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List Price: $7.99 | | Label: Delta
Salesrank: 123753
Released: November 23, 1999 |
| Our Price: $2.41 |
| Used Price: $2.29 |
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
A wacky comedy that’s played as straight as any film noir and is even funnier as a result. Five men are out to garner control over East African land which they believe contains a rich uranium ore lode.
Includes "Bogart on film" - a documentary, an intro by Tony Curtis & the trailer for The Big Sleep.
Menus: English • Spanish • Chinese
Subtitles: Spanish • Chinese
B&W
Running Time: 100 min.
Double Feature - Humphrey Bogart (Beat the Devil & Humphrey Bogart on Film) Reviews:
Funny little spoof shot I beleive with Bogart's own company, 
2009-10-16 - (correct me if I'm wrong). Shot in Italy it appears on the cheap. Production wise it barely holds together. John Huston & Truman Capote directed & rewrote it on the fly. Bogie looks old as do his pals Peter Lorre & Robert Morley. He's past his leading man prime. Gina Lollabridga is not old as Bogart's sultry wife. Jennifer Jones is cute but annoying as Bogat's mistress. He has thrown in with a gang of losers in an ill-defined scheme to buy some land in Africa that contains uranium. They hava a long boat ride ahead of them. Ms Jones has a lot of pointless & boring dialogue. Things go awry. Without Bogie & Lorre this movie is nothing. So it's ok. The print I had from Maducy was as usual, terrible.
Echo Bridge version - GREAT BOGART FILM! 
2009-10-14 - John Huston and Truman Capote's "Beat the Devil" is simply my favorite Bogart film. Lucky for us it's also the cheapest at a little over a dollar plus shipping from third party Amazon sellers!
Bogart is at all times everything he does best: as world weary as Rick in "Casablanca", as good natured as he is in "To Have And Have Not" as much a wise-guy as he is in "The Maltese Falcon".
Peter Lorre could have stole the show if he'd had more lines, but his are certainly the funniest (funny like George Costanza funny, as in despicable but delightful). Robert Morley is equally as awful but fun as the bad guy's head honcho.
I've read that the film is a satire - it certainly doesn't come off that way. It is 'sui generis' and very clever and humorous.
It also has some aspects that are kind of eerie, in that the villains are all ex-nazis or nazi sympathisers in a lamented Allied "New World Order", making their way to discover a very modern way of obtaining fortune and less fame.
As Lorre's ex-nazi character, who takes a ribbing for his newly won Irish surname, states: "In Chile the name O'Hara is a tip-top name. Lots of Germans living in Chile have come to be named O'Hara...".
Bogart himself claimed "Only phonies like it" but I think he was taking it a bit too seriously. Fans of "Seinfeld' will 'get it' right away.
Critic Roger Ebert claims it was the first 'camp' movie, and it shows.
The film is endlessly quirky and humorous yet has a serious plot and if you love Bogart you will not regret spending four dollars shipped to see this, but the version you want is the Echo Bridge copy - good picture and sound and no annoying logos painting the screen.
In fact, if aesthetics mean anything to you, for the money you can afford to buy the Tgg Direct copy as well for the wonderful vintage lobby card art cover (might just do it myself, too) also for a few bucks!
Seller went out of his way for even a small order......
2009-10-03 - What movie with this cast would not be good---one of the most overlooked Bogart films but nonetheless intriguing, A great addition to anyone's classic film library.
The seller is the only one to outperform Ms. Bacall's late husband. This was a less than five dollar purchase and the seller went out of his way to find the movie and get it to me. The large orders all deserve and receive attention. When a seller executes in the manner I experienced here it deserves writing a review to commend them of fine service. Thanks.
First Return 
2009-06-08 - This DVD has the worst video quality I've ever seen. Actually, this DVD is the only return I made to amazon.
Good deal 
2009-05-04 - Excellent film. Lollobrigida's first in English. Low-key comedy suits Lorre and Bogart. Service was quick to respond (within one week).
