Description

Beat the Devil is a 1953 film directed by John Huston. The screenplay was by Huston and Truman Capote, loosely based upon a novel of the same name by British journalist Claud Cockburn, writing under the pseudonym James Helvick. It is a parody of Huston’s The Maltese Falcon (1941 film) and films of the same genre.
The script, which was written on a day-to-day basis as the film was being shot, concerns the adventures of a motley crew of swindlers and ne’er-do-wells trying to lay claim to land rich in uranium deposits in Kenya as they wait in a small Italian port to travel aboard an ill-fated tramp steamer en route to Mombasa. The cast includes Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, Gina Lollobrigida, Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, and Bernard Lee.

Cast

• Humphrey Bogart as Billy Dannreuther
• Jennifer Jones as Mrs. Gwendolen Chelm
• Gina Lollobrigida as Maria Dannreuther
• Robert Morley as Peterson
• Peter Lorre as Julius O’Hara
• Edward Underdown as Harry Chelm
• Ivor Barnard as Maj. Jack Ross
• Marco Tulli as Ravello
• Bernard Lee as Insp. Jack Clayton
• Mario Perrone as Purser on SS Nyanga
• Giulio Donnini as Administrator
• Saro Urzì as Captain of SS Nyanga
• Aldo Silvani as Charles, Restaurant Owner
• Juan de Landa as Hispano-Suiza Driver