1959 Directed by Guy Hamilton
In a small New England town during the American War of Independence, Dick Dudgeon, a revolutionary American Puritan, is mistaken for local minister Rev. Anthony Anderson and arrested by the British. Dick discovers himself incapable of accusing another human to suffer and continues to masquerade as the reverend.
악마의 제자, 더 데블스 디사이플
Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas both made their Hollywood debuts in 1946 - Burt in Robert Siodmak's The Killers and Kirk in Lewis Milestone's The Strange Love Of Martha Ivers - and would go on to appear together on screen a grand total of seven times, of which this adaptation of a George Bernard Shaw satirical play set at the time of the Revolutionary War is the third.
By this time in their careers - the late '50's - both men were successful enough to have their own production companies (Hecht-Hill-Lancaster and Bryna) and they teamed up here for what was to be a big-budget colour epic with Alexander Mackendrick in the director's chair but worries by the United Artists…
Nobody cares for me. My mother’s last words to me was a curse.
Kirk Douglas chews on all the scenery, but he’s easily the most interesting thing in this movie. Every scene he’s in comes alive simply because he’s there.
Decent Revolutionary War flick with Kirk Douglas clearly having fun and Burt Lancaster looking bored up until a goofy fight scene near the end of the movie.
Kate Buford’s Burt Lancaster: An American Life describes how Lancaster would make ridiculous action movies to finance his taste for creating more challenging fare, often releasing contrasting projects back-to-back. Case in point: just a year after he produced and starred in the contemplative Separate Tables, he does the same in The Devil’s Disciple, an awkward American Revolution situation comedy worth watching, I think, only if you’re a Burt Lancaster or Kirk Douglas completist. Set in 1777, when the American Revolution was still finding support, it measures Reverend Anthony “Tony” Anderson (Lancaster) and his peaceable nature against the fiery, irreverent Richard “Dick” Dudgeon (Douglas), the latter’s Rebel sympathies still considered scandalous (and dangerous) in polite (and timid) circles.
When I learned…
Even with powerhouse co-stars like Burt Lancaster and Laurence Olivier, this is Kirk Douglas' show, who served as star and producer. Just as he would remove Anthony Mann from Spartacus and bring in Kubrick, he fired Alexander Mackendrick a few weeks into production to bring in Guy Hamilton, a kind of cuckoo thing to do given that Alex had just delivered his crowning achievement, Sweet Smell of Success.
Based on the play by George Bernard Shaw, the story is set during the American Revolution and follows Lancaster as a man of conscience and Douglas as a man of action, and the events that lead them to switch roles to help the cause of the war. This was the third of seven films starring the two actors, and their real life friendship lends to an amiable chemistry in what otherwise is a fairly simplistic tale of conflict.
The 1950s, Pt. II: 40/100
1959 Ranked
Produced by both Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster’s respective production companies, The Devil’s Disciple was another chance for the two long-time collaborators to work together. Both loved the play by George Bernard Shaw using their star power to get the film made. Originally set to be directed by Alexander Mackendrick, he was soon replaced by Guy Hamilton to ensure it stayed on budget and time. Set in New Hampshire in 1777, the film follows Reverend Anthony Anderson (Lancaster) and troublemaker Richard Dudgeon (Kirk Douglas). Richard’s father has been hanged in Springtown by the British forces, led by General John Burgoyne (Laurence Olivier), to scare off the rest of the townspeople from supporting the…
Christ, I thought Burt Lancaster was never going to get that burning log out the window.
The impressive cast assembled here is enough to pique any films fan's interest—Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster and Laurence Olivier all trying to outdo one another whilst iconic British actors like Harry Andrews, Basil Sydney, Mervyn Johns and Percy Herbert fill out an equally supporting roster, with future Bond director Guy Hamilton behind the camera.
The Devil’s Disciple of course doesn't live up to its star-studded appeal otherwise it'd be better known, in fact it's a very odd little film adaptation of a George Bernard Shaw play that's part Revolutionary War drama and part action-comedy, with Douglas' roguish outcast character paradoxically taking it upon himself to be sacrificed in place of a man he barely knows, luckily the actor's charisma sells…
George Bernard Shaw's Revolutionary War drama The Devil's Disciple moves from stage to screen with the help of Laurence Olivier, Kirk Douglas, and Burt Lancaster. Despite the big names involved, the story feels more like a selective, half-hearted Tale of Two Cities reimagining.
Laurence Olivier as General Burgoyne and Kirk Douglas as ne'er-do-well Richard Dudgeon made this film watchable for me. There's one great scene where an antagonistic Dudgeon (subversively trying to get himself hanged) politely insults King George and by extension the General, who responds with equally barbed gentility. Douglas is so snide and Olivier is so regally condescending that the scene flows beautifully, and it's easily the best in the film. I could watch a Douglas-Olivier verbal smackdown…
Film #2 of Scavenger Hunt 66
Task 13. Watch a film that features a war/battle that occurred before the 20th Century.
I'm a fan of George Bernard Shaw so always nice to find a previously unseen adaptation. Douglas, Lancaster and Olivier are perfectly cast in the lesser known play by GBS. However, the addition of 'action' scenes plus some unusual animation get a little in the way. I'll also have to check a copy of the original as I seem to remember there being far more banter between Richard Dudgeon and 'Gentleman Johnny' and if any of that was cut it would be a crime!
The scene transitions being stop motion animated were a fun device that should be employed in more historical dramas. Imagine how much better The Post would have been with a little claymation.
