Main Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre
Release Year: 1953
Country: US/IT/UK
Run Time: 89 minutes
Plot
Humphrey Bogart stars as one of five disreputable adventurers who are trying to get uranium out of East Africa. Bogart's associates include pompous fraud Robert Morley, and Peter Lorre as the German-accented "O'Hara", whose wartime record is forever a source of speculation and suspicion. Becoming involved in Bogart's machinations are a prim British married couple (Edward Underdown and blonde-wigged Jennifer Jones). As a climax to their many misadventures and double-crosses, the uranium seekers end up facing extermination by an Arab firing squad. The satirical nature of Beat the Devil eluded many moviegoers in 1953, and the film was a failure. The fact that the picture attained cult status in lesser years failed to impress its star Humphrey Bogart, who could only remember that he lost a considerable chunk of his own money when he became involved in the project. Peter Viernick worked on the script on an uncredited basis. Beat the Devil eventually fell into public domain, leading to numerous inferior editions by second and third-tiered labels. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Director John Huston and actor Humphrey Bogart, who had previously collaborated on classics ranging from The Maltese Falcon to The African Queen, teamed up for the last time on Beat the Devil, the least known and most unfairly underrated of their five joint efforts. An exquisitely dry comedy with a witty script by Truman Capote, the film finds subtle, absurdist laughs in the misadventures of Bogart's tough customer, who becomes involved in a complex scheme to gain control of a patch of uranium-rich land in Africa. Indeed, the humor is played with such a straight face that many critics have suggested that the film's first audiences did not realize they were watching a comedy, contributing to its box office failure. Audiences in later years, however, have revived interest in the film, fully appreciating its bounty of comic riches. In addition to the well-plotted, always unpredictable script, the production is bolstered by uniformly excellent performances. Bogart treats his usual romantic cynic role with a pleasingly light touch, and establishes superb chemistry with Jennifer Jones, who portrays the female half of a seemingly proper British couple who may not be everything they seem. Especially strong laughs are provided by a memorably colorful rogue's gallery of supporting villains and kooks, including an especially nervous Peter Lorre. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide
Edward Underdown - Harry Chelm; Ivor Barnard - Major Ross; Bernard Lee - Insp. Clayton; Marco Tulli - Ravello; Al Silvani - Charles; Saro Urzi - Captain; Juan de Landa - Hispano-Suiza Driver; Mimmo Poli - Barman; Giulio Donnini - Administrator
Credit
Jack Clayton - Associate Producer, John Huston - Director, Ralph Kemplen - Editor, Franco Mannino - Composer (Music Score), Lambert Williamson - Musical Direction/Supervision, Freddie Francis - Camera Operator, Wilfred Shingleton - Production Designer, Oswald Morris - Cinematographer, Robert Haggiag - Producer, Truman Capote - Screenwriter, John Huston - Screenwriter, James Helvick - Book Author
Beat the Devil is a 1953 film directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart. It was co-authored by Huston and Truman Capote, and loosely based upon a novel of the same name by British journalist and critic Claud Cockburn, writing under the pseudonym James Helvick. It was intended by Huston as a tongue-in-cheek spoof of his earlier masterpiece, The Maltese Falcon, and of films of its genre.
The script, which was written on a day-to-day basis as the film was being shot, concerns the adventures of a motley crew of swindlers and ne'er-do-wells trying to lay claim to land rich in uranium deposits in Kenya as they wait in a small Italian port to travel aboard an ill-fated tramp steamer en route to Mombasa. The all-star cast includes Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley (playing the role that Sydney Greenstreet would have played had he still been acting), Peter Lorre and Bernard Lee (who was to gain widespread recognition with his appearances as "M" in the James Bond movies).
This Huston opus does not easily fit into the standard set of film categories; it has variously been classified as a "thriller," a "comedy," a "drama," a "crime" and a "romance" movie. It is above all else a parody of the Film Noir style that Huston himself had pioneered and as such has developed cult status in the ensuing years.
The movie was not well received critically (although it was to become a National Board of Review winner) and was to mark the closure of the "quest movies" period in Huston’s career. Despite its disappointing performance, Beat The Devil has gone on to garner mild cult status.
Humphrey Bogart never liked the movie, perhaps because he lost a good deal of his own money bankrolling it, and said of Beat the Devil, "Only phonies like it." Roger Ebert notes that the film has been characterized as the first camp movie. In the biographical film dramas Infamous (2006) and Capote (2005), Truman Capote, portrayed by Toby Jones and Philip Seymour Hoffman, reminisces about life during the filming of Beat the Devil.
Beat the Devil is in the public domain because of unrenewed copyright, and is freely available and distributed over the internet as seen below.
