Cesca from SCARFACE (1932)

Mash-up-Mise En Scene. . . .by: Matthew Edwards / Super Edington (Film Instructor)

(SCARFACE) 1932
Directed by Howard Hawks
Produced by Howard Hughes
This is a scene that I have extracted from the film and reproduced as a CULTURAL RELIC and HOMAGE, a perfect example of the timelessness and beauty of TRUE artistic expression and the MISE EN SCENE of HOWARD HAWKS. This is intended to be an educational and exhibitionary device for my cinema studies students. The video is intended to be a memorial to this great film (Unofficially) THIS IS NOT COMMERCE--IT IS FILM HISTORY!

Hawkss shallow depth of field and the warmth of that 70 year old film stock and those long lenses create an overall texture that is mesmerizing to watch on a big screen.

This scene in particular is highly recognized by Cineastes all over the world as one of the more famous sequences in the film. For one, it features a very charming yet sublime performance from, IMHO, one of the most underratted performers from that era of filmmaking: ANN DVORAK. The Studio system had total control of everything back then, and if you got on the wrong side of their contractual agreements your career could be shelved, and that is basically what happened to Ann Dvoraks career. Surely, it is the cinema of HOWARD HAWKS that we remember as being action packed and freshly innovative with his cinematic use of violence, but, this sequence contrasts all of that with its subtle charm and beauty as well as the sublimity of the music and DVORAKs sultry dancing as she attempts to seduce Guido- who is Antonio "Tony" Camontes right hand man. Tony is (BROTHER) of Francesca "Cesca" Camonte (DVORAK).

We are reminded of just how inspiring this film was to so many Filmmakers across the Globe. (Pre-Code films were created before the Motion Picture Production Code or Hays Code - censorship guidelines - took effect on 1 July 1934 in the United States. A previous code of conduct for the film industry, introduced in 1930, was widely ignored and not enforced very enthusiastically, that is, until this film came out.) So even though the film was finished for release in 1931, it was not cleared by the censors until 1932.

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Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• SCARFACE
• 1932
• Howard
• Hawks
• Ann
• Dvorak
• Mise
• En
• Scene
• Mash-up
• Classic
• Hollywood
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• Film
• History
• Cinema
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• Edington

[atatatr]

could some one please define mise en scene from a student perspective,

plz im studying in high school and having trouble with this

[Edington]

@atatatr mise en scene, in short, means everything that the filmmakers (director) do to stage the film; which includes the SETTING, SUBJECT and how the film is COMPOSED. The style, look and feel of the film---everything that we see as an audience, sometimes being conscious of what we DON'T see on screen. I hope this helps. To be honest, it is the essence of understanding Cinema as a true artform and Mise En Scene should be something that you continue to study and feel as a cineaste. Cheers

[Aorticax]

Great scene compilation of one of the greatest gangster films of all time.

[Edington]

@Aorticax Thank you very much! It just gets better and better! Cheers

[edwardjames50]

She should have been a HUGE star. In "Three On a Match" she wipes that hambone Bette Davis right off the screen. Dvorak was sublimely talented, and she could not only act but sing and dance. She got into movies through her friend Joan Crawford, and it was Joan that recommended her to Howard Hughes for "Scarface". One of the great mysteries of movie history is why Ann Dvorak didn't become a superstar.

[Edington]

@edwardjames50---- Studio system contracts back then where not friendly to head strong actors who felt that they should be in charge of their careers and not the studio SYSTEM. I think she fell in love with a brit solder during WWI and started driving an ambulance over there. What a woman!

[edwardjames50]

@Edington ~ Not WWI, but WWII, And he was already her husband: British actor and director Leslie Fenton, who she had married during her Warner Brothers days. When the war broke out, he went back to England, and she went with him; she did indeed drive an ambulance during the dark days of the Blitz.

[Tecun85]

Maybe it's because I always found Joan Crawford to be incredibly attractive and beautiful in her early 1930 films, but Ann Dvorak was certainly a fox, and very talented. Can anyone else see the resemblance between Ms Dvorak and Joan Crawford? Something about the eyes...

[ivycompton]

mmm... cesca's seductive dance at the paradise two - a wonderful movie moment. nobody beats dvorak, even at 18, which (i believe) she was when this was filmed in 1930 (released in '32).

[CaramelMamiChula]

cesca(32's scarface) is gina(83's scarface)

[leedumett444]

ANN DWORAK IS FIT LOVE PROHIBITION 1920/1933