SCARFACE (Hawks, 1932)

“HOWARD HUGHES’ WHITE-HOT THUNDERBOLT of DRAMA!”

Sound film — 90-99 mins. (depending on the print you’re watching)
The Caddo Co., Inc. / Dir. Howard Hawks, produced by Howard Hughes

Production: April or June 1931 (David Stenn’s Bombshell lists a start date of April 1931, but AFI cites June) — June or October 1931 (David Stenn’s Bombshell lists an end date of June 1931, but AFI cites October)
Release date: April 9, 1932
Survival/release status: Extant; available to watch free online and on Blu-Ray.

Cast: Paul Muni (Tony Camonte), Ann Dvorak (Cesca Camonte), Karen Morley (Poppy), Osgood Perkins (Johnny Lovo), George Raft (Guino Ronaldo), C. Henry Gordon (Guarino), Boris Karloff (Gaffney), Jean Harlow (Blonde at Paradise Club, unconfirmed)

Summary (from IMDB): An ambitious and nearly insane violent gangster climbs the ladder of success in the mob, but his weaknesses prove to be his downfall.

Trivia:

• While Harlow’s apparent cameo in the form of a Scarface walk-on remains a subject of debate among her fans and other film buffs, Harlow historian David Stenn includes it in her filmography in Bombshell, and it will be here, too. Mark A. Vieira (co-author of Harlow in Hollywood) has contended the blonde that shakes hands with Paul Muni’s Tony at the Paradise Club is in fact, not Harlow, but a deliberately placed lookalike, claiming the scene was filmed while Harlow was away on a ten-week East Coast personal appearance tour that ran from December 1931 to April 1932.
  
  
• While Scarface‘s extensive and troubled production (and Howard Hughes’ unquestionable strangeness) more than make this a possibility, it’s hard to swallow without corroborating production records or the identity of Harlow’s alleged ‘double’. Harlow was still under contract to producer Howard Hughes during the bulk of Scarface; while she had roused his ire by refusing to give him a portion of her tour earnings, the scenario wherein Hughes finds a striking Harlow double to capitalize on her appearance in The Public Enemy–down to her profile and posture–for a seconds-long cameo seems far-fetched, but not impossible. See for yourself:

Stills and ad art: