The breaking point

Two Warner Bros. film noirs-one a remake, one later remade-share a common genre trope: how money troubles fuel desperation. Based on Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not, Curtiz's (Casablanca) more faithful 1950 adaptation Breaking Point did not enjoy the box office of Howard Hawks's 1944 version, with Lauren Bacall and Humphrey Bogart. John Garfield reaches his breaking point when he can no longer support his wife and kids from hiring out his boat to fishermen. Turning to smuggling human cargo proves his un-doing, though he does manage to resist the charms of a blonde femme fatale (Patricia Neal). Remade by Robert Altman under its source novel's title, Thieves Like Us (LJ 3/1/15), Night (1948) marks the directorial debut of Ray (Rebel Without a Cause). A trio of Depression-era robbers include two hardened criminals (Howard Da Silva, Jay C. Flippen) and a younger, more tragic prison escapee (Farley Granger) who falls for a poor, lonely, rural gal (Cathy O'Donnell) with whom he goes on the lam before meeting his inevitable fate. VERDICT Both very solid, if not great, entries in a classic genre get the Criterion treatment: superb restorations and insightful extras marking their place in American cinema. For Turner Classic Movie fans.-Jeff T. Dick, Davenport, IA © Copyright 2017. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.