Beat The Devil ~ 1953 -BW

QUICKIE: Dahling, you meet such interesting people when you travel!

PLOT: A bunch of swindlers are detained in Italy while their steamer is being repaired and they hook up with the Chelms, who are very British. While waiting on the repairs, there is much scheming, drinking and indescretion going on. The six passengers eventually set sail for Africa, presumably to sell vacuum cleaners but actually to buy land loaded with uranium. Mr. Chelm, who plays a bumbling, neurotic idiot destroys the oil pump on the ship, and all must abondan ship. Somehow Mr. Chelm is lost at sea and the rest of the group lands on the coast of Africa and is immediately arrested. The swindlers bury their passports so as not to be discovered and interrogations ensue. Our hero (Bogart) fixes it so the swindlers are arrested and him & the ladies go free. The movie ends with Mrs. Chelm receiving a telegram that her husband has gone ahead and purchased the uranium rich land, making them rich in the end.

SUMMARY: Wow this is a great movie. The cast alone is spectacular, I mean it's Bogart and Peter Lorre for starters! We also get Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, and Robert Morley. Writen by Truman Capote, directed by John Huston who also directed Moulin Rouge (1952), African Queen and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre amongst other gems. See, every once in awhile we get a public domain film that is truly exceptional, and this is one of them.

It's also surprisingly funny with some great dialogue, such as this:

Billy Dannreuther: I've got to have money. Doctor's orders are that I must have a lot of money, otherwise I become dull, listless and have trouble with my complexion.

Gwendolyn Chelm: But you're not like that now, and you haven't any money.


Billy Dannreuther
: It's my expectations that hold me together.



Gwendolyn Chelm: Harry, we must beware of these men. They are desperate characters.

Harry Chelm
: What makes you say that ?

Gwendolyn Chelm
: Not one of them looked at my legs!


Charming! A really great film from start to finish.

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