Rating: 
Summary: What have you been viewing, everybody?
Review: I've just bought the equivalent of DVD no 12 ... (the one with the gorgeous colored "action" cover) - and guess what I got? Though the studio is quoted as "Diamond Entertainment" and the disc is distributed ... through yet another German studio in English (no subtitles, no special material), it has to be the Laserlight version (without the Tony Curtis special): there is the Delta-logo in the lower right, and the quality is bad. And though the DVD-cover boasts "Original Version in English", and "cult classic for movie-fans", the movie is NOT the original one Huston made according to Halliwell in GB 1953, as shown in our cinemas and on our TV, but a special "American" cut that distorts and spoils it. Does your version begin with the dialog between Jennifer Jones and her husband where she spits on the ground against the presumed evil eye of a bunch of children and tells of her superstitious "Spanish nurse" and her indifferent parents? Or have you the cleaned-up version with the playback-opening, the four crooks handcuffed together marching to the music (this scene is or should be repeated at the end) and Bogie's voice-over comment? Giving the movie a completely different turn? Beware: this is not Huston's "cult classic" that was such a hit when shown in Paris and is/was sold on VHS tape in GB (and probably also by Madacy Ent. in the USA - at least there is a review that mentions the "Spanish nurse"). How come nobody complained? Or do you just not know the difference? How come neither ... tell us about it? Are they ignorant - or don't they care? To sell the one version for the other is cheating the public and degrading Huston!
...
Rating: 
Summary: Jennifer Jones the Star
Review: Interestingly Bogart himself liked this movie until he had a private screening of the first cut with some of his friends who told him that the movie was terrible - but possibly entertaining. It was released later and after considerable editing to make certain that the viewer understood that is was supposed to be a comedy. This movie does have a few funny moments but it is not good for Bogart fans. I have been watching and reviewing 50 of Bogart's movies and put together two Listmania lists of his movies that covers from about 1932 to his death about 25 years later.
He certainly covers a range of characters from gangsters to writers, charter skipper, escaped convict, a faux priest in China, Navy Captain, horse trainer, New York business executive, and a club owner in Morocco and many more roles. I am not certain of what he plays in this movie - a spy or businessman, or an aging investor who has lost a fortune. It is hard to say from the movie. The plot and characters are all a bit fuzzy here.
This movie is close to a low point for Bogart even though Huston is directing. I think the low point was actually the judo fight in Tokyo Joe. In any case here he looks terrible, very white, thin, aging as if he had been up all night drinking with John Huston - which he probably had.
Lorre, Bogart's old movie pal from Maltese Falcon and Casablanca is present but is heavy and we are not certain what his role is in the movie. According to the Bogart biographer Meyers, Lorre is there since he was unemployed. Morley who appears in African Queen with Bogart of course is excellent. But Jennifer Jones is the only thing that saves the movie. Her acting is exceptionally good and after Bogart she was the second highest paid - and she desrves every penny - she saves the movie from being a complete flop. So overall some good acting, some funny moments, but overall not much, especially for Bogart fans.
Bogart and Huston thought this was a terrific movie, but for most viewers including myself it is not. It was a bust. Still, I enjoyed the movie but just 3 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Either You Get It or You Don't
Review: Optioned as a drama by Humphrey Bogart's own production company, this movie was hijacked by director John Huston and screenwriter Truman Capote, who turned it into a subversive comedy under Bogart's nose. Some swindlers assembling in Italy would like to clean up a uranium concession in Africa but can't seem to keep the plot on the tracks. Great cast includes Gina Lollabrigida, Peter Lorre, Jennifer Jones, Robert Morse, Edward Underdown, and Peter Ustinov did some of the dubbing.
Rating:
Summary: On a Crusade?
Review: Sorry to be insisting, but I seem to have gone on a real crusade re "Beat the Devil". I didn't want to, I just wanted to buy a decent DVD version. O boy! There isn't any. And it's not only the quality that is lacking, its the content. All you get is the US recut of Huston's film (1954, 89', not 1953, 100'). It really changes the character of the movie. To the bad.
Check: Scene 1 should not be the flashback of the four crooks being marched off to the band - there is no reason to tell the plot as a flashback anyway. Spoils the whole layout. Scene 1 should be the following (censored in the US by the 50s - 50s, still sold today!!! - Censorship Board):Running Time: about 3' 1 The Chelms, EU on the right, a walking stick in his right, JJ on the left, a basket over her left arm, walking towards you down a street. Camera first full shot, then moving in to half shot (waist upwards) , then half portrait (bust upwards). They are followed by a bunch of children, half seen behind their backs. A man they pass turns round to stare at them unpleasently. They turn round (towards each other). 2 Portrait shot of six small boys looking very ugly, glaring at them. Mouth movements as if they were about to spit. 3 The couple turns again, resuming their walk. EU: I must say I do resent the way these people stare at us. You'd think they might be going to spit.
