Review of Beat the Devil (1953) by Jeroen V — 06 Sep 2013

It appears audiences are still misunderstanding the film. That's a bit ironic since it's a comedy of errors where all the characters are either misunderstood or lying about who they are. The insane plot twists are based as much on the insanity of the characters and dialogue.

There is lot of dialogue and not one misplaced word. The fact that film sails by even with all the verbiage is tribute first to Capote and Huston, but the actors, especially Bogart and Jones are dazzling.

There may have been too many layers of irony and sarcasm coming to thick for most of the early audiences. But this is a masterful work.