By Lee Pfeiffer
Timeless Media have released the epic 1976 adventure film Shout at the Devil as a Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. The movie, produced by Michael Klinger and directed by Peter Hunt, is an big budget affair very much in the style of John Huston's The Man Who Would Be King, which was released the previous year. Both films follow the antics of a couple of charismatic rogues in exotic settings. The film is based on the novel by author Wilbur Smith, who also co-wrote the screenplay. The movie was shot in between Roger Moore's second and third James Bond films, The Man With the Golden Gun and The Spy Who Loved Me and boasts a "who's who" of Eon Productions talent. Peter Hunt had edited the early Bond films and directed On Her Majesty's Secret Service. Ironically, Moore and Hunt never worked on a 007 film together but in 1974 Moore starred in Hunt's excellent adventure film Gold, which was also a Michael Klinger production. Among the Bond veterans moonlighting on Shout at the Devil were main titles designer Maurice Binder, cinematographer Michael Reed and camera operators Alec Mills and Alan Hume, special effects wizard Derek Meddings, production designer Syd Cain, future Bond director John Glen, assistant director Frank Ernst, stills photographer George Whitear and publicist Geoff Freeman. All that was missing was Cubby Broccoli's name above the title. With so many old pros working on the movie, it's no surprise that Shout at the Devil is an opulent production, impressive in many ways.
The story is set in East Africa in 1913 in the days leading up to WWI. Flynn O'Flynn (Lee Marvin) is an American of Irish descent who is living the good life on the African continent. A poacher of ivory and a shameless con man, Flynn and his mute right hand man Mohammed (Ian Holm) routinely line up gullible victims for exploitation. Among them is a British dandy named Sebastian Oldsmith (Roger Moore), a man who is en route to Australia when he makes the fatal decision to spend a few days in a port city. He is befriended by Flynn, who robs him of every cent then gains his gratitude by pretending to lend him money-- which in fact came from his own wallet. O'Flynn coerces Sebastian to become a partner in the ivy poaching trade and brings him back to his comfortable lodge located in the African bush. Here, Sebastian meets and falls in love with O'Flynn's daughter Rosa (Barbara Parkins). The two marry and have a baby much to the bemusement of O'Flynn, who, more often than not, is drunk. O'Flynn and Sebastian's poaching ventures are occasionally thwarted by their arch nemesis, a German military bureaucrat named Fleischer (Rene Kolldehoff), who is the local government administrator and who is known for his heartless exploitation of natives and his ruthless methods of enforcing German law in the region. O'Flynn and Sebastian delight in playing cat-and-mouse games with Fleischer and wreaking havoc on his activities. However, when Germany and England go to war, Fleischer is allowed unlimited local power and he extracts a terrible revenge. O'Flynn and Sebastian are later coerced into volunteering to serve on a mission for the British navy. They must locate, infiltrate and blow up a German war ship that is deemed an imminent danger to Allied shipping interests in the region. The deadly mission allows O'Flynn and Sebastian the opportunity to finally settle their scores with Fleischer.
The film's leisurely running time of 150 minutes actually passes very quickly thanks to the brisk pace afforded by director Hunt, who once told this writer that the film was originally shot as an even longer roadshow presentation and that he had the only remaining uncut print of it in his garage (!) (One can only wonder what became of it after Hunt's death in 2002). This version at least restores a half hour of footage that was not seen in the American theatrical release. The movie also benefits from Michael Reed's widescreen cinematography, Maurice Jarre's rousing score and the excellent special effects work of future F/X legend Derek Meddings. There is also the delightful aspect of enjoying the genuine on-screen chemistry between Roger Moore and Lee Marvin. Moore plays straight man to Marvin's scenery-chewing character. This isn't the cool, understated Marvin of Point Blank and The Killers, but the eyeball-rolling, over-the-top Marvin of Paint Your Wagon and The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday. At times his facial expressions would seem to be more fitting in a cartoon. Nevertheless, he's never dull to watch and his lovable rogue schtick never wears thin with this viewer. (Moore and Marvin also have the kind of extended, knock-down, drag 'em out fist fight that permeated John Ford's films.) Midway through this largely comedic storyline, the script takes a sharp turn due to an act of unspeakable savagery that effects the lives of the three main characters and fills them with an obsession for getting even with Fleischer, who- until this point in the story- has been portrayed as a rather buffoonish, Sgt. Schultz-like character. The jarring disparity in tone may be off-putting to some viewers but the storyline that encompasses the mission to infiltrate and blow up the German war ship quickly dominates the action and leads to a compelling and action-packed conclusion.
Shout at the Devil was a hit with international audiences but a rather bungled release in America led to the movie being very under-exposed here over the decades. The Timeless Blu-ray/DVD combo boasts an excellent transfer but unfortunately the only extras are a selection of still photos, some of which look suspiciously like screen grabs. Nevertheless, this is an outstanding, old-fashioned adventure that retro movie lovers will definitely want to embrace.
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