I read that Beat the Devil begins with the four crooks being arrested, and then the film flashes back to the start of the story.
However I saw the film today and it began at the beginning of the story.
Was the book incorrect, was there a bit missing from the print, or is there more than one version available?
How interesting.I just got home from work at 2:45AmCST.and Wycc ch.20 out of Chicago is know playing "Beat the Devil".I missed the begining so unfortunately I do not have a answer let alone a comment as of yet on your question.........
"Do not let thorns in your side become nails in your coffin".-Bruce Richard Bundy 10/2006
I saw only the first half of the movie, because it was shown after
bedtime so I taped it to end-of-tape just to see if was a decent
movie or not. No point wasting a good two hours of tape on a dud,
when I could use it to fill up otherwise wasted space at the end
of a VHS cassette.
So anyway, the next day when I had time to check what was on the
tape, it was wonderful (except for running off EOT). The music
during the march scene during the opening credits, before the
main part of the movie actually began back at the start of the story,
was wonderful. I never heard anything like it, except perhaps a
folk dance "Angelina, from Sardinia", but it was so long but I can't
be sure. Anyway, Jeniffer Jones was the star of the first half.
Everyone else was just a bunch of funny rogues, but JJ was totally
psychotic. I like the quote I saw in the quotes section of this IMDB
record which said she uses her imagination more than her memory.
As I was saying, end-of-tape cut off the movie shortly after the car
went over the cliff with all their luggage.
As to why I'm bothing to post here: Just today I bought a digital boom box
from Target, and tried tuning various stations. I found an FM station with
wonderful music just like that opening-scene march-tune: 96.1, with that
wonderful style of BeatTheDevil march music, and with between-music talk
that sounded like Portuguese. So I went online, and found indeed it's
KSQQ (Portuguese). But that makes no sense. They were trapped in Italy
when the ship wasn't ready for boarding, and then went to Africa (or
at least that's where they were headed, I never saw them actually get
on the boat and go anywhere, so for all I know they went to Brazil
instead of Africa due to <clicheMetaphor>bird in hand worth two in bush
i.e. love the woman you're with if you can't be with the woman you love
</clicheMetaphor>). Going from Italy to Africa doesn't stop for any
length of time in Portugal, where they might be arrested by local officials,
nor does it go anywhere near Brazil, does it??? Please tell me why they
played Portuguese music during the March. Did they end up in Portuguese
Angola, if there was any such place?? Please, I can't afford to purchase
a DVD player and a TV (my old TV no longer works) just to satisfy my
curiosity, so I don't forsee ever getting a chance to see the second half
of the movie.
The preview of this looks horrible, but I have no idea how to get
IMDB to fix the formatting. Can somebody please explain this
second mystery?
I think that the reason that it's portuguese is because the boat that they go to africa on is a portuguese boat with a portuguese crew. i hope that satisfies your curiosity.
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The film does begin with Robert Morley and his associates being arrested by Bernard Lee representing Scotland Yard. After which the story reverts back to the beginning! It would therefore seem your print has this portion of the movie missing!
There's a review by Ania Peter in Switzerland, who's been complaining about the lack of availability on DVD for the original cut released in England, 1953. Apparently, it started with Gwendolyn and Harry being taunted by some Italian little boys, and there's no flashback. The scene was censored for the American release. Don't know of the other differences because I haven't been able to locate it yet. Any help would be appreciated.
pmm0927
I got it from the Internet Archive, and it begins with them being arrested--although Billy doesn't mention that they're being arrested, exactly, it looks as if they're walking in a parade for some reason.
No, I'm not really vegan. Stop asking.
There are two versions, one GB 1953 (see Hallywell's) that runs 100', the other US 1954 (see Maltin's), running 89'. The latter has been given the four-crooks opening scene to replace the original one, the Chelms discussing the Jennifer Jones charakter's upbringing. Apparently that was too outspoken for the Hays Code. For more details see my (Ania Peter) review on Amazon.com.
Alas, they are not both available. On the market and on Internet Archive are mostly very poor tranfers of the US version. I've recorded on French Television the GB version, with French subtitles. The transfer is acceptable, but not DVD quality. I'm trying to find out more about the history of that movie, as for the time being to no avail.
Help would be appreciated.
I just saw the film in the British Film Institute (it was a 35mm copy) and the film did indeed start with the aforementioned scene of the couple discussing Jennifer Jones' character past rather than the flashback scene.
shareI'm watching it right now on WOFT/WOTF GetTV in Orlando and the opening scene showed the four crooks being arrested, clad in handcuffs...while the band played...I hope someone else is watching also...ciao
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