Shout at the Devil (1976)

Sadly Over-hyped

Best movie ever!

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

On the whole, this is a mostly faithful adaptation of Wilbur Smith's novel and a cracking adventure story.Shortly before the outbreak of World War One, Irish poacher Flynn recruits a clueless, upper-class Englishman named Sebastian to help him steal ivory from German-occupied territory in Africa. For a while, the pair make a great team and succeed at humiliating the local German officer, Fleisher - but the fun comes to a sudden end when war is declared and Fleisher gets a chance for revenge.As others have mentioned, this is definitely a film of two halves, as much as the book was. But the rollicking pace and sweeping storyline offer all manner of scrapes and situations that the film is never less than enjoyable. Lee Marvin is thoroughly amusing as the drunken poacher who flits between immature outbursts at those around him and total inebriation. Roger Moore is also impressive as Flynn's opposite, Sebastian, whose a gentleman at first but quickly learns to toughen up as the story becomes more serious.Supporting characters are also memorable, with Fleisher a mixture of comical and nastiness. Barbara Parkins plays Flynn's daughter and Sebastian's romantic interest with fiestiness and Ian Holm is amusing as Flynn's mute assistant Mohammed.In terms of action, the film has plenty to offer; gunfights, fistfights, shipwrecks and man-eating crocs for a start. This is all edited in the same frantic style that Peter Hunt's 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' was, giving a lot of energy to the film. I also love Maurice Jarre's score for 'Shout at the Devil'; epic and tense.While 'Shout at the Devil' is a cracking yarn and I have loved it since I was little, the bad news is that no decent version currently exists on DVD. German characters (who spoke English in the film) have now been dubbed into German, which is one thing... but no subtitles(!) mean that entire scenes become useless and impossible to follow for the rest of us.There is of course the issue of running time and to be honest I can't remember if I've actually seen the full version or not (it's been a while). Some TV companies have been known to show the full version and, because of the awful DVD versions, it's a case of pot-luck that anyone sees the film as it should be (I personally have held onto a VHS recording from 1988 which is wearing very thin now).

Despite the learned commentators preceding, I have a fear that anyone who despises the wanton murder of elephants (for their Ivory) willshout at their TV for not being warned of the realistic shooting scene early in the picture. (I have yet to see the scene with the baby). It is no wonder women have no use for this storytelling-gone-awry. Just be warned. Shaggy silver-haired, lead ball-to-the-leg-wound survivor Lee Marvin appears in the vintage of Monte Walsh but this picture lacks a theme song by Mama Cass. If it did, it would be titled "Save the last sandwich for me""This" is a TV network airing on secondary digital channels that runs full-length "turkeys" from the '70s and '80s and also episodes of Mr. Ed and Patty Duke -both of which feature talking horses. The picture quality is excellent if you get your rabbit-ears correctly aimed, the wind doesn't blow tree branches around and if the atmosphere is clear from you to the transmitting tower.

Shout at the Devil is a bit of a mess these days. The region 2 DVD I watched had clearly fallen victim to some indifferent editor/censor's scissors, making what looks, to be fair, nothing more than a decidedly average film in the first place, perilously close to unwatchable at times. German officers who look like they were originally speaking English have been dubbed into German which, for the sake of authenticity isn't a bad thing I suppose, but whoever made this decision also decided that subtitles weren't necessary, so we have long stretches of dialogue that are completely incomprehensible to non-German speaking viewers. Strangely enough, it doesn't matter one bit with regards to understanding what is going on, and I still can't decide whether that's a good sign or bad.Saddled with such a shortcoming, a film like this, which can't decide whether it's a rollicking comedy or a rousing adventure, is left with a mountain to climb but never manages to move a couple of feet from the foothills. Roger Moore, after Gregory Peck the least talented of male actors to ever attain leading man status, is the biggest problem. Despite being a former James Bond, he really isn't much of an action hero, and is never really believable in a role that calls for someone about ten years younger. Lee Marvin mugs and overacts as if he has been guzzling on the gin so beloved of his character (which he may well have been doing), but at least he's entertaining to watch and provides most of the few highlights. Unfortunately, he and Moore develop little in the way of chemistry.The director makes some strange choices. While he most likely can't be blamed for the obviously bowdlerised action scenes, he can be held accountable for too often making the African landscape look like a quiet corner of Hampstead Heath, and for also choosing the wrong shot or angle on too many occasions.The storyline itself is straightforward enough, although it's a little on the ordinary side and a bit too episodic in the first half. When things turn darker midway through, the trauma suffered by Moore's wife, played by Barbara Parkin, isn't explored anywhere near thoroughly enough, and the problems it causes in their marriage are focused on and dealt with in one brief scene.Unless you're in the mood for bland and undemanding entertainment, and even then are in a very forgiving mood, I'd opt for James Bond film or Cat Ballou instead.

Can`t say I was too blown away by this movie . The main problem I have is with the main villain Fleischer . Being set long before 1933 he`s not the goose stepping " ve haff vays of making you talk pig-dog " Nazi villain of WW2 war films but he`s the next worst thing - A fat stupid slob who tries to shoot everyone while calling them a " Schwienhund " . This stereotypical characterisation isn`t helped by the OTT performance of Reinhard Kolldehoff I don`t know if it`s the fault of the BBC using an old print of the film but the editing is haphazard and all over the place like the scene on the reef which seems more like a random series of camera shots rather a scene , and you really do get the feeling ( At least with the version the BBC showed tonight ) that whole chunks of the film are missing . How else would Fleischer be able to describe Sebastian as " The Englishman " when they`ve never met . There`s no way Fleischer would know Sebastian was English Another thing that annoyed me was the laughably unconvincing crocodile . How bad was it ? Well it looked like a man dressed up , that`s how bad it was . In fact as it approached Flynn I expected Sebastian to jump out of the crocodile costume and say " Trick or treat ? " One last point . Why is this movie called SHOUT AT THE DEVIL ?