Beat the Devil

Image credit: Wikipedia

While I claim to be a ‘humble’ cinephile, there is a certain level of pomp that edges its way into my opinions; honestly that’s just basic human nature: we all muddle our facts and opinions and put too much clout behind them. But when it comes to movies, my passion does surpass my attempts to be humble. I don’t wonder, but do believe that audiences who boycott black and white films are incorrect.

Some of the quirkiest and cleverest films that I have ever seen have been in black and white. Despite its seemingly primitiveness, black and white films are the more horrifying, romantic, and thrilling features to grace screens. If you want proof, just compare Hitchcock’s Psycho to Gus Van Sant’s and tell me I’m wrong.

Ranting aside, I got onto this train of thought after watching a truly classic and witty little black and white comedy this afternoon: Beat the Devil.

Beginning with a shot of four crooks in irons and a Bogart voice-over, the film flashes back and tells the story of Billy Dannreuther (Humphrey Bogart), a formerly-wealthy American fallen on hard times and is reluctantly working for four international crooks who are trying to steal uranium-rich land in British East Africa. Set to travel to Africa by boat, the group are to sail with a strangely inquisitive British married couple and hilarious misdemeanours ensue in the shape of a bizarre love triangle, clumsy backstabs, and a series of miscommunications that land everyone in hot water.

Beat the Devil is a movie that flew relatively under the radar. Produced by Bogart and directed by John Huston (who wrote the screenplay with Truman Capote) the film is a fun genetic splice of comedy and noir (think Bob Hope comedy meets Bogart noir thriller). While the humour of the story is very witty and tongue-in-cheek rather than screwball, the sheer strangeness of the cast as well as the screenplay’s genre fluidity is what makes it so damned enjoyable.

Image credit: Film Comment Magazine

Bogart is classic Bogart playing against a motley group of strange and whimsical characters including a fascist, militant hitman, a poncy English gentlemen, a fast-talking lady with an over-stimulated imagination, an exotic and brooding dark beauty, and the most upstanding and unintimidating crime leader you could ever imagine.

Being an independent film and an international coproduction is certainly what gave Beat the Devil its creative freedom and loosey-goosey feel, which is experienced by everyone, actors and audiences alike. It’s a truly weird, but highly entertaining movie.

Director: John Huston, 1953

Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Gina Lollobridgida, Jennifer Jones, Robert Morely, Peter Lorre, Edward Underdown, Ivor Barnard, Marco Tulli, Bernard Lee, Mario Perrone, Guilio Donnini, Saro Urzi, Aldo Silvani, and Juan de Landa