The Devil's Disciple (1959)

Director:

Guy Hamilton

Writers:

John Dighton (screenplay) and
Roland Kibbee (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

20 August 1959 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | War

Plot:

The black sheep of a family (Dick Dudgeon) and the local minister (Anthony Anderson) discover their true vocations during the Revolutionary War.

Plot Keywords:

Minister | Revolutionary War | General | Church | Family Relationships

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award.

Cast

Burt Lancaster	...	The Rev. Anthony Anderson
Kirk Douglas	...	Richard Dudgeon
Laurence Olivier	...	Gen. Burgoyne
Janette Scott	...	Judith Anderson
Eva Le Gallienne	...	Mrs. Dudgeon
Harry Andrews	...	Major Swindon
Basil Sydney	...	Lawyer Hawkins
George Rose	...	British Sergeant
Neil McCallum	...	Christie Dudgeon (as Neil Mc Callum)
Mervyn Johns	...	Rev. Maindeck Parshotter
David Horne	...	Uncle William
Erik Chitty	...	Uncle Titus
Allan Cuthbertson	...	British Captain
Percy Herbert	...	British Lieutenant
Phyllis Morris	...	Wife of Titus

Runtime:

Germany:82 min | USA:83 min | Argentina:85 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (RCA Sound Recording)

Certification:

Norway:16 | USA:Approved (PCA #19282) | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:12 (w) | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Associated British Elstree Studios, Shenley Road, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Hill-Hecht-Lancaster Productions

Trivia:

The film was started by Alexander Mackendrick, but he left shortly after production began and was replaced by Guy Hamilton.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Several times while going through the forest, the British refer to "snipers." However, the term sniper didn't come into being until about 40 years after the American Revolutionary War. The term came into usage in 1824, while the war ended in 1783.

Quotes:

Major Swindon: I can only do my best sir, and rely on the devotion of our countrymen.
General John Burgoyne: May I ask, Major, are you writing a melodrama?
Major Swindon: No, sir.
General John Burgoyne: (sarcastically) What a pity! WHAT a pity!

Movie Connections:

Version of The Devil's Disciple (1987) (TV)

Maybe THIS was the original "buddy movie"

Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas shared a chemistry -- offscreen as well as on screen -- which was rare even by Hollywood standards. There's a legend about them, as a matter of fact (and I'd hate to think it apocryphal), that -- at the onset of each of the many films in which they co-starred -- they flipped a coin to see who would play which role.

In their film adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's "The Devil's Disciple," the coin-flip would have been at best symbolic -- or perhaps ironic is the term here -- inasmuch as the plotline concerns role reversals and identity switching. Set during the closing days of the American revolution, Dick Dudgeon, the town rakehell (Douglas), having previously admitted to Reverend Anderson, the local minister (Lancaster), "Pastor, there's something about you I respect, and that makes me want you for my enemy," allows himself to be mistakenly arrested as that minister by British troops. It's an act which even he, at the time, is at a loss to explain. While Dudgeon keeps the local British commandant, General Burgoyne (Laurence Olivier in what turns out to be one of his finer screen performances), alternately amused and bemused, Reverend Anderson discovers within himself a call to action as he rallies the rebel troops to rescue Dudgeon and to cut off Burgoyne's reinforcements.

Purists may note that the film adaptation tampers with Shaw's more typically cynical resolution in the original stage presentation (yes, it is much more 'upbeat' and true to the Hollywood dicta of the day) . . . and yet the Shavian quality of the dialogue between Dudgeon and Anderson -- not to mention the barbed repartee between Dudgeon and Burgoyne -- is preserved virtually intact here. It is also brilliantly rendered by all parties.

Although Douglas manages to 'steal' much of this film, Lancaster affords us more than a glimpse of the ability which will, in little more than another year, garner him an Oscar -- for 'Elmer Gantry'-- (and put an end to the yearly ritual of his and Douglas' comedic "It's So Great Not To Be Nominated" performance at the awards ceremonies).

One of Hollywood's more successful adaptations of a stage play, this is also a film which, more than most, stands the test of time.