Humphrey Bogart Movie:

Beat the Devil [Region 2] Reviews:
A QUESTION ABOUT BLU-RAY VERSION
2008-10-28 - Yes, this is a cool, overlooked little gem.

But what does the Blu-ray image look like? Is this a restored transfer, or a beat-up public domain print in HD?

Has anyone seen this in HD?

Time is a crook
2008-06-12 - You'd think that "Beat the Devil" would be far better known than it is, since it was one of the last movies that Humphrey Bogart did before his untimely death.

Maybe it's because Bacall wasn't in it, or maybe it was just too quirky for the masses. But taken for its own merits, this movie is a delicious little gem -- a funny, wry noir-satire, with a gang of rather inept criminals. Bogart does a fair amount of scenery-chewing, but a number of big stars of the time -- including Peter Lorre, Jennifer Jones and Gina Lollabrigida -- get plenty of good time.

Billy Dannreuther (Bogart) is part of a motley group planning to go to Africa, where a friend can help them illegally claim uranium, enabling them to become insanely rich forever. But trouble arrives: stuffy Harry Chelm (Edward Underdown) and his very imaginative, compulsively-lying wife Gwen (Jennifer Jones) arrive, and soon they're flirting with Billy and his sensual wife Maria (Gina Lollabrigida).

Even worse, Gwen's "exaggeration" habit is making the gang distrust Billy, thinking that he's withholding information from them and cheating them out of a fair share. He isn't, of course. But all the personal plots and distrust come to a boil when everyone boards the ship, and Harry reveals that he knows everything about their uranium plot. Now Billy has to save himself and his friends, without Harry being bumped off...

"Beat the Devil" is an all-around satire -- it mocks grabby criminals, pathological liars, stodgy Brits, romance movies, crime capers, noir films, and even second-rate boats in less advanced corners of the world ("Of course, the captain is drunk!"). In fact, there's very little about this movie that doesn't poke fun at itself, or at the movies of the time.

And since it was adapted by John Huston and Truman Capote, you know that it's being witty as it makes fun. It languidly builds up in a sunny, dusty, ruined city where people plot and flirt, and then starts to boil when they get on board the crummy little boat. But even engine failures manage to be entertaining when Harry wrecks the oil pump while trying to fix it, and preening about his English know-how.

The cast is skilled in that under-the-radar way, where nobody hogs the spotlight. Humphrey Bogart plays a slightly more offbeat version of his noir characters. He's a lot smarter than anyone would immediately suspect, a lot nicer than you'd think, and he handles most of the awkward situations with mildly tolerant grace.

Other well-known actors of the time make deliciously offbeat appearances -- Jones is hilarious as the ditzy, chattery English girl, Lollabrigida is suitably slinky and grasping, and Peter Lorre plays an uncharacteristically hapless conman. Robert Morley are also quite good as Bogie's bombastic pal, and Underdown plays the insensitive, straight-arrow dunce perfectly. You'll constantly want to smack him.

Though not as respected as it deserves, "Beat the Devil" is a little gem of a Bogart movie, with witty, satirical writing, deliciously offbeat acting and lots of wild twists. Definitely a keeper.

Boggie Musta Needed Da Moola
2008-03-22 - I remember seeing this movie when I was a kid on TV..... wish that had been the last time I saw it. Bogart must have really needed the money to ( and I use the term loosely ) star in this debacle. Still, if you're sitting around with a bunch of drunk friends, it might be good for an unintentional laugh.

Poor DVD Work
2008-01-05 - It's really sad but until a reputable firm like Criterion makes a decision to restore the film it's useless to search for a good DVD. You can only avoid the really poor work and hope that one day somebody will find it worthwhile to do so. In that case they simply wouldn't be able to stamp enough DVDs to keep up with the demand. Chatter on the internet claims that honor belongs to the Platinum Disc Corp. or it may be known now as Echo Bridge. For myself that honor belongs with the Tony Curtis DVD of the film. Most firms allow you to exclude an introduction but not this one.

Misadventures at Sea
2007-08-20 - The film opens on a band playing in a town square. Four men are on a search for a valuable mineral in Africa (each a different nationality). A hardware failure prevents the scheduled departure of the ship. There is a trip to a country inn. This fills in spots. Billy says the wealth of Africa is still there for the taking. Harry's wife boasts, and reveals her husband's secret plans to Billy. There is a comic scene when they push an old car down the road.

The ship finally departs with all aboard. We learn the truth about the Chelms and his false front. Chelms has learned what the group is planning. Will he talk? There are events to fill out the time of this film. There is an assault that turns comic after they believe a person is crazy. Then there is an unplanned lifeboat drill at night. Armed men on horseback show up on the beach to arrest them. Ahmed questions them, and Billy figures out a way to get them released. "Will you take a check?" Clayton of Scotland Yard catches up to them. There is a funny surprise at the end.

Some say this was created as a parody of "The Maltese Falcon". I didn't find it that funny. Could it have been made to create a paper loss to offset income from a successful film?