To Have and Have Not

An unassuming masterpiece, nominally based on Hemingway's novel and set in Martinique during World War II, this is Hawks' toughest statement of the necessity of accepting responsibility for others or forfeiting one's self-respect - the sum total of morality for Hawks - and the perfectbridge from the free and open world of Only Angels Have Wings to the claustrophobic one of Rio Bravo. Bogart is the doubting fishing-boat privateer who finally throws in his hand with the Free French because he loves a girl (Bacall, electric in one of filmdom's most startling debuts), and Walter 'stung by a dead bee' Brennan is his partner. Bogie and Bacall fell in love while making the film, and their scenes reflect this, giving To Have and Have Not a degree of emotional presence that is unusual in the 'bite on the bullet' world of Hawks.