Check the devil
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Check the devil |
| Original title | Beat the Devil |
| Country of production | USA , UK , Italy |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1953 |
| length | 89 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 0 |
| Rod | |
| Director | John Huston |
| script |
Truman Capote John Huston |
| production | John Huston Jack Clayton |
| music | Franco Mannino |
| camera | Oswald Morris |
| cut | Ralph Kemplen |
| occupation | |
| |
Chess the Devil is an American film from 1953. The film is based on the novel Beat the Devil by James Helvick , a pseudonym of the author Claud Cockburn. The film was shot in Italy and England. The American writer Truman Capote wrote with director John Huston the screenplay .
action
A seedy group of adventurers wants to smuggle uranium out of British East Africa . In Italy they are preparing for their adventure that will bring them millions and are waiting impatiently for the delayed passage of the ship to Africa. The leader of the group is the Briton Peterson. His companions include the alleged Irishman O'Hara, the Italian Ravello and the aggressive, fascist Major Jack Ross. The American Billy Dannreuther also belongs to this group with his Italian wife Maria, but he and the rest of the gang distrust each other. Billy suspects that Major Ross killed a British colonial officer who endangered the group's plan.
Billy meets the British couple Chelm in a street café. Gwendolen Chelm is fascinated by Billy and so the tourist couple gets into the group's adventure. To add value to her own importance, Gwendolen claims that her husband is a sir and an important figure. Harry Chelm actually fulfills all the clichés about upper-class Britons, but his parents are only pensioners who let impoverished nobles live with them. The group does not know this, however, and speculates about the intentions of the supposedly influential Chelm. While Gwendolen and Billy start an affair and admit their love, Billy's wife Maria also flirts with Harry.
During the crossing to Africa, the group's situation becomes increasingly threatening. Harry Chelm has found out about the plan to smuggle uranium out of the colony and, as a dutiful Briton, wants to report the fraud to the British colonial government. Billy and Maria cannot dissuade him from this plan either, so that his life is in great danger. Peterson entrusts Major Ross with the murder of Harry, who only fails through the intervention of Billy. The drunk captain of the ship does not believe the angry Harry's accusations against the group and locks him in a ship's cabin, which is a humiliation for him. Meanwhile, the already meager ship collapses and the passengers have to board a lifeboat. When Billy tries to get Harry out of the cabin, Harry is no longer there: In his suicide note he announces his suicide by drowning.
When the group finally lands on a beach on the North African coast, they are captured by Arabs. They consider them to be possible spies or revolutionaries. But Billy befriends the Arab civil servant Ahmed, tells him about his alleged acquaintance with Rita Hayworth, who is idolized by Ahmed, and promises some favors. Finally the Arabs release them and they come back on a sailor to the Italian village where they were at the beginning. There the gang is finally betrayed by Gwendolen, who wants to preserve the memory of her allegedly deceased husband. Peterson, O'Hara, Ross and Ravello are arrested as murderers or accomplices in the murder of the colonial official. Meanwhile, Gwendolen receives a letter from East Africa: Harry only faked his death and has since acquired the land with the uranium that Peterson actually wanted.
background
The film was a failure with the cinema audience at the time. Audiences were expecting a gangster movie starring audience favorite Humphrey Bogart, but received a satire on the genre. For Bogart, who had also made a financial contribution to the film, this meant a great financial loss. In addition to Capote, Peter Viertel also wrote the script, although he was not mentioned in the credits.
synchronization
The German synchronous editing was created in 1954.
| role | actor | Dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Billy Dannreuther | Humphrey Bogart | Paul Klinger |
| Mrs. Gwendolen Chelm | Jennifer Jones | Elenore Noelle |
| Maria Dannreuther | Gina Lollobrigida | Gisela Trowe |
| Peterson | Robert Morley | Erich Fiedler |
| Julius O'Hara | Peter Lorre | Alfred Balthoff |
| Harry Chelm | Edward Underdown | Siegfried Schürenberg |
| Insp. Jack Clayton | Bernard Lee | Paul Wagner |
| Ravello | Marco Tulli | Friedrich Joloff |
Reviews
"Ironic ridicule of the usual gangster films with an excellent cast."
“Making fun of the usual gangster films. The (...) tricky and amusing story remains relatively bearable due to its strong irony, even when portraying female infidelity. "
literature
- Francis Claud Cockburn: Beat the Devil . Penguin Books, Harmondsworth 1971, 235 pp., ISBN 0-14-003309-2 (no German translation so far)
Web links
- Beat the Devil in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.allmovie.com/cg/avg.dll?p=avg&sql=1:4481~T0
- ↑ Schach dem Teufel (1953) in Arne Kaul's synchronous database ; Retrieved November 25, 2008
- ↑ Chess the devil. In: synchronkartei.de. German dubbing file , accessed on March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ Chess the devil. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
- ↑ 6000 films. Critical notes from the cinema years 1945 to 1958 . Handbook V of the Catholic film criticism, 3rd edition, Verlag Haus Altenberg, Düsseldorf 1963, p. 370