JJ: (spits over her left shoulder)
EU: Gwendolen, dash it all!
JJ: Here, it's unlucky to have someone spit at you unless you spit first.
EU: What a filthy superstition,
JJ: (chants:) May yours be defiled!
EU: What's that about?
JJ: These people may be thinking of putting a curse on us, like „may your grandmothers be defiled". That's why I say it first, just in case.
EU: Wherefrom do you get all this stuff?
JJ: My old Spanish nurse told me.
EU: Surely you don't believe it now. You were only a child then.
JJ: She wasn't a child. She was old.
EU: I only wonder why your parents left you in charge of such a dirty, ignorant woman.
JJ: They cared for nothing except to have me off their hands. I told you that. They'd have sold me on the slave market if they hadn't been afraid of the scandal. Besides my father was incompetent. I suppose he just didn't know how to contact the slave people.
EU: I don't believe a word of it. Probably they were very fond of you, really.
JJ: (making as if to spit again)
EU: Stop it, Gwendolen! Don't do it!
JJ: You'll be sorry if you run into bad luck just because you didn't take proper precautions. Suppose when we get to Africa there is a native raising and they are slaughtering all the Whites! (prepares to spit again)
EU: Gwendolen!
JJ: If you don't let me spit I'll just feel like standing here in the street and screeming with terror!
EU: (looking to the left) Stop it, Gwendolen! Look: those men!
JJ: (looks to the left too)
EU: They might be fellow passengers. 4 Morley, Marco Tulli, Peter Lorre descending down a street. Quite a difference, isn't it? Well, ask for the original!...
Rating:
Summary: Beware Laserlight cheapies
Review: Terrific movie. My opinion of the DVD itself is what you're interested in, though. OK, apart from the Tony Curtis intro, this could have been a decent disc. The quality is about what you'd expect from a movie made ten years earlier, but that may be what we'll have to live with until Robert A. Harris decides to restore it. Unfortunately, the logo that Laserlight chose to put in the lower right corner, much like television stations can't resist doing these days, really ruins it. Not only does one not expect to have to put up with distractions like this on a disc that one pays for, but it shows up EVERY TEN MINUTES during the movie. It just shows how little class Laserlight has. You may as well tape it when it shows up on AMC.
Rating: 
Summary: Huston, Bogart, Greenstreet, Lorrie
Review: This cult classic is one of the funniest films I have ever seen. Written by Truman Capote of all people (with the help of his crow) this odd film is filled with crisp dialogue and hilarious one liners. One of the best supporting casts in film history supports Bogart at his funniest. you will love this movie
Rating:
Summary: FILM NOIR SPOOF
Review: This glorious spoof of the film noir genre of the 1940's, has direction by John Huston, an ever evolving script by Truman Capote and stars:Humphrey Bogart - HB (Billy Danreuther), Jennifer Jones - JJ (Gwendolynne Chelm), Gina Lollobrigida - GL (Maria), Edward Underdown - EU (Harry Chelm), Robert Morley - RM (Pierson), Peter Lorre - PL (O'Hara) and other notable character actors. Basically a group of rogues are vieing with each other to be the first to obtain a rich uranium deposit somewhere in "British East Africa" but we are never told where precisely.It was filmed on location in Italy and features the only other comic role of JJ, (her first being "Cluny Brown (1946)) as a congenital liar, whose Spanish Nurse taught her all there is to know!.What a pity Selznick did not recognise the comic potential of his wife and instead of putting her in soulful dirges like "Indiscretion of an American Wife"(1952), he had developed her natural comic potential."Beat The Devil" did not perform at the box office in 1953/4 when released but is now, thankfully, being re-evaluated by discerning film connoiseurs, achieving almost a cult like status. Being a strong amateur chess player, I particularly liked the scene outside the Italian cafe where JJ is "duffing up" EU again with an almost instant sight of the board, while chatting up HB.(Note to chess geeks - JJ plays much more weakly in "A Farewell to Arms (1957) vs Rock Hudson!!).Incidentally HB liked to play chess himself when off camera. The plot twists & turns and being English with a bawdy sense of humour, I laughed when GL says to EU "I've brought you some tea & crumpet" while almost smothering EU in the eye with her... well you get the point! It is reported John Huston rather sadistically requested JJ to climb to the rocking crow's nest- a fearsome climb - to do her leg stretching exercises on the ship taking them to Africa.The gang, led by RM, hope she breaks a leg - & not in the theatrical sense!My favourite scene is in the office of the African potentate who is questioning the motley group of rogues.In reality all he wants to know is whether HB has met Rita Hayworth as he is a big fan!.If you look carefully you can see her pin-up on his office wall.The quivering of RM's various chins when he is threatened with torture, is a delight to behold. The trick of Nazis having escaped to Latin America after WWII, is lampooned by PL who insists everyone calls him "O'Hara" (our little Irish leprecaun!).Everyone seems to be having a ball.Look out for Bernard Lee playing his usual police inspector role.This was long before he shot to fame as "M" in the Sean Connery, James Bond series from 1962 onwards.I've noticed in memorable films there is usually a catchy tune somewhere and here is no exception as played by an Italian brass band.I even find myself whistling the pianola music played on the ship while Ivor Barnard is away with his stabbing swagger stick ready to bump off EU.I voted 3/5 stars for this film.
