Beat the Devil (1953) - John Huston, Humphrey Bogart - 2016 restoration - 1/22/19

[oildude]

John Huston's Beat the Devil (1953) is coming January 22, 2019, from Twilight Time with a 2016 restoration of the original un-cut version. This will be a limited edition of 3000 copies.

Per IMDb....The original American release version was truncated and had scenes moved around, making a mess of the story line. The uncut version--released overseas by Romulus--was finally restored in the U.S. by Sony in 2016. The film is included on Roger Ebert's "Great Movies" list, and is included among the American Film Institute's 2000 list of the 500 movies nominated for the Top 100 Funniest American Movies.

From Turner Classic Movies.....A group of con artists stake their claim on a bogus uranium mine. Huston and Truman Capote concocted this offbeat, very funny satire of MALTESE FALCON-ish movies on location in Italy. Low-key nature of comedy eluded many people in 1954 and it immediately became a cult favorite, which it remains today.

Directed by John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, Moby Dick, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Misfits, Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, Fat City, and many more)

Starring:

Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, Key Largo, In a Lonely Place, High Sierra, The Caine Mutiny, and many more.)

Jennifer Jones (The Song of Bernadette, Portrait of Jenny, Duel in the Sun, Madame Bovary, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, Ruby Gentry, The Towering Inferno)

Gina Lollobrigida (Trapeze, Solomon and Sheba, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956), Woman of Straw, Death Laid an Egg, Never So Few)

Robert Morley (The African Queen, Around the World in 80 Days, Topkapi, Theatre of Blood)

Peter Lorre (M, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Rope of Sand, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Arsenic and Old Lace, and many more)





Trailer

Beat the Devil Trailer - YouTube

[Richard--W]

Good news.

[BluBonnet]

This is awesome! I got to see the restored version in 35mm, looks gorgeous!

[Richard--W]

No doubt the 2016 restoration will be an upgrade from Film Detective's 2015 restoration. I bought the Film Detective bluray and I've never seen the film look better. But there was room for improvement.

[The Great Owl]

This is huge. I’m looking forward to retiring my Film Detective BD-R.

[chriszilla]

Any film that combines the talents of John Huston and Humphrey Bogart is pure gold in my book! Not to mention, the entire cast do a good job in this underrated gem.

I have yet to see the restoration of BEAT THE DEVIL, other than a few clips online, and can't wait! (Glad I held off on the previous release; this will be one of the few times that I'm not double-dipping on a beloved film!)

[WaverBoy]

Originally Posted by Richard--W

No doubt the 2016 restoration will be an upgrade from Film Detective's 2015 restoration. I bought the Film Detective bluray and I've never seen the film look better. But there was room for improvement.

Plus, the Film Detective version was only the same old studio-butchered version. This is the original uncut version (with four minutes restored and scenes in the original order instead of the studio-imposed flashback structure with narration), available for the first time.

From the files of Glenn Erickson, notes written by Gary Teetzel:

Originally Posted by Gary Teetzel

The evening screening was a new restoration of John Huston's Beat the Devil done by Sony. Grover Crisp said they had put off the restoration for years, trying to locate better-quality materials, especially the original neg. Finally deciding to work with what they had, they began evaluating their elements and discovered that what they thought was a dupe negative contained about 60% of the original neg. They also borrowed a fine grain from Romulus in England, hoping that they might be able to use it for some sections where they did not have the original neg. It turned out to be in excellent condition -- and was an alternate, uncensored version of the film! All the Public Domain versions of Beat the Devil that have been circulating have been of a shorter, re-cut/censored version. Interesting point: Grover insists the film is NOT in the Public Domain.


The differences between the two versions of Beat the Devil:

1. The uncut version is told chronologically. The re-cut version uses a flashback structure and adds some Bogart narration.

2. The uncut version opens with a new scene of Jennifer Jones and Edward Underdown walking through the streets of the small Italian port town. The dialogue sets up some of Jones' flakiness.

3. About 18 minutes into the film there is a scene of Jones and Bogart talking outside, and Jones playfully accuses Bogart of making a pass at her. We then dissolve to a short scene of Gina Lollobrigida bringing the ailing Edward Underdown some tea, which ends abruptly as we dissolve back to Bogart and Jones. In the uncut version, the first scene between Bogart and Jones goes on slightly longer. We see them walking off and then reveal Peter Lorre shadowing them. We then cut to the Lollobrigida tea scene, which is now a little longer. We see her lean in to give Underdown the tea tray, her bosom coming very close to his face as he turns away awkwardly. We then cut back to Bogie and Jones.

4. The re-cut version takes a shot of the ship's captain yelling angrily from later in the film, flops it and inserts it into the scene of the characters boarding the ship.

