howard Hughes

Setting and Context

Chicago, 1920, against a backdrop of Prohibition and increasing crime chiefly by the Mafia syndicates controlling the North Side and the South Side of Chicago

Narrator and Point of View

There is no narrator but the movie is shot from the point of view of the public, calling on the police and law enforcement to do something about the lawlessness in the city

Tone and Mood

Violent and threatening

Protagonist and Antagonist

Tony is the protagonist of the movie and anyone who stands in his way becomes his antagonist

Major Conflict

The movie is based on conflict. There is conflict within the South Side gang as each tries to get rid of the leader and assume the role. The more major conflict occurs between the South Side and North Side gangs especially when Tony provokes a gang war by trying to take over the business interests of the Irish gangs

Climax

Tony is shot and killed by the police

Foreshadowing

The assassination that Tony is happy to commit on his behalf at the beginning of the movie should foreshadow for Johnny the fact that in time Tony will also make a move on his position at the head of the organization and try to get rid of him as well

Understatement

There is no particular incidence of understatement in the movie

Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques

No particular innovations in the movie

Allusions

Tony and his friends go to see a "serious play" which is based on W. Somerset Maugham's story "Miss Sadie Thompson"

Paradox

Guino is Tony's best friend yet when he sees that he has been with his sister an not asked his permission he kills him without any emotion at all

Parallelism

There is a parallel between the main character of Tony, facial scar and all, and Al Capone, who ruled Chicago's underbelly in the same way that Tony did during the time in which it is shot

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