Scarface has some oddities that make sense only if you know the film's history.

Censors rejected the initial version of the film in 1931 because they believed it glorified crime. These censors demanded several changes for the movie's eventual 1932 release. Because these changes were imposed by censors rather than emerging from the film's own scriptwriters, these alterations can seem at odds with the movie itself.

The first change you will see is the addition of the subtitle "The Shame of the Nation" to the film's title. The second is the text introduction at the film's start. More disruptive to the film's flow, however, is an odd scene around 52 minutes into the movie that features a number of Chicago's "leading citizens" discussing the crime problem and possible solutions. This scene--demanded and written by the censors--was shot after the rest of the film and has a decidedly different feel to it than the rest of the film. You will notice, for example, that the elites in the scene do not speak in the ethnic slang and with the distinctive accents that the rest of the film's characters do.

Censorship requirements in several states also meant that the studio shot a second ending for them film. In this alternate ending, the main character doesn't try an escape, but instead receives a death sentence and dies on the gallows. This alternate ending was shown only during the original 1932 theatrical run. The version you see has the original ending.

If you are interested in the censorship of crime films in the period, see here.