BEAT THE DEVIL

I’ve been putting off watching this oddity for a long time because I didn’t feel that a comedy would play to the strengths of either director John Huston or star Humphrey Bogart, especially one which has the reputation of being self-indulgent.

Co-writers Huston and Truman Capote apparently intended it as a spoof of ‘The Maltese Falcon’.  Since it doesn't obviously take aim at film noir tropes, the only connection I could see to the earlier Huston film is the presence of Bogart and of Peter Lorre, and that the character played here by Robert Morley bears some resemblance to that played by Sydney Greenstreet.

OK, let’s try to summarise the plot, such as it is.

Morley is in charge of a disparate gang of misfits who have developed a scheme to make a fortune from mining uranium in Africa, and Bogart is helping them acquire the land they need on the cheap.

Whilst waiting in an Italian port for a ship to take them to the dark continent they get to know Mr and Mrs Chelm, a British couple who have inherited a coffee plantation. She is a fantasist who quickly imagines that she and Bogart are madly in love with each other.  Bogart doesn’t mind this, even though he is married to Gina Lollobrigida, because he's playing one of those rather insufferable Bogart characters who is never at a loss no matter what happens.

One review I read suggested that Jennifer Jones, who plays Mrs Chelm, seems to have wandered in from a more seriously dramatic film but I thought she was perfect and one of the highlights. 

Not a lot happens, even when they all eventually set sail, other than some misunderstandings which lead to Mr Chelm, who is a stereotypical English twit, becoming a threat to the money-making scheme, thereby putting his life in danger.

The ship has to be abandoned and everyone (other than Mr Chelm, who is presumed dead) washes up in Africa.  After some amusing scenes involving the local head guy, everything gets wrapped up more or less tidily.

There’s nothing much to this trifle but Huston directs it with a light touch, and everyone turns in decent performances, some more comedic than others.  Morley and Lorre are especially good in this regard, and I also enjoyed the eccentric assassin of the group, the so-called 'galloping major’, who insists Hitler had his good points.  

There is a pleasing wittiness to the dialogue and I found it all passably entertaining.