Le Démon du sous-marin

Bankhead made a handful of silent films before she became the rage of the London stage in the late 20s. Back in Hollywood, she made 7 films in 1931 and 1932. The Devil and the Deep was the penultimate one. She was not a success. It would be more than a decade before she would "face the cameras" again in 1944's brilliant Lifeboat for Alfred HItchcock.

The few of these early talkies I've seen have been fascinating because Bankhead was a STAR, and no one was quite like her. She had the allure of Garbo or Dietrich, but she was closer to Davis or Crawford or Constance Bennett in her temperament. In Faithless, Tarnished Lady, The Cheat, and Devil and the Deep she plays basically the same character: the woman who goes wrong but is saved in the end. Bankhead suffered in her 30s films from lousy directors. In Devil and the Deep, Marion Gering mis-directs by letting Charles Laughton ham it up as the husband, while Gary Cooper as the lover is boring. Bankhead holds center stage and is really very good in this VERY strange film.

It's a submarine movie set apparently in Algiers or some such place. She is the commander's bored wife. He's nuts. After her fling with Cary Grant (yes it's quite the cast), Laughton has him transferred. Cooper's fate is worse since they're all aboard the sub when all hell breaks loose.

Bankhead looks great in stylish clothing and slinks about the house and the club , the streets (amid whirling dervishes), and on the sub. Laughton is menacing and his final scene is memorable. But they're not a very believable couple. Cooper is oddly boring and is given awful lines to say. Grant, in a small part, is, well, Cary Grant. Paul Porcasi is the shop keeper, Henry Kolker and Juliette Compton are the catty club denizens. One problem is that the film is underlit so it's hard to see a lot of detail. Amusing scenes with Cooper and Bankhead staring up at the stars, buying cheap perfume, and buying a pool cue.

With a better director and better writers, this could have been a blockbuster. But it's neat to see Bankhead in her prime, before she became a campy professional star.

'Devil and the Deep's' biggest draw was the cast. The most interesting being Charles Laughton in his first American film. Have also liked Tallulah Bankhead in other films, one of her best being 'Lifeboat', and Gary Cooper gave a lot of great performances later on when his acting style had fully developed ('High Noon', 'The Westerner' etc). So did Cary Grant. Did like the premise, which did have potential to be quite tense and intriguing and also the creepy-sounding title.

It is a shame that 'Devil and the Deep' isn't better known. For all its faults, and it has them, it is a nice, interesting film that sees most of the cast on great form (the cast are not just the main interest point of 'Devil and the Deep' but also the primary reason as to why the film just about works) and does a lot right. Not everything works and the film could have done more with its subject, though it doesn't waste it, but the flaws are outweighed by the good things.

A lot works. The best asset is the cast. Bankhead is intensely riveting in her role without going too over the top. Laughton is genuinely menacing and looked as though he was enjoying himself, the chemistry between him and Bankhead has the right amount of intensity needed. Grant is in a very early role and acquits himself very well and is charming and suave, something that he specialised in throughout his career and refined not long after this. It is nicely directed by Marion Gering (an unfamiliar director to me), especially towards the end and in the interactions between Bankhead and Laughton.

Production values are generally not too elaborate while never looking cheap, the atmospheric and suitably claustrophobic photography and eerie lighting coming off best. The music is suitably haunting without being intrusive while not having much that is distinguished. The script is patchy and undernourished at times but generally is intriguing and to me it didn't get too over-heated. The story is tautly paced relatively and carried by its atmosphere, the tense climax stands out.

Sadly, Cooper really isn't at his best. Actually thought that he was very weak and wooden and he certainly went on to much better things. To be fair though, he had a very shallow and dull character and awfully clunky dialogue (this was where the script was patchy) to work with.

It was a little bland at the start and the film changes gear very abruptly and the second half generally felt incomplete, hence some choppiness.

Bottom line, pretty good and deserving to be better known. 7/10

Devil And The Deep finds Tallulah Bankhead cast with two Hollywood icons, Gary Cooper and the up and coming Cary Grant as the wife of a submarine commander who has a fling with both guys. But the one who really steals the film in what was his American film debut with Paramount is Charles Laughton.

