Beat the Devil

Rating:
Summary: Terrific Film, Horrific Quality -5 Star film, 1 Star product
Review: I love this film so much. I bought one low-priced VHS copy on awhim and was pleasantly surprised to say the least. I thought the filmwas truly phenomenal! I then bought one of the DVD editions. 6 months later, I bought another. This low-priced DVD, as with all the other versions I own, is a travesty in terms of picture and sound quality (visible film print scratches, muddy blacks, gray whites, distant audio, audio pops, blurry images, overall lacking of detail throughout). I keep buying them hoping that someone will finally give this great film its proper due by finding a good negative and transferring it properly. No such luck as of yet (This might be due to the fact that the rights to this film may be shared by more than one distributor). Anyway, somewhere in existence there is a higher-priced VHS that looks much better than the "bargain" DVD's or VHS editions. I've seen it in a friend's personal video collection (...). This (...) film is a must-see. Why else would I keep buying it?

Rating:
Summary: What? You don't get it?
Review: Yes, John Huston is known for "The Maltese Falcon," but that may or may not prepare you for this film. You see, "The Treasure of Sierra Madre" and "Key Largo" as well as "The Maltese Falcon" are a basis for this film. A complete rehash of formula? Absolutely not. Huston took "Across the Pacific" serious. "Beat The Devil" he did not. The capacity to understand this film lies in the many bent paradigms and scewed cliches that cause you to blink while watching it. I have seen it twice now. I have also shown it to my father and my step-father. Both love it, but not on a satire-level. They recognized it as a great film. You may not catch wind of the tongue-in-cheek quirks here, but this is a worthwhile movie. So buy it. Besides, look at the price.