The Devil Makes Three (film)

The Devil Makes Three
Directed byAndrew Marton
Written byLawrence P. Bachmann
Jerry Davis
Produced byRichard Goldstone
StarringGene Kelly
Pier Angeli
Richard Egan
CinematographyVáclav Vích
Edited byBen Lewis
Music byRudolph G. Kopp
Production
company
Distributed byLoew's Inc.
Release date
  • August 29, 1952 (1952-08-29) (New York)[1]
Running time
96 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$1,005,000[2]
Box office$1,485,000[2]

The Devil Makes Three is a 1952 American thriller film noir directed by Andrew Marton and starring Gene Kelly, Pier Angeli and Richard Egan.

Plot

Former Eighth Air Force bomber crewman Captain Jeff Eliot returns to Germany in 1947 to visit the family who rescued and hid him from the Nazis after his plane was downed over Munich in World War II. He learns that most of the family was killed by an American air raid. The only survivor is the daughter, Wilhelmina "Willie" Lehrt, who is working as a hostess in a nightclub and hates Americans. However, Eliot romances Willie and in his time at the nightclub, he develops a friendship with a comic named Heisemann.

Heisemann has secret ties to an underground Nazi revivalist movement. When Eliot discovers the truth, he informs his superiors, who order him to continue his relationship with Willie to learn more about Heisemann's operation.

Cast

Production

The film's climax takes place in Berchtesgaden, and the scenes in which Heisemann is chased through the rubble were filmed inside the ruins of Hitler's house just before its final demolition by the German government. In the scene's final frame, Heisemann stands facing his captors in the notorious huge picture window of the house.

Reception

In a contemporary review for The New York Times, critic Howard Thompson called the film "a synthetic, pallid and erratic endeavor" and wrote: "Jerry Davis' script is a predictable and rather sluggish account of a tender post-war romance ... which sags tediously in a welter of starry-eyed conversation and adds up to little more than a Continental Western."[1]

According to MGM records, the film earned $743,000 in the U.S. and Canada and $742,000 elsewhere, resulting in a loss of $57,000.[2]

References

  1. 1 2 Thompson, Howard (August 30, 1952). "The Screen in Review: Four Newcomers on Local Scene". The New York Times. p. 6.
  2. 1 2 3 The Eddie Mannix Ledger, Los Angeles: Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study.
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