5. In the scene where Bogart cons the Rita Hayworth-loving Arab policeman with the claims that he knows the actress personally, we see in the uncut version a pin-up of Hayworth in a racy swimsuit. A casual viewer might think she's nude. The re-cut version darkens the whole upper right corner of the screen, creating the effect of a shadow that conceals the pin-up.

There may be a couple other small differences, but those are the major ones. The restoration looked and sounded great; it would be nice if we could get a Criterion or Twilight Time release. -- Gary

[SeanJoyce]

Beat the Devil was the movie that Capote (Toby Jones) was regaling the family with anecdotes about in Infamous. I'd heard stories that Capote and Bogey would get drunk and tussle on set, but I can't attest to their validity.

I have a real muddy DVD of this that I gave up on many years back; maybe I should try to stomach it as a test for adding this to the collection.

[gates70]

Day 1

[Richard--W]

Not a big fan of satire but I've always enjoyed this John Huston / Truman Capote doodling. It's like a pie fight without the pie. Looking forward to this release.

[oildude]

Pre-order date: Wednesday, January 9th at 4 pm EST.

NOTE: BEAT THE DEVIL IS REGION A LOCKED

Where to buy (or pre-order):

• Twilight Time website: http://www.twilighttimemovies.com

• Screen Archives Entertainment: http://www.screenarchives.com

For the first time on home video – and in pristine hi-def Blu-ray – comes the revelatory Sony Pictures/Film Foundation restoration of a 65-year-old cult favorite to the original form its creators intended with recovered footage and improved audio! This comical criminal affair co-produced by The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre and The African Queen colleagues John Huston and Humphrey Bogart adds up to “such wonderful nonsense that there isn’t a moment when the picture doesn’t take a left turn when you expect it to turn right” (The Motion Picture Guide).

Directed by John Huston (The Maltese Falcon, Key Largo, The Asphalt Jungle, The African Queen, Moby Dick, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Misfits, Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, Fat City, and many more)

Starring:

Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, Key Largo, In a Lonely Place, High Sierra, The Caine Mutiny, and many more.)

Jennifer Jones (The Song of Bernadette, Portrait of Jenny, Duel in the Sun, Madame Bovary, Love is a Many-Splendored Thing, Ruby Gentry, The Towering Inferno)

Gina Lollobrigida (Trapeze, Solomon and Sheba, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1956), Woman of Straw, Death Laid an Egg, Never So Few)

Robert Morley (The African Queen, Around the World in 80 Days, Topkapi, Theatre of Blood)

Peter Lorre (M, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, Rope of Sand, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, Arsenic and Old Lace, and many more)

Screenplay by Truman Capote

Cinematography by Oswald Morris (Fiddler on the Roof, The Man Who Would Be King, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, The Dark Crystal, Oliver!, Equus, Our Man in Havana, and many more)

Special Features: Audio Commentary with Film Historians Lem Dobbs, Julie Kirgo, and Nick Redman / Alexander Cockburn Beat the Devil / Original Theatrical Trailer

[Monterey Jack]

No isolated score? For a TT release?

[ravenus]

Originally Posted by oildude

NOTE: BEAT THE DEVIL IS REGION A LOCKED

This hopefully means Indicator or Arrow might pick this up for the UK, fingers crossed they'll present both cuts of the film and also include additional extras.

[Geode]

Originally Posted by ravenus

This hopefully means Indicator or Arrow might pick this up for the UK, fingers crossed they'll present both cuts of the film and also include additional extras.

BFI will release this March 16th. It is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.uk

[ravenus]

It's on my wishlist, but they haven't announced any extras apart from a first pressing booklet.

[Dailyan]

I gave this one a rewatch tonight. I wasn't quite a fan of it the first time but during this second watch I started to embrace it's silliness and laughed quite a few times. I'm not a huge Jennifer Jones fan but she's quite funny in this.

[#Darren]

Originally Posted by Geode

BFI will release this March 16th. It is available for pre-order at Amazon.com.uk

Originally Posted by ravenus

It's on my wishlist, but they haven't announced any extras apart from a first pressing booklet.

Audio commentary featuring films historians Lem Dobbs, Julie Kirgo and Nick Redman (2018)

Audio commentary featuring DoP Oswald Morris, script supervisor Angela Allen and director’s assistant Jeanie Simms (2007)

By the Fireside (1945, 2 mins): an advert for Maypole Tea emphasising the quintessential Englishness of the afternoon tea ritual

Alexander Cockburn Beat the Devil (2010, 22 mins): the writer talks about his father Claud Cockburn whose novel the film was adapted from

Atomic Achievement (1956, 19 mins): a public information film celebrating the advances of nuclear power in the UK

Stills gallery

**FIRST PRESSING ONLY** Fully illustrated booklet with new writing on the film by Peter Tonguette, Alexander Cockburn on how his father and John Huston brought the novel to the screen, plus full film credits