Beat the Devil
About Beat the Devil
In Italy, Billy Dannreuther and his wife Maria join Peterson, Julius O'Hara, Major Jack Ross, and Ravello in a scheme to grab uranium land in Kenya. They meet Harry and Gwendolen Chelm. Billy pairs off with Gwendolen, Maria with Harry, and Peterson comes to think the Chelms want the claim. The party sails on the tramp steamer Nyanga. The engine fails, they land on a North African beach, and Billy talks their way back to Italy by telling an official he knows Rita Hayworth. In port, Gwendolen tells Scotland Yard inspector Jack Clayton about the swindle. A telegram then says Harry has acquired the uranium land.
Cast & crew
More about Beat the Devil
John Huston directed and produced. He and Truman Capote rewrote the script during the shoot, after Peter Viertel and Anthony Veiller had dropped it. The source is Claud Cockburn's 1951 novel, published as James Helvick. British Lion released it in London on November 24, 1953. United Artists opened it in New York on March 12, 1954.
Themes
Making
Capote wrote day by day in Ravello because the previous screenplay had been abandoned with the cast already hired. Oswald Morris photographed the Amalfi towns. Franco Mannino wrote the score. Ralph Kemplen edited.
Look
Oswald Morris shot the company in Ravello's Piazza Duomo and on the Terrace of Infinity at Villa Cimbrone.
Music
Franco Mannino composed the score.
Preservation
Sony and The Film Foundation restored a 4K version in 2016, putting back about four minutes cut after previews. Columbia holds the copyright on that restoration.
Notes
- Humphrey Bogart is Billy. Gina Lollobrigida, in her American debut, is Maria. Jennifer Jones is Gwendolen. Robert Morley is Peterson. Peter Lorre is O'Hara. Edward Underdown is Harry.
- Ivor Barnard plays Major Ross. Bernard Lee plays Inspector Clayton.
- Bogart lost teeth in a car crash on the way from Rome. Peter Sellers dubbed lines while Bogart could not speak clearly.
- Stephen Sondheim worked on the picture as a clapper boy.
- Billy Dannreuther's villa is the Villa Cimbrone. The terrace where he takes Gwendolen is the Terrace of Infinity.
- After previews, about four minutes were cut and a Bogart narration was added. A 2016 4K restoration by Sony Pictures and The Film Foundation, supervised by Grover Crisp, put those minutes back.
Scenes
- Billy and Peterson push a car that runs off a cliff, and the hotel is told they are dead. They walk back in.
- On an African beach Billy claims to know Rita Hayworth and gets the group a boat.
- Gwendolen hands the scheme to Inspector Clayton, then reads that Harry is already the uranium king.
Influenced by
- Beat the Devil (James Helvick novel, 1951)
Also available
- Internet Archive (Beat_the_Devil_DVD)
Quotes
This is the end, the end!
