Beat the Devil (film)

For the short film starring James Brown and Gary Oldman, see Beat the Devil.
Beat the Devil

1953 film poster
Directed by John Huston
Produced by John Huston
Screenplay by John Huston
Truman Capote
Based on Beat the Devil
1951 novel
by Claud Cockburn (as James Helvick)
Starring Humphrey Bogart
Jennifer Jones
Gina Lollobrigida
Music by Franco Mannino
Cinematography Oswald Morris
Edited by Ralph Kemplen
Production
company
Distributed by British Lion Films (UK)
United Artists (US)
Release dates
 24 November 1953 (US)
Running time
 89 minutes
Country United Kingdom
Language English
Box office £115,926 (UK)[1]

Beat the Devil is a 1953 British film directed by John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones and Gina Lollobrigida, and featuring Robert Morley, Peter Lorre and Bernard Lee.[2] Huston and Truman Capote wrote the screenplay, loosely based upon a novel of the same name by British journalist Claud Cockburn, writing under the pseudonym James Helvick. Houston made the film as a parody of a genre of film. Although often described as a parody of The Maltese Falcon, which Huston directed and in which Bogart and Lorre appeared, this is not the case. Capote said "John [Huston] and I decided to kid the story, to treat it as a parody. Instead of another Maltese Falcon, we turned it into a ... [spoof] on this type of film."[3]

The script, written on a day-to-day basis as the film was shot,[4] concerns the adventures of a motley crew of swindlers and ne'er-do-wells trying to claim land rich in uranium deposits in Kenya as they wait in a small Italian port to travel aboard a tramp steamer en route to Mombasa.[5]

Plot

Billy Dannreuther (Humphrey Bogart) is a formerly-wealthy American who has fallen on hard times. He is reluctantly working with four crooks: Peterson (Robert Morley), ex-Nazi Julius O'Hara (Peter Lorre), Major Jack Ross (Ivor Barnard) and Ravello, who are trying to acquire uranium-rich land in British East Africa. Billy suspects that Major Ross murdered a British Colonial officer, who threatened to expose their plan. While waiting in Italy for passage to Africa, Billy and his wife Maria (Gina Lollobrigida) meet a British couple: Harry (Edward Underdown) and Gwendolen Chelm (Jennifer Jones), who plan to travel on the same ship. Harry is a very proper and traditional Englishman, while Gwendolen is flighty and fanciful and a compulsive liar. Billy and Gwendolen have an affair, while Maria flirts with Harry. Peterson becomes suspicious that the Chelms may be attempting to acquire the uranium themselves. His suspicions are unfounded, but they seem to him to be confirmed by Gwendolen, who lies about her husband and exaggerates his importance.

Beat the Devil

Billy and Peterson are in a car accident and wrongly reported to have been killed. In order to replace Peterson's lost capital, Ravello approaches Harry Chelm and explains their scheme. Just then, to everyone's surprise, Billy and Peterson return to the hotel alive and unharmed. The purser announces that the ship is at last ready to sail. On board, Harry reveals that he knows about Peterson's scheme and intends to inform the authorities. Peterson orders Major Ross to kill Harry, but Billy thwarts the murder attempt. Harry's outraged accusations alienate the ship's drunken captain, who locks Harry in the brig, where he is uncomfortable, but safe from Major Ross.

The ship's engine malfunctions and the ship sinks. When Billy goes to free Harry he finds that Harry has escaped and left the ship, intending to swim ashore. The passengers abandon the sinking ship in a lifeboat and land on an African beach, where they are arrested by Arab soldiers. They are interrogated by Ahmed, an Arab official who suspects that they may be spies or revolutionaries. Billy befriends Ahmed by talking with him about Rita Hayworth, upon whom Ahmed has a crush. Billy persuades him to send the party back to Italy. When they land, they are met and questioned by a Scotland Yard detective (Bernard Lee), who is investigating the murder of the Colonial officer. Gwendolen reveals Peterson's scheme, and his involvement in the murder, and his attempt to murder Harry, to the detective, who promptly arrests Peterson, O'Hara, Major Ross and Ravello. As the four crooks are led away in handcuffs, Gwendolen receives a telegram from British East Africa saying that Harry has acquired the land Peterson and the others meant to steal, and is now extremely rich and willing to forgive Gwendolen, Billy and Maria. Billy laughs happily, saying "This is the end, the end!".

Film still image of Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida and Humphrey Bogart

Cast

Production

During the filming of Beat the Devil, Humphrey Bogart lost several of his teeth in a real-life car accident. Peter Sellers, then a young, unknown actor with a talent for imitating voices, was hired to dub some of Bogart's lines while Bogart was adjusting to the loss of his teeth and unable to speak clearly.[6]

Reception

In a review coinciding with the film's release to 68 New York metropolitan area cinemas, The New York Times called it a "pointedly roguish and conversational spoof, generally missing the book's bite, bounce and decidedly snug construction."[7]

Humphrey Bogart never liked the film, 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, who included the film in his "Great Movies" list, notes that the film has been characterised as the first camp film.[8] In the biographical film dramas Capote (2005) and Infamous (2006), Truman Capote, portrayed respectively by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toby Jones, reminisces about life during the filming of Beat the Devil.

Notes

  1. ↑ Vincent Porter, 'The Robert Clark Account', Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol 20 No 4, 2000 p501
  2. ↑ "Beat the Devil (1953)". MRQE. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  3. ↑ Gehring, Wes D. (1999) Parody as Film Genre: "Never Give a Saga an Even Break" Greenwood. p.12. ISBN 9780313261862
  4. ↑ Clayton, Jack, quoted in Plimpton, p. 127
  5. ↑ "Beat the Devil (1953)". Rotten tomatoes. Retrieved 1 June 2012.
  6. ↑ http://mentalfloss.com/article/28852/10-things-you-might-not-know-about-peter-sellers
  7. ↑ H. H. T. (13 March 1954). "Beat the Devil City-Wide Debut". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-12-01.
  8. ↑ Ebert, Roger (26 November 2000). "Beat the Devil". Retrieved 2013-08-20.

References

External links

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