Review of Beat the Devil (1953) by James H — 13 May 2008

BEAT THE DEVIL.

Beat The Devil(Details here), is directed by the hugely talented John Huston, and stars the legend that is Humphrey Bogart. However the plus side of this film is marginal, definitely not one of cinema's finer moments.

The story follows a group of four conmen trying to make their way to Africa to purchase uranium rich land cheaply. Humphrey Bogart plays the man who has the contact in Africa, and he befriends a young woman, who adds a new dimension to the scheme.

Acting in this film is of a lower quality than cinema fans expect, employing stereotypical characters who are two dimensional generates only a minimal level of interest at best. The narrative gives no real character development or emotion either.

This movie lacks the cinematic flair of Huston's other work, however there is one beautiful shot within the film, sadly it is the only one. Whilst attention has been paid to the sets, there is no noticeable skill or interesting direction to be observed, and this makes for a very dull viewing.

In terms of emotion and feeling, this film has close to none, the score is so generic it becomes obsolete and just adds to the huge amount of flaws with this movie.

Beat The Devil is most certainly reliant on the presence of Humphrey Bogart and the name of John Huston for success. There is nothing impressive in this film except a single sequence, an obvious product of the studio system, an inferior piece of filmmaking and not worth a viewing.