Beat the Devil (Humphrey Bogart)- 11/24/2014 (1 Viewer)

From "The Film Detective"...... http://www.homemediamagazine.com/news/new-indie-distributor-focuses-public-domain-titles-34245

Was Bogie really dubbed by Peter Sellers because of his car accident, or is that just a rumor?

Also, did Sellers dub all of Bogie's dialogue, or just some of it?

Salt of the Earth is quite good. I'll wait for the reviews of the disc given the history of Film Chest/Film Detective.

I was excited up until I read that press release. Any connection with Film Chest will probably lead to some serious DVNR overkill on these.

Not very optimistic.

I'm very cautious but I suspect this may be the only decent Beat The Devil (a public domain title) print we're likely to see unless Sony digs their copy out of the vault.

I'd be very interested in having top-quality discs of Hollow Triumph and Beat The Devil, but I'm deeply sceptical about these discs. I'll wait for reports from people I trust before spending any money.

I've never seen either "Hollow Triumph" or "Beat the Devil" (I know - shame on me!) but these discs will give me the perfect opportunity.

Crossing my fingers on BEAT THE DEVIL. It's not yet listed on Amazon, by the way ...

My thoughts are either I'll get this Beat the Devil or never have it in HD.....cause I won't live to see a truly remastered edition

I watched 'Beat the Devil' only two nights ago.
What a crock! Much as I love Bogie, this is really scraping the barrel .. just an opportunity for Bogie, his friend Peter Lorre and John Ford to take a mates' holiday together.
Mind you, anything with the lovely Gina Lollobrigida in it can't be all bad ...

AnthonyClarke said:

I watched 'Beat the Devil' only two nights ago.
What a crock! Much as I love Bogie, this is really scraping the barrel .. just an opportunity for Bogie, his friend Peter Lorre and John Ford to take a mates' holiday together.
Mind you, anything with the lovely Gina Lollobrigida in it can't be all bad ...

Click to expand...

Those were my sentiments exactly when I saw it at a Jennifer Jones festival at the Norton Simon Museum a few years back. What a snoozer!

To each his own but I find Beat The Devil a true delight and one of my favorite John Huston films. John Huston said, "The formula of Beat The Devil is that everyone is slightly absurd". More than slightly I'd say but that's the fun of it. It's sly comedy, a satire of European thrillers like The Third Man. Bogart seems befuddled (he was, he never "got" it) which is perfect for the character he's playing. And who knew Jennifer Jones was such a delicious comedienne. The lady wasted her time on overwrought dramas, she could have been another Carole Lombard!

Beat the Devil always had more of a reputation as a camp classic than anything. It's not really meant to be taken seriously, and the bizarre Truman Capote/John Huston script slyly subverts the more serious aspects of the film. I believe it was the Capote elements that set the stage for the more offbeat nature of the film.

I never thought it was that outstanding in that regard, but I could see the appeal. Then again, I haven't seen the movie in over 10 years.

Plus, Jennifer Jones in a blonde wig...

There are SO many films I love which others (probably rightly) deride. SoI can well understand some people loving 'Beat the Devil' As we say down here, just suck it and see ... and I guess getting it in HD is a good reason for giving it a go ... my public domain copy was truly terrible, which might have militated against my enjoying it ...

AnthonyClarke said:

I watched 'Beat the Devil' only two nights ago.
What a crock! Much as I love Bogie, this is really scraping the barrel .. just an opportunity for Bogie, his friend Peter Lorre and John Ford to take a mates' holiday together.
Mind you, anything with the lovely Gina Lollobrigida in it can't be all bad ...

Click to expand...

Reeediculous. This is a great film with a wonderful script by Huston and Truman Capote. Unfortunately, when released and today, it is such an idiosyncratic film that most people don't get it. One really has to have an appreciation for the ridiculous to like it (to me, although the subject matter is different, the humor is very similar in many ways to the Albert Brooks film Modern Romance). Hopefully, the quality on this will be good and I can retire my p.d. dvd sourced from the old Sony VHS.

JoeDoakes said:

Reeediculous. This is a great film with a wonderful script by Huston and Truman Capote. Unfortunately, when released and today, it is such an idiosyncratic film that most people don't get it. One really has to have an appreciation for the ridiculous to like it (to me, although the subject matter is different, the humor is very similar in many ways to the Albert Brooks film Modern Romance). Hopefully, the quality on this will be good and I can retire my p.d. dvd sourced from the old Sony VHS.

Click to expand...

Difference of opinion as this film didn't float his boat. I will buy this BD if the PQ is decent enough.

So I take it that The Film Detective is a public domain company that is branching into Blu-ray? While these PD titles will be welcomed in HD, I don't hold out a whole lot of hope that the elements will be very good. Still it's better than nothing at all.

I, for one, enjoyed the off-beat humor of Beat the Devil. I must also say that I was fortunate to see a good 35mm print of it before the movie sank into PD hell. Sometimes the quality of the print affects your perception of the film.

Mark-P said:

So I take it that The Film Detective is a public domain company that is branching into Blu-ray? While these PD titles will be welcomed in HD, I don't hold out a whole lot of hope that the elements will be very good. Still it's better than nothing at all.

Click to expand...

Yes, previously they were known as The Film Chest / HD Cinema Classics. They've already released the following PD title BDs to varying degree of quality: Carnival Magic (1981), Dementia 13 (1963), Kansas City Confidential (1952), Poor Pretty Eddie (1975), The Red House (1947), Second Chorus (1940), The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946), The Stranger (1946), Suddenly (1954), The Terror (1963), and Zaat (1971).

Apparently they are going to release two more PD titles on Blu-ray in the future: D.O.A. (1950), and Night of the Living Dead (1968)