We are all familiar with the Bogart - Bergman film Casablanca, I have watched it repeatedly and you have probably done the same. Less well know is the Bogart - Bacall film To Have and Have Not, which I watched for the first time last night.
I recorded it off TCM because I often like Bogart films and the personal 'chemistry' between the stars is well-known. My reaction to THHN is the following.
The two films have very similar plots, are set in similar 'exotic' locales, deal with Vichy and Free French conflicts, and honestly, THHN could almost been 'cribbed' off the Casablanca script. They didn't have the same writers and this time the guy Bogey plays seems to get the girl (actually irl).
What was the fascination with French colonial backwaters? Sleazy dives and the lowlifes that inhabit them make sense, so does a main character with at least some freedom of action. Hoagy Carmichael couldn't rescue the THHN music, Casablanca's Sam was much superior.
My overwhelming reaction to THHN was it was pleasant enough but it felt like a Casablanca clone. with a less memorable supporting cast.
