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Beat the Devil (1953)

Posted by dean_martin on December 12, 2024 at 13:54:57:
I ordered a cheap dvd set of supposedly noir films from the b&w era - mostly 50s. They crammed 10 films onto 2 discs. Only a couple have that look you get from a pristine print. Most were probably in the public domain and any print would do.

Anyhow, onto the film Beat the Devil dir. by John Huston starring Bogart. I went into it thinking it was a gritty crime caper. I was not prepared for this subtle and witty comedy on first visit, but I couldn't stop thinking about Bogart's "associates" afterwards. I gave it another go a few nights later and laughed out loud many times. Great screenplay by Huston and Truman Capote. Then, I went to imdb and read the "trivia" section. Those guys had a blast making the film - Capote, who wrote most of it on set just a couple days before shooting the next scene, and Bogie arm wrestled with Capote winning 3 out of 3 before it turned into all out wrestling. Again, Capote won.

During filming, Bogie was in an accident that caused the loss of several teeth which affected his speech. In post, the filmmakers used a young Brit who had a rep for mimicry to dub some of Bogie's lines. It was Peter Sellers. So, I watched a third time to see if I could tell which lines were dubbed but couldn't.

Sure, it's a little slow here and there, but overall I found it amusing and in parts the writing is brilliant. Gina Lollobrigida is in it, too. Robert Morley is excellent as the leader of Bogart's "associates" which include Peter Lorre. Beat the Devil might be considered the lesser of the Huston/Bogart films but I'm quite fond of it.