British Comedy Guide

Beat The Devil

  • 1953 film

Eccentric comedy thriller. At a small Mediterranean port, a varied group of people wait for repairs to the tramp steamer that will take them to Africa. Stars Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre and more.

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Beat The Devil - Dual Format Edition

Beat The Devil - Dual Format Edition

As one of a disparate group of fortune-seekers bound for Africa, hard-up Billy Dannreuther (Humphrey Bogart) faces the swindling machinations of his fellow travellers as they await passage from a picturesque port on Italy's Amalfi coast. But with scheming aplenty, will this motley crew miss the boat completely?

Bogart is joined by Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida and Peter Lorre among the star-studded cast in this classic caper scripted by Truman Capote. A masterful shaggy dog story that's part comedy and part thriller, nothing is quite what it seems in director John Huston's wry send-up of film noir, including his own The Maltese Falcon.

This release is issued from a new 4K restoration by Sony Pictures and The Film Foundation.

First released: Monday 16th March 2020

Extra features

  • Audio commentary featuring historians Lem Dobbs, Julie Kirgo, and Nick Redman (2018)
  • Audio commentary featuring DoP Oswald Morris, script supervisor Angela Allen and director's assistant Jeanie Sims (2007)
  • Alexander Cockburn Beat the Devil (2012, 23 mins): the writer talks about his father, Claud Cockburn, from whose novel (under the pseudonym James Helvick) the film is adapted
  • By the Fireside (1945, 2 mins): an advertisement for Maypole Tea emphasising the quintessential Englishness of the afternoon tea ritual
  • Atomic Achievement (1956, 20 mins): a public information film celebrating the advances of nuclear power in the UK
  • Stills gallery
  • Limited edition: Fully illustrated booklet featuring new writing on the film
  • Distributor: BFI
  • Region: B/2
  • Discs: 2
  • Minutes: 94
  • Subtitles: English

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