Humphrey Bogart: Beat the Devil & Call It Murder

Humphrey Bogart: Beat the Devil & Call It Murder
Customer Review: Bogart Double Feature
Beat the Devil is far from Bogart's best, but it is a witty, entertianing send-up of some of his best films like the Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep, and Key Largo. The plot invovles some rather vague shennanigans having to do with a uranium mine, but the plot is almost beside the point in a film like this. The real fun has to do with Bograt, Peter Lorre, and the rest of the cast playing it straight in one ludicrous scene after another. The film is atmospheric, well-paced, and full of the unexpected. It has deservedly become a cult classic, and the reputation of this film has increased as the critics realized that director John Huston was pulling everyones leg with this film. Call it Murder is an intelligent, thought provoking film, that does seem a bit stagey, slow-moving, even creaky by today's standards. Yet it does have it merits, and would be worth a view simply beacuse of the way it examines a tough issue like the death penalty. Bogart, in what is a very early role for him, doesn't have a lot of screen time, but he's quite good in the parts he does have. Call it Murder may be a bit of a curiosity, but thanks to Bogart, the issue it examines, and a suspenseful ending it is worth a look.