Robert Morley gives one of his trademark brilliant supporting turns opposite Humphrey Bogart.

Not just content to be a huge flop at the box office, John Huston’s quasi-farce Beat the Devil was the kind of huge flop that annoyed people. That’s because the screenplay, which Huston co-wrote with Truman Capote, played with the conventions of genre film at a time when you didn’t do that sort of thing, especially with a huge, bankable star like Humphrey Bogart. The way the film plays with form might seem subtle today, but it was jarring in 1953.

Billy Dannreuther (Bogart) is a grifter with a heart of gold, hoping to strike it rich with a dubious land deal in Africa. He’s briefly stranded in Italy with his eccentric wife (Gina Lollobrigida) and a quartet of cutthroat rogues. Before he and his crew can find a sober ship captain to take them on their voyage, Billy becomes acquainted with a charming British couple (Jennifer Jones and Edward Underdown), who may or may not be landed gentry. The seemingly innocent pair complicate Dannreuther’s life in ways he can’t anticipate.

Huston and company aren’t shy about letting you know that the plot–something about acquiring acreage rich with uranium–isn’t exactly their greatest concern. The director would rather focus on sharp dialogue and comic turns from his amazing supporting cast (Robert Morley, Peter Lorre, Ivor Bernard, Marco Tulli), who are hilariously pathetic even at their most menacing. Beat the Devil isn’t a great film, but it’s an interesting one to see because it’s the prototype of the kind of movie that the Coen brothers would ultimately perfect. (Available through Netflix and other outlets.)

More Film posts:

• New DVD: Crazy Heart.
• Strange, Small & Forgotten Films: All the Vermeers in New York. (1989)
• Classic DVD: “La Jetée.” (1962)
• New DVD: The T.A.M.I. Show.
• Strange, Small & Forgotten Films: Bad Company (1972)
• New DVD: The Maid.
• Classic DVD: The Other (1972).
• New DVD: Shutter Island.
• Strange, Small & Forgotten Films: The Naked Kiss (1964).
• Strange, Small & Forgotten Films: “La Soufriere” (1976).
• New DVD: The Road.
• Classic DVD: Network (1976).
• Top 20 Films of the Aughts.
• Classic DVD: Seconds (1966).
• New DVD: Art & Copy.
• Strange, Small & Forgotten Films: The Honeymoon Killers (1970).
• New DVD: Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans.
• Strange, Small & Forgotten Films: Electra Glide in Blue (1973).
• Strange, Small & Forgotten Films: Prime Cut (1972).