Bedevilled

In the 1950's, Baxter seemed to be on a roll when it came to tempting priests! First Monty Clift in "I Confess" and then Forrest in this film. Forrest (looking quite handsome and dashing) is on his way to Rome to take his priestly vows, but first has a layover in Paris. His roomie gets sick from the flight, so he sets out to catch a glimpse of The City of Lights. He's barely turned a corner when breathless Baxter hops in his cab, teary and worried. It turns out she's just been present at a murder and fears she is the next target. Forrest decides to help her, many times and in a variety of ways, often risking his own position and value system as a future man of the cloth. They scurry around Paris, the good parts and the bad, as he tries to help her exit the country. Eventually, they discover that they've been keeping some very important secrets from each other and this leads to a hyper-melodramatic resolution. The film is preposterous in the extreme and occasionally quite dull, though not without a few moments of unintentional hilarity. Forrest presents a calm, likable hero, even if his character doesn't always make a lot of sense in his decisions. Baxter is attractive, but unbelievable. Carrying on raspy conversations (often without looking at Forrest) as if she's narrating some film noir, she lays on the hard dame act in her best Claire Trevor impersonation. Amusingly, she skulks about Paris in a LOUD Helen Rose gown and sulks in an attic space wearing a cocktail dress and heels. One particularly ridiculous moment has the pair discussing incredibly sensitive information in the echoey and cavernous Napoleon's Tomb. Later, Forrest practically yells similar information during a quiet fashion show. No wonder they are always just one step away from being caught! What the film does offer is some striking and lovely location shots of Paris and some nicely photographed scenes throughout. Alfred Hitchcock was clearly an inspiration here, both in story and execution with an everyman and a blonde being thrown into a purportedly suspenseful situation. Unfortunately, the script and direction are nowhere near the level of Hitchcock product. The ending is not only ridiculous (and fall-down funny), but also pointless. If it were just a little worse, it may have ranked in Movieline magazine's "Bad Movies We Love". As it stands, it's worth a look for fans of the stars and an occasional hoot at the ludicrous goings-on.

It seems that Mitchell Leisen was in love with France and Paris and the results were often excellent ("arise ,my love" "midnight" ).In other movies he displays the same Francophilia ,even if the stories do not take place there :"Frenchman's creek " , "Hold back the dawn" .

"Bedevilled" (the ludicrous French title is "Boulevard De Paris"!),sadly is not in the same league as the works I mention above. He couldn't capture the Parisian zeitgeist and the chemistry between Ann Baxter and Steve Forrest is nonexistent.It takes a lot of imagination to believe that they are eaten with desire and that the would be future priest has to fight to stay chaste .The story is muddled and worthless ,the kind of story an average viewer has been told and told and told.

For the French audience ,there are some of our actors: Victor Francen as a priest was already used by Leisen in "hold back the dawn"(he reads the famous lines of the statue of liberty,a gift from France to the USA!) ;Simone Renant as an ambiguous clothes designer and fashion businesswoman Forrest meets on the plane ;Maurice Teynac is the villain and Raymond Bussières the concierge.

Leisen's wit and his good sense of humor have metamorphosed into an annoying and very unsatisfying lack of weight or consequence and into what we have got to call bigotry.

Mitchell Leisen directs "Bedevilled," a 1955 film starring Steve Forrest and Anne Baxter. Forrest plays Greg, who is en route to a seminary in order to study for the priesthood.

On the plane to Paris, where they will spend a few days before proceeding to the seminary, his fellow traveler becomes ill. This leaves Greg free to see Paris on his own. Just his luck, he runs into a cabaret singer, Monica (a blond Anne Baxter) who has a major problem. She witnessed a murder and now some thugs of a very important man, Trevelle (Maurice Teynac) are after her. She won't go to the police; it's her word against Trevelle, and with his power, he'll be believed.

This movie is supposed to ask the question, will Greg decide the priesthood isn't for him, but I am just guessing. I didn't get this dilemma from Steve Forrest, not one of my favorite actors. He was a good-looking man and stalwart, but he had no chemistry with Baxter, and frankly, he just wasn't much of an actor. I'm prejudiced, having seen him in "Hollywood Wives" in the '80s, an unfortunately unforgettable experience.

So while Greg walks around with a serious look on his face and tries to help Monica, Monica is pretty close to hysterics when she's not trying to figure out what Greg's story is. For some reason, priests and nuns who wear plain clothes in movies never want to tell anyone what they do -- or in this case, intend to do -- for a living.

The end of this film made no sense regarding the motives of one character. Bad script.

If you can ignore the very melodramatic music, the photography (this was done in color) is gorgeous, and the film was actually made in Paris. Toward the end of the film, there is a wonderful segment as the two main characters go onto the roof of a building at night.

Not much to recommend it, but if you like films set in Paris, you might want to check it out.

Bedevilled is an unusual but dull tale of intrigue in post-war Paris. Anne Baxter and Steve Forrest are completely unable to set off any romantic sparks, and Jo Eisinger's screenplay does them no favors. That's a shame, really, because the setup--newly ordained priest confronts temptation in the City of Lights--holds potential interest. Are there any reasons to watch this Cinemascope trifle? Well, not really, unless you enjoy first class cinematography. Shot on location by the great British DoP, Freddie Young (Lawrence of Arabia, Doctor Zhivago), the film looks positively stunning. Young was one of the early masters of the widescreen process, and he takes full advantage of the Panavision lens here. Even more remarkably, he managed to get good results from Eastmancolor stock. Turn down the sound and enjoy.

As a golden age movie fan I was curious as soon as I saw the listing for this film. It seemed bewildering that I could be unfamiliar with an MGM film from the 50's starring Miss Anne Baxter in Technicolor, set in Paris and directed by the legendary Mitchell Leisen?

Well now I know how. What's bewildering is that a film with those advantages could turn out like this. While visually beautiful this is a flatfooted, turgidly paced suspense film missing the suspense. A very blonde Anne tries to breath life into this but she seems edgy and a bit lost. However like everybody else in this her character is poorly defined. In addition she has the titanic task of acting opposite Steve Forrest, never the most facile of actors, who is beyond wooden in the lead. In no way does he suggest any sort of spirituality or a sense of real conflict with the decisions before him.

He can be blamed somewhat for the failure of the movie but the two main culprits are the nonsensical script and Leisen. Usually able to turn out either saucy concoctions like The Mating Season, Midnight and Kitty or solid dramas along the lines of Hold Back the Dawn and Swing High, Swing Low he is off his game here on how to turn this dull lump of coal into something resembling entertainment.

The film is beautiful to look at, taking advantage of its location shooting with breathtaking views of Paris. Pretty pictures however are not enough to make an entertaining movie. The film is not painfully bad but it is a mediocre effort