By Forris Day Jr.
A lot is going on in this 1953 film considering it comes in at only 89 minutes. It’s the story of 4 swindlers who are in Italy and waiting to board a ship for Africa where they plan on stealing some Uranium rich land once they arive. They meet a married couple, who seem innocent enough, but as the story moves forward we learn that the woman is a compulsive liar and that her seemingly not so smart husband may be much smarter than he appears. Throw in some infidelity and broken allegiances and you have the film “Beat the Devil”.
The story is a little hard to follow so pay attention. The film seems a bit haphazard at times with lines of dialog that do nothing for the story. The acting is impressive with an all star cast featuring Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Robert Morley, Edward Underdown, Gina Lollobrigida and Peter Lorre. The characters are all very distinct from one another and I really loved that. The characters are what kept me watching the movie not so much the story. It seems like these mid-century films really focused on creating memorable characters and “Beat the Devil” does not disappoint in that category.
The disc I watched is a BluRay restoration so the sound and picture quality are wonderful. One small let down is that the movie is 1:33:1 aspect ratio. I would love to see this widescreen but perhaps there are no widescreen versions left to copy from. The disc also contains a trailer for the film. I don’t think it’s an original trailer because the graphics seemed newer and added in over clips from the film but it is still cool to have a trailer to watch.
Overall an enjoyable film from the heyday of Hollywood when Bogart was on top of his game. The film was directed by the legendary John Huston. “Beat the Devil” is apparently a bit of a spoof on his movie “The Maltese Falcon”. If you like old Hollywood films then you will like this one. Grab a bowl of popcorn and enjoy.
Rating: 5/10 – “Campy Noir”