Rating:
Summary: Gotta like Bogy
Review: This is a decent transfer (unlike a couple of others on Amazon.com) except for the Laserlight logo which appears on the lower right for near all of the movie. If I didn't know better, I'd think it was a Ted Turner special ! The movie is a must-see for Bogy fans, and a good laugh for all.
Rating:
Summary: Quirky, campy, cultish, and somewhat flawed
Review: This is a quirky kind of movie with an excellent cast who are not necessarily at their best, with a screenplay by a famed novelist, Truman Capote, directed by a Hollywood legend, John Huston, also perhaps not at their best. Adapted from the novel by James Helvick, Beat the Devil is morphed into something of a self-conscious comedic spoof by Huston of his classic The Maltese Falcon (1941). Here we have Robert Morley instead of Sidney Greenstreet as the greedy ring leader, and Ivor Barnard as the bodyguard with a knife instead of Elisha Cook Jr. the bodyguard with a gun. There is no Mary Astor, but Gina Lollibrigida, an Italian brunette bombshell, and a blonde Jennifer Jones appear as the female leads. Humphrey Bogart again is the star. Peter Lorre returns as a German named O'Hara (part of a running joke about Argentina where so many ex-Nazis became "Irish" settlers after World War II). But Bogey is now 55-years-old, "a middle-aged roustabout"--to quote (twice) from the script, apparently a good-natured Capote dig at the legendary actor--whose tar-stained teeth do so detract from his leading man role. (Gina, his on-screen wife, was 26.) And Peter Lorre has gone from a bug-eyed skinny little perfumed dandy to a fully rounded, tired, middle aged man. Alas, how cruel the camera! Nonetheless, this is interesting and diverting, full of double entendres and clever put-downs of all sorts, including jabs at marriage, English puffery and neo-Nazis. I understand the movie has overcome the disappointment of its original audience and has become something of a cult classic. I think those fifties matinee viewers probably missed most of the comedy and were offended by the easy adultery of the principals and the improper use of Humphrey Bogart. A year later he was wonderfully cast as Captain Queeg in The Caine Mutiny, where he gave one of his greatest performances. This is the kind of movie that Old Hollywood likes to watch nostalgically while satirically dissecting the performances, the script, etc., while nonetheless finding nuggets of humor, both intentional and inadvertent. It is, for example, possible to find some hidden meaning in the fact that the rogues, once aboard ship, break out into a lusty rendition of the anonymous chantey, "Blow the Man Down." And it is possible to observe that during the scene in which Jennifer Jones easily beats her husband at chess with her back mostly to the board (afterwards she quips, "Harry's been all out of sorts today. Usually he is a wonderful loser."), that what Bogart really wanted to do was get the scene over with and get back to his cigarettes and the chess games he so loved to play on location. One might also observe that had Peter Lorre been a little younger, and had they made a life of Truman Capote, the former could have played the latter with consummate ease. Speaking of location, this was filmed in Italy in black and white, clearly on a budget, and as such might be seen as a spaghetti comedy.
Rating:
Summary: Very poor technical production
Review: This version (LaserLight) is awful. There is no effort to fix any of the scratches in the film, and a logo for "Delta" appears periodically in the lower right suggesting that this film was simply taped off the air and dumped on a DVD.
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