Beat The Devil (Westlake)

The Corruptions Of An Empire And A Few Shady Men...

In this sly satire on British imperialist pretensions, Billy Dannreuther (Humphrey Bogart) receives a confidential tip regarding uranium mines in Kenya. He devises a scheme to buy up the land as cheaply as possible, but his corrupt plans are temporarily stalled by a transportation problem. While Dannreuther and his wife Maria (Gina Lollobrigida) wait in Italy for repairs to be made to the steamer headed for Africa, they are joined by other adventurers who also have their eyes on the valuable property: the young, upper-class Englishman Harry Chelm (Edward Underdown), his neglected wife Gwendolen (Jennifer Jones), and a quartet of international crooks consisting of Peterson (Robert Morley), Julius O'Hara (Peter Lorre), Ravello (Marco Tulli), and Major Jack Ross (Ivor Barnard). They're all terrified of being discovered, especially since one of them is a hired killer on the run!