O Diabo, a Mulher e a Carne

The movie grabs your attention immediately and doesn't let go until the end. Post WII Germany is one of the main characters here and it's fascinating to see the bombed out buildings and how people had to live after the war. The fact that it was filmed on location in winter only adds to the mystery.

As for Gene Kelly not being an actor but only a showman, watch him in Inherit the Wind, and you may change your mind. His non-dancing roles were not really all that rare, even during his heyday as a dancer.

Pier Angeli, who was Italian, is cast as a German girl. That doesn't quite work for me, as her German isn't good enough for her to have been a native, yet her appealing nature, her huge eyes and her inherent sweetness help her performance as woman whose innocence has been lost.

The corruption and struggle to rebuild in Germany and Austria after the war is something that most people do not really know much about. Other recommended movies that deal with this subject are A Foreign Affair and The Third Man.

The concept of the movie is pretty interesting; The post WW II effects on Germany. Too bad that the movie chooses a completely uninteresting approach.

The story seems to be going nowhere and for an hour it mostly consists out of continuing drivel between Gene Kelly and Pier Angeli. The movie shows some mystery and action tendencies but none of them really pushes through. It makes "The Devil Makes Three" an unsatisfying and also quite redundant movie to watch, despite its very interesting and also original concept. There really aren't that many movies that concentrate on post WW II Germany. Too bad that they couldn't come up with a more interesting story and approach of it.

The movie does get much better and interesting in the end, when a new Nazi order comes in the story but there is nothing in the story before this that even hints to this plot-element. The movie as a whole therefor feels disjointed and the ending comes too late to safe the movie as a whole.

Director Andrew Marton had more success working as a second unit director, with movies such as "Ben-Hur", "Kelly's Heroes" and "The Day of the Jackal".

It definitely helps that the movie was obviously shot at location and in the early '50's, right after WW II. Germany was still in ruins for some parts and the movie uses this backdrop gratefully. It helps to make the movie look and feel realistic and it works obviously better than the normal fake- and studio work. All of the locations seem to be the real thing, including Hitler's Eagle's nest (The Kehlsteinhaus), that was near Berchtesgaden, which at the time of filming was subsequently used by the Allies as a military command post until 1960, when it was handed back to the State of Bavaria.

Guess lots of people are having trouble with seeing Gene Kelly in such a serious role as this one but in all fairness, he pulls it off quite well. He shows that he also knew how to act, besides being normally mostly just a 'show-man' or entertainer. Pier Angeli also plays nicely but her character just isn't the most compelling one. At first you mostly hate her and she is irritating, in the second halve of the movie you're supposed to care about her. This approach just doesn't work out, at least not good enough.

Not an awful movie but still an uninteresting and redundant one.

6/10

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The closing scenes of this film were shot at the ruins of the Berghoff, which was Hitler's actual residence in Berchtesgaden, most famous for the huge picture window that framed a picture-perfect view of the mountains of Germany and Austria. Since the actual building was torn down by the post-war German government during the 1950's (they were afraid of it becoming a Nazi shrine), this film represents a rare, motion picture view of what the site actually looked like during that period.

The location is now the site of the luxury Hotel- InterContinental Berchtesgaden and visitors can still see the same view of the mountains that Hitler built for himself.

"The Eagle's Nest", located nearby, was the informal name given to the Kehlsteinhaus, or the Fuhrer's Tea house, custom built for Hitler at the top of Kehlstein Mountain during the 1930's. The site survived the war and is now a tourist attraction owned by the local government and features a road carved into the shear rock face of the mountain and a deep tunnel with a brass elevator that takes visitors to the top. It was said that Hitler didn't like heights and only visited the Kehlsteinhaus a few times during his lifetime. Contrary to popular belief, the "Eagle's Nest" is not believed to be featured in this movie.

Until recent NATO reductions-in-force, the Americans had many military recreational facilities in Berchtesgaden which have since been turned over to the German government.

One of many of the post-war (WW II)films built around the theme of German nationalist's out to rebuild the Nazi Reich, this one is a bit less documentary-styled than most of the others. But the screenplay( by Jerry Davis) pulls few punches in depicting the Munich of 1947---the bombed-out homes, the bitterness, the German self-pity (justifibaly so in most cases, but with the blame placed on the wrong doorsteps) and the struggle and fight for survival.

Simplified, the story has U.S. Captain Jeff Elliott (Gene Kelly) returning to Germany to visit the family that once saved his life, learns that the only one still alive is the family's youngest, Wilhelmina "Willie" Lehrt (Pier Angeli), as the rest of the family were victims of an Allied air raid strike. "Willie", now working as a cabaret singer and forcibly-involved with a gold-smuggling gang, working to restart Hitler's 1000-year reign-plan,does not receive Elliott with open arms.

The film, as originally shown in the USA in the 96-minute version, is primarily all-characters speaking English, but IS sub-titled when the characters speak German. (Maybe they felt no need to outside of English-speaking countries.) Shot on location, including shots at Salzburg and a scene in the Mozarteum and the finale which finds the Nazi leader trapped in the ruined desolation of Hitler's Berchtesgaden Eagle's Nest.

Songs heard in the film include "Can Love Come Back Again." "Oh, Christmas Tree" and "Wie Sole Das Bazahlen."

During WWII, American pilot Jeff Eliot (Gene Kelly) was shot down over Germany and hidden by a German family. Since then, he's been sending packages regularly to them. After all, post-war Germany is a mess, food is severely rationed and poverty is everywhere. Now, several years later Captain Eliot is returning to Germany during his Christmas break to renew old times with the family. However, he soon learns the family was burned out in a bombing raid and another family has been pilfering the packages and saying nothing.

A bit later, he recognizes the daughter, Willie (Pier Angeli) in a cheap cantina and they renew old times. However, oddly, he never mentions these care packages when she treats him like an ungrateful American. I have no idea why this was done this way. Regardless, they eventually decide to spend the holiday, in part, in Salzburg and he doesn't realize that she works for scum-bags from 'Silhouette'...a group of ex-Nazis working evil in post-war Germany. When the American military bring this to his attention, Eliot is a bit dippy and doesn't believe his sweet fraulein could be in league with these people...and does she even know who they are?

This is a decent espionage film shot on location in Germany and Austria. The scenes are quite nice and add a lot to the authenticity of the movie. My only quibble is that it seemed very odd that they cast Ms. Angeli in the lead, as she's Italian, not German.