Beat the Devil (1953) | Directed by John Huston - Full Movie

On their way to Africa are a group of rogues who hope to get rich there, and a seemingly innocent British couple. They meet and things happen...

Beat the Devil is a 1953 adventure comedy film. The film was directed by John Huston, and starred Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones and Gina Lollobrigida, and featured Robert Morley, Peter Lorre and Bernard Lee. Huston and Truman Capote wrote the screenplay, loosely based upon the 1951 novel of the same name by British journalist Claud Cockburn, writing under the pseudonym James Helvick. Huston made the film as a sort of loose parody of the 1941 film The Maltese Falcon, which Huston directed and in which Bogart and Lorre appeared. Capote said, "John [Huston] and I decided to kid the story, to treat it as a parody. Instead of another Maltese Falcon, we turned it into a ... [spoof] on this type of film."

The script, written on a day-to-day basis as the film was shot, concerns the adventures of a motley crew of swindlers and ne'er-do-wells trying to claim land rich in uranium deposits in Kenya as they wait in a small Italian port to travel aboard a tramp steamer en route to Mombasa.

Directed by: John Huston
Screenplay by: John Huston, Truman Capote
Based on: Beat the Devil by James Helvick
Produced by: John Huston
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida
Cinematography: Oswald Morris
Edited by: Ralph Kemplen
Music by: Franco Mannino
Production companies: Romulus Films, Santana Pictures Corporation
Distributed by: British Lion Films (United Kingdom), United Artists, (United States)
Release date: 24 November 1953 (London), March 12, 1954 (New York City)
Running time: 94 minutes
Countries: United States, Great Britain, Italy
Language: English
Box office: £115,926 (UK)