Although The Old Dark House was made first, Paramount held up its release for Devil And The Deep, the better to give Laughton exposure with a proved box office champion in Gary Cooper. Laughton is stunning as an insanely jealous husband.

I think a lot of Devil And The Deep may have been left on the cutting room floor. In the beginning it's made quite clear that Tallulah is a woman of easy virtue. But later on the tone of the film abruptly shifts so that your sympathies shift from Laughton to her. The story loses a lot of coherency with that.

Still the performances are great and the climax on board the submarine is very well staged. Definitely a must for a fan of any of the stars in the quartet.

Wow does this film have some odd casting. While practically everyone aboard the submarine speaks American style English, Charles Laughton and Cary Grant are cast in two of the leading roles despite their accents. This sort of casting happened relatively frequently in older Hollywood films, but it is confusing to the viewer.

The film begins with Charles Laughton married to Tallulah Bankhead. It seems their friends have been talking about Tallulah's behaviors. Common knowledge is that she is cheating on poor old Charlie, though it turns out this is not true. Laughten is exceptionally paranoid and delights in playing like the slighted husband by starting these rumors himself! Later, he accuses one of his officers (Cary Grant) of committing adultery with Tallulah and delights in destroying Grant's career--even though the man did nothing inappropriate.

In response to Laughton's cruelty, Tallulah runs off and is rescued by dashing young Gary Cooper as she runs amok in an Arabian town. He falls for her but she rebuffs his advances because she's a decent woman. However, she does kiss him and soon makes her escape back home. Soon afterward, Cooper reports to her home--it seems he's the officer who's replacing Grant. However, seeing that his nice commanding officer is married to a woman that let him kiss her, he assumed (incorrectly) that Talullah is a cheat--not understanding that Laughton is certifiably insane.

Talullah comes on board the submarine that will be sailing later that night in order to try to explain herself to Cooper. However, when Laughton sees she's on board, he orders the boat to sail immediately, as he sees an insane chance to punish the two "lovers"--leading to a very exciting final portion of the film. In fact, from then on, the film is at its best. The final moments aboard the ship were exceptionally well done and Laughton's final scene quite memorable. Since this film was made "Pre-Production Code", the scene is particularly graphic and exciting.

Overall, although the film starts a bit slowly, it's a dandy film that combines a naval film with a psychological drama. I must admit that the final five minutes or so of the film seemed a tad awkward, but what proceeded was exciting and it's a heck of a good film.

... and in fact only the last thirty minutes or so has much suspense or tension.

Commander Charles Sturm (Charles Laughton) of the U. S. Navy is well liked by his men and their wives. However, his own wife Diana (Tallulah Bankhead) is not well liked. She appears snooty and glum. In fact she is just a very sad person because her husband is insanely jealous without cause and even violent sometimes. In fact he has been to a doctor and is just plain insane and delusional, and this has killed what love she had for him. He even has a fellow officer, Lt. Jaekel (Cary Grant) transferred for inefficiency just because he is so sure Jaekel and his wife are involved. His wife even has an impromptu conversation with Jaekel with her husband listening nearby to prove it's not true but he remains unconvinced.

So Diana takes a walk through the North African town in which they are stationed, meets a stranger, and gets romantically involved with that stranger. What she doesn't know is that the man is her husband's new second in command to replace the one he transferred, Lt. Sempter (Gary Cooper). So Sturm's old jealousies begin to rise up again, except for once he is right. And a submarine is a terrible place in which to play out a love triangle. Complications ensue.

This is noteworthy for the once-in-a-lifetime cast. Laughton gets an "introducing" credit as being that "noted British character actor". Laughton goes big and florid with his performance, Cooper gives his normal "aw shucks" performance, and Bankhead plays it quiet and sullen. Bankhead is best when she's the one handing out the withering one-liners, so the film may have worked better with a more conventional and vulnerable leading lady.