To Have and Have Not (1944)

October 11, 1944, release date

Directed by Howard Hawks

Screenplay by Jules Furthman, William Faulkner

Based on the novel To Have and Have Not, by Ernest Hemingway

Music by William Lava, Franz Waxman

Edited by Christian Nyby

Cinematography by Sidney Hickox

Humphrey Bogart as Harry “Steve” Morgan

Walter Brennan as Eddie

Lauren Bacall as Marie “Slim” Browning

Dolores Moran as Madame Hélène de Bursac

Hoagy Carmichael as Cricket

Sheldon Leonard as Lieutenant Coyo

Walter Surovy as Paul de Bursac

Marcel Dalio as Gérard (aka Frenchy)

Walter Sande as Johnson

Dan Seymour as Capitaine Renard

Aldo Nadi as Renard’s bodyguard

Paul Marion as Beauclère

Eugene Borden as the quartermaster

Patricia Shay as Mrs. Beauclère

Sir Lancelot as Horatio

Emmett Smith as a bartender

Pat West as a bartender

Distributed by Warner Bros./First National Pictures

To Have and Have Not is a film noir? I know any film starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, or Bogie and Bacall should make characterizing that film pretty simple: It’s a Bogart film, a Bacall film, or a Bogie and Bacall film, respectively. Both actors project such star power on the screen; both have become legendary; both stars are worthy of their own categories. To Have and Have Not has also been accused of being a Casablanca remake. But I’ve never been a big fan of a strict adherence to categories, and I see no reason why To Have and Have Not can’t be called a film noir, too.

The opening credits appear over a map of the Caribbean Sea and its islands. When the credits end, the camera zooms in on the island of Martinique. Type over the screen reads “Martinique, in the summer of 1940, shortly after the fall of France.” Then more type reads “Fort de France.” The credits, the camera movement, and the type orient viewers right away, but I did wonder as the film started if 1944 viewers would have known a lot already about Martinique and its role in the Vichy government. The film’s opening certainly helps modern-day viewers, but did 1944 audiences really need this much information stated upfront about the events, which would have been current events for them, that form the backdrop of To Have and Have Not? I wasn’t able to find out much about this point, but I wondered nonetheless.

When the narrative starts, Harry Morgan walks into a scene on a dock and goes to a window in what appears to be a government building to request clearance for his boat, the Queen Conch, out of Key West, Florida. After being granted clearance, he approaches his boat and finds his assistant Eddie passed out and hungover on the dock. Mr. Johnson arrives at the same time to rent Morgan’s boat. Most of the plot threads converge on this opening scene: Harry is loyal to his friend Eddie, although viewers never find out why; Harry struggles to make a living because rich tourists aren’t always interested in paying him; and the government is keeping a watchful eye on citizens and foreigners alike.

Later that day, someone named Gérard asks Harry if he will help some of his friends in the French Resistance. It isn’t obvious to viewers at first, but Gérard owns the hotel, the Hotel Marquis, where Harry is staying. Harry refuses Gérard’s request at first, but then Slim arrives on the island by plane and is staying in the room across the hall from Harry. Harry meets her when he follows here to her room, which he does because he saw her steal Mr. Johnson’s wallet in the hotel’s nightclub. He takes Slim by the arm and leads her into his room so he can examine the wallet for himself. Mr. Johnson hasn’t been paying Harry for the rental of his boat, and he owes Harry several hundred dollars.

Several of Gérard’s friends visit Harry in his room, and they arrive while he is still talking to Slim. But it turns out that they are not just friends of Gérard; all of them are fellow Resistance fighters. They do their best to convince Harry to help them, but nothing they say or do, not even the offer of money, can change Harry’s mind. He wants no part of their fight against the Vichy government and the Nazis.

Afterward, when everyone is in the café/nightclub of the Hotel Marquis, a gunfight breaks out, with the French Gestapo firing into the hotel. Shooting continues out on the street in front of the hotel between the Resistance fighters and the French Gestapo. Beauclere and Émil are the only Resistance fighters who survive.

After falling for Slim, Harry finally he decides to take the job from the Resistance fighters and their money so he can help Slim leave Martinique. He agrees to pick up two Resistance fighters and bring them back to Martinique. He learns that one of them is Paul de Bursac; the other is his wife. Paul de Bursac will work from Martinique to find Pierre Villemars. The Resistance feels that Villemars is one of the few who can inspire fighters to continue the struggle against the Nazis, in spite of the terrible odds.

The locale in Martinique is more exotic than usual for a film noir, but To Have and Have Not does have elements of noir: wartime intrigue, some betrayal, and petty crime. Lauren Bacall’s character, Slim, finds herself on Martinique because she ran out of money and could afford to travel only as far as the island. She tries to support herself by pickpocketing in the clubs and swindling tourists out of their money.

To Have or Have Not is based on a novel by Ernest Hemingway that I have not read (not yet, anyway), but summaries of its plot paint it as noir literature. It’s the story of Harry Morgan, a man trying to keep his family financially afloat during the Great Depression (the film takes place a bit later). He is drawn into criminal activity when he and his boat are hired to smuggle contraband between Cuba and Key West in Florida. From all I have read, it is a story of betrayal, crime, poverty, despair, and sorrow—about as noir as it gets.

Hemingway’s novel has been adapted to the screen a total of four times, and two out of the four are considered film noir:

◊ To Have and Have Not (1944)

◊ The Breaking Point (1950)

◊ The Gun Runners (1958)

◊ Captain Khorshid (1987)

The last might be a neo-noir, but I haven’t had much luck finding information about it. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall have appeared in four films together:

◊ To Have and Have Not (1944), based on the novel by Ernest Hemingway

◊ The Big Sleep (1946), based on the novel by Raymond Chandler

◊ Dark Passage (1947), based on the novel by David Goodis

◊ Key Largo (1948), based on the play Key Largo by Maxwell Anderson

The latter three films are considered film noir, and The Big Sleep and Dark Passage are based on novels written by two writers famous for their work in crime fiction and pulp novels. In addition to the noir elements that I already mentioned, I am calling To Have and Have Not film noir partly out of association, if you will.

And did I mention that it’s a lot of fun to watch? If you have never seen To Have and Have Not, now, during the pandemic, would be a good first time. Almost any viewer, even those not familiar with classic film and film noir, will likely recognize several lines from the film. “You know how to whistle, don’t you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow.”