Review: Beat the Devil
Bogey is a soldier of fortune in Italy, in league with a motley crew of
untrustworthy-types (fat Robert Morley, gaunt Marco Tulli, Hitler-loving
rat-like Ivor Barnard, and shifty Peter Lorre, as a German-accented, possibly
Chilean man, named O’Hara!) who get mixed up with a daffy British couple
(priggish Edward Underdown and his seriously loopy wife, compulsive liar Jennifer
Jones) whilst waiting for a ship to East Africa (to prospect for Uranium). Gina
Lollobrigida is Bogey’s wife who hooks up with Underdown whilst Jones falls for
Bogey. Needless to say, no one is trustworthy, and no one is who they say they
are at just about every moment in the film. Future Bond co-star Bernard Lee
(that’s M to you and me) turns up memorably at the end in a small but pivotal
role.
Interesting but overrated 1954 John Huston (“The Misfits”, “The
Asphalt Jungle”) film is a semi-spoof, not-so much of “The Maltese
Falcon” and film noir specifically, as I was expecting, but the general
outline of characters Bogey made famous and perhaps intercontinental-set films
like “Casablanca” and “Sirocco” rather than the shadowy noir
stuff. Well, sort of. I was expecting a more obvious noir spoof, especially
when Morley is clearly intended to be parodying Sidney Greenstreet and “Maltese
Falcon” co-star Lorre is essentially sending himself up (something he
seemed increasingly happy to do in the latter stages of his career).
But it’s also not really that funny, more of a light-hearted romp than an
outright comedy. On that level, it mostly works- Bogey is fine, Morley is
superlative (when wasn’t he?), and Barnard and Lorre steal their every scene
(which sadly aren’t as many as one would like). But Lollobrigida is given little
to do except be herself (I could take or leave her), and Jones...is just odd.
And not in a good way. She’s completely incapable of making her strange role
work, even when dyed blonde. Meanwhile, the usually reliable cinematographer
Oswald Morris (“Lolita”, “The Hill”, “The Spy Who Came in From
the Cold”) shoots it all in a stark B&W that is completely against the
style of 40s noir...so I really don’t see this as a noir parody at all.
Still, it’s all entirely watchable, even if I prefer noir films to the
likes of “Casablanca” or “Sirocco”. See it for Morley in
particular, and enjoy Lorre and Barnard when they’re given a moment or two to
shine (Lorre gets the best speech in the film, lamenting about the concept of ‘time’).
The screenplay is by Huston and the one and only Truman Capote (“In Cold
Blood”), from a James Helvick novel. Helvick, AKA Claud Cockburn apparently
wrote most of the screenplay himself, however before leaving the project).
This one flopped originally, and even Bogey was suspicious of its
admirers, but nonetheless it has become a cult favourite. I was ultimately a
bit disappointed, but perhaps I just don’t get it and came into it in the wrong
frame of mind. I was expecting lots of shadowy American interiors, and
hilarious digs at Phillip Marlowe etc., and I got lots of scenic Italian
exteriors and a loopy Jennifer Jones instead.
Rating: B-
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