Scarface (1932)

One thing that watching the remake so close to the original did was make me appreciate how closely they followed the original story in the other version. It makes it more interesting that they were able to cleanly reset the film into the 1980s Miami drug trade. Here in the original the setting is amongst Italian immigrants in Prohibition era Chicago, inspired by the life of Al Capone. Paul Muni is great in the title role, fully encompassing his single minded rise to the top of the Chicago crime world. Though it’s interesting to ponder how the film would have been different as effected as it was by the early days of the Hays Code, but I still found it plenty violent and effective as a gangster film.