Thursday, January 10, 2013

268. Beat the Devil

Beat the Devil
1953
Directed by John Huston












This is another movie I did not really understand but this time it wasn't due to my stupidity.  Apparently, no one is supposed to really understand the plot since it is a spoof of quest films, which by 1953 we are all extremely familiar with.

All right, so like I said, the plot is extremely fuzzy.  Still, it is funny and well-acted.  Of course, it was only really fun because I have seen so many adventure films from the list.  So unless you have seen a lot of forties quest films, you will not enjoy it as much.

A unique film that has Humphrey Bogart?  Check it out!

RATING: ***--

Interesting Facts:

Humphrey Bogart was in a serious car accident during production and had to be dubbed in some scenes by Peter Sellers.

The novel Set This House on Fire is based on this production.

3 comments:

  1. I found that the only real reason to watch this movie is Bogie. It is supposed to be funny, but is not really that much.

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  2. I'm afraid I have to agree with you TS .. I should love this .. I mean it's got both Humph and Peter Lorre (OK, perhaps the warning somethings not going to be right with Lollobrigida), but it just fails to take off...

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  3. Many good components to this including, as mentioned, the cast. But somehow it doesn't come together. Feels like someone took their eye off the ball about what the finished film was going to look like. Could it be the lack of overall structure in the screenplay?

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