In the pantheon of great director-actor pairings, it is hard to match the six-film run of John Huston and Humphrey Bogart. The blustery filmmaker and his brutally handsome star confidently segued from the world-weary noir of "The Maltese Falcon" to the caustically funny misadventure of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" and on to the rambunctiously romantic banter of "The African Queen." Over their first five films, Huston's style is refreshingly unfussy. He's not trying to knock the viewer out with bravura coups de cinema. Rather, he reads the emotion of his characters, and, if he's cast well, the camera always ends up in the right place, while every cut and transition flows mellifluously through to the final reel.
Huston made a lot of movies, and more than his share of stinkers, but he never misfired when collaborating with Bogie -- that is, until 1953, when they came together for the garishly cynical "Beat the Devil.
Huston made a lot of movies, and more than his share of stinkers, but he never misfired when collaborating with Bogie -- that is, until 1953, when they came together for the garishly cynical "Beat the Devil.
- 8/24/2022
- by Jeremy Smith
- Slash Film
The star lineup sparkles in this witty, lighthearted tale of a gang of international schemers and cutthroats trying to — well, what they’re trying to do is all but irrelevant. John Huston throws his picture together like a party, for a droll ‘thriller’ that yields off-kilter comic riches. It’s Bogart, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre and Gina Lollobrigida, plus Jennifer Jones as we’ve not seen her before or since. Truman Capote’s sly, unbeatably hip dialogue — reportedly written on the fly — celebrates the underhanded ambitions of greedy fools everywhere.
Beat the Devil
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, Edward Underdown, Ivor Barnard, Marco Tulli, Bernard Lee, Mario Perrone, Giulio Donnini, Saro Urzì, Manuel Serrano.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Ralph Kemplen
Continuity: Angela Allen
Dialogue Coach:...
Beat the Devil
Blu-ray
Twilight Time
1953 / B&W / 1:37 Academy / 94 min. / Street Date January 22, 2019 / Available from the Twilight Time Movies Store / 29.95
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, Edward Underdown, Ivor Barnard, Marco Tulli, Bernard Lee, Mario Perrone, Giulio Donnini, Saro Urzì, Manuel Serrano.
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Film Editor: Ralph Kemplen
Continuity: Angela Allen
Dialogue Coach:...
- 1/22/2019
- by Glenn Erickson
- Trailers from Hell
After impressing on TV and in films such as Alpha Dog and Rush, the actor's improvised turn in her new film Drinking Buddies has truly hit a nerve
If travelling really does have the edge over arriving, Olivia Wilde must be enjoying the time of her life. It is no slight on this poised, intuitive performer to say that she has been on her way for most of her career. Each year has brought with it another handful of movies that might give her the success and recognition she deserves – or might not. But here she comes again anyway. The question being: when is she finally going to get there?
It's not that she has wanted for work or variety. She has acquitted herself well in delicate indies (Conversations with Other Women), intense, macho-method drama (Alpha Dog) and blockbusters festooned with CGI (Cowboys and Aliens, Tron: Legacy). She had a...
If travelling really does have the edge over arriving, Olivia Wilde must be enjoying the time of her life. It is no slight on this poised, intuitive performer to say that she has been on her way for most of her career. Each year has brought with it another handful of movies that might give her the success and recognition she deserves – or might not. But here she comes again anyway. The question being: when is she finally going to get there?
It's not that she has wanted for work or variety. She has acquitted herself well in delicate indies (Conversations with Other Women), intense, macho-method drama (Alpha Dog) and blockbusters festooned with CGI (Cowboys and Aliens, Tron: Legacy). She had a...
- 11/1/2013
- by Ryan Gilbey
- The Guardian - Film News
Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall: From ‘To Have and Have Not’ to ‘Key Largo’ Humphrey Bogart (born on Christmas Day 1899, in New York City) is Turner Classic Movies’ first “Summer Under the Stars” star on Thursday, August 1, 2013. TCM will be showing several Bogart movies not made at Warner Bros., e.g., 20th Century Fox’s The Left Hand of God and Columbia’s In a Lonely Place, but nothing that the cable network hasn’t presented before. In other words, don’t expect anything along the lines of the 1934 crime drama Midnight or the 1931 Western A Holy Terror (assuming these two movies still exist). Now, the good news: No Casablanca — which was shown on Tuesday, as part of TCM’s Paul Henreid movie series. (See “Humphrey Bogart Movies — TCM schedule.) (Photo: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in To Have and Have Not.) Of TCM’s Humphrey Bogart movies I’ve seen,...
- 8/1/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
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