The Breaking Point (1950)

*Spoilers below (sort of).

Second viewing; first seen on April 21, 1991.

Based on the novel To Have and Have Not, by Ernest Hemingway, first published in 1937.

Harry owns and operates a charter boat as a living. He has a wife and two little daughters. Business is low, and his financial situation is not very good. He takes a man and his alluring girlfriend to Mexico, but things get complicated over there. The upshot is that he is pushed into even more trouble.

The criminal developments in this film are very entertaining, and by themselves justify it. There is, however, a subterranean theme that runs through it -- its subconscious mind, so to speak -- and gives it just that extra mojo. It concerns a man with such an intense attractiveness that women are irresistibly drawn to him, and even men have trouble keeping apart. This may seem like a desirable quality, but, like most things in life that seem desirable at first, it turns into a problem in the long run. The movie consists in the difficult process of getting rid of that problem. It is a subconscious process, of course, which in the conscious surface takes the form of inescapable situations of financial and legal trouble. The ultimate goal is to restrain oneself to one's wife and family, and lead an orderly and quiet life. It is achieved eventually, yet at a very high price. The first, and possibly not the most painful, part of that price is getting his best friend killed; the latter's subservient attachment to the protagonist is the crux of the problem and ultimately his doom. The second part of the price is having his own arm amputated, so that women will not find him attractive anymore and thus will stop harassing him. This is a very realistic and honest film, and the camerawork impressed me very much as well. It is also fascinating to see how much trouble one could get into back then (according to the film) by smuggling a few foreigners into the United States of America.

Rating: 74 (up from 70)