TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1944)

Billed as “Ernest Hemingway’s…” but it’s really a remake of Casablanca, debuting a 19-year-old actress named Lauren Bacall (who thinks she can sing). She’s no Ingrid Bergman, Dan Seymour is no Sidney Greenstreet or Conrad Veidt, Marcel Dalio is no Peter Lorre, and Claude Rains is sorely missed. Walter Brennan is just annoying. As much as I like Howard Hawks’s work (and as much as I think he’s winking at the audience here), this is a stinker.

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