"...the best dramatic talkie we have yet seen."
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| With Tallulah Bankhead. |
Devil and the Deep - Review is taken from 'The Films of Cary Grant' by Donald Deschner (1973):
"The Picture is, in my opinion, the best dramatic talkie we have yet seen. It is unabashed melodrama at times, but Charles Laughton's magnificent acting disarms criticism of the more violently sensational incidents. He appears as the jealous, half-demented commander of a submarine, stationed on the West African coast. His wife, played by Tallulah Bankhead, has endured five years of hell through his insane jealousy, but to the world at large he appears as a goodnatured fellow with an impossible wife. At length, driven from home by a maniacal outburst of rage, Tallulah meets Gary Cooper and succumbs to his manly charms, only to discover, the next morning, that he is the newly arrived second officer.
The submarine leaves port for diving maneuvers, and, through an accident, Tallulah is on board, with her half-mad husband and unsuspecting lover. The vessel is rammed by a liner, owing to the machinations of Laughton, and the crew are entombed at the bottom of the sea. This sequence is admirably done, in spite of the occasional use of models in the shooting. The half-mad commander orders his second officer to be arrested, but Tallulah reveals her husband's insanity, and one by one the crew make their escape by means of the emergency apparatus.
Only Laughton is left behind, and as he smashes his wife's portrait to atoms with an axe, the water rushes in and he is drowned in his cabin. Tallulah Bankhead has better opportunities than of late as the distrait wife, but she is overshadowed by Laughton's amazing performance. Gary Cooper is completely negligible as the lover."
- David Fairweather, Theatre World
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| New Artwork by Rebekah Hawley at Studio36 - Number 4 - Devil and the Deep (Lobby Card Style) |
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