Beat the Devil (DVD-R)
US Import
Writer/Director John Huston's Beat the Devil stars Humphrey Bogart as Billy Dannreuther, the front man for a group of swindlers stranded in an Italian port town, scheming to take ownership of uranium-rich land in Africa. Also stranded is a naive British couple, Mr. and Mrs. Chelm (Edward Underdown and Jennifer Jones). Flirtations and a web of lies ensue among the group, testing romantic loyalty and allegiances among them. The last of six collaborations between Huston and Bogart, Beat the Devil evokes an effortless wit and charm found only in classic film gems like this.