Parole d'homme

This guy seems to have been the most under-rated star in the Biz. His dry sense of humor combined with a subtle charisma made Lee Marvin one of the most likeable stars of the war movie genre. Here he played an older soldier, past his prime, that coaxes the younger Roger Moore into doing life-endangering things against the Germans. This is done with much humor, as Moore is in love with Marvin's daughter, and feels compelled out of family honor to do whatever he can. The action is really excellent, and the love story is touching. A must see for any war movie fan, and/or Moore fan. Marvin, himself, delivers another Marvin like performance, and reminds viewers of his earlier days from the film "The Dirty Dozen".

A British action adventure; A story about unlikely partners in the East African ivory trade who join forces to fight occupying German troops in German East Africa. Adapted from the Wilbur Smith novel, it is based on a true story about a raid on the SMS Konigsberg by an ivory hunter in World War I. It is an opulent film, well photographed but pastiche, the sort of actioner that harks back to an older generation of films featuring exploitative, larger-than-life characters put through a cavalcade of action and unlikely situations, out of which humour and thrills naturally arise, with a cartoonish villain to satisfy all tastes. Lee Marvin plays wonderfully, a man on the make, out to plunder the environment, downing copious amounts of hooch in the process, and Roger Moore, as Sebastian Oldsmith, fits his part well, giving contrast as an establishment toff. Both commit and play amiably amidst some slack and silly slapstick comedy. Peter R. Hunt stages scenes with workmanlike efficiency, although some sequences are like longueurs. Overall, it is a treat as a postprandial Sunday matinee. As an aside, the full theatrical release is the version that garnered more credit for the fuller and more rounded characters it portrays, though some extra scenes are stark in portraying the ivory trade.

I feel I should mention that the version of "Shout at the Devil" that I watched was the full length 150 minute version. When the movie originally played in theaters, it had been cut by about half an hour. Normally, I feel that the original full length version of a movie is the version to see, but in the case of this movie, I think that the edited version might play better. I'm not saying that the full length version is bad, but I'm saying that it's too long for its own good. There is quite a considerable amount of padding on display, and as a result the movie moves quite slowly at times. There are some good things along the way all the same - there is some good action and suspense, the African backdrop is colorful and catches the eye, and it's fun to see Lee Marvin and Roger Moore paired up and generate considerable chemistry. So it's nowhere near a total loss. All the same, I think a more snappy pace would have helped things considerably.

Shout at the Devil finds Lee Marvin in sub Sahara Africa in 1914 just before the start of World War I. He's a rollicking, live by your wits character named Flynn, very much similar to Humphrey Bogart's Charlie Allnut in The African Queen. Marvin takes up with an Englishman played by Roger Moore who's been stranded in Africa on his way to Australia.

Marvin has a running rivalry with the local German governor played with Teutonic relish by Reinhard Kolldehoff. He's the Road Runner to Kolldehoff's Wily Coyote. During the first half of the film, it plays just like a road runner cartoon.

When war is declared however, Kolldehoff crosses into British territory where Marvin has operated with sanctuary and exacts a terrible vengeance for being constantly made a fool of. On Marvin, on Moore, and on Barbara Parkins, Marvin's daughter who Moore has now married and had a child with.

This is World War I so the Germans aren't behaving like the Nazis of the second World War. But Kolldehoff you can see a potential recruit for Hitler in the post war years. In fact I don't think it's an accident that Kolldehoff and his character Fleischer look very much like German Field Marshal Ludendorff who was sympathetic to the early Nazi party.

Shout at the Devil is a broad comic adventure for the first half and turns serious in the second half. Moore and Marvin have a nice easy chemistry between them, Marvin is reaching back to his Cat Ballou days and the bag of scene stealing tricks he used to get an Oscar. Moore is hard pressed, but does keep up.

And who doesn't like a live road runner cartoon.

I liked Shout at the Devil" it is a big, dumb, sill y movie that's impossible to dislike. It's so cheerfully corny, so willing to involve its heroes in every possible predicament, that after awhile we relax: This is the kind of movie they used to make, back when audiences were supposed to have the mentality of a 12-year-old. It's great to be 12 again. The movie involves the exploits of an Irish-American drunk and a proper Britisher who find themselves in German East Africa just before World War I. The boozer (Lee Marvin) has promised to bring a load of ivory out of the interior. He needs help to get it past the German occupying forces, led by a comic Teuton named Fleischer. So he arranges that the Englishman (played by Roger Moore,) will have his money and passport stolen. Since Moore has to stay in Africa, Marvin suggests, why don't they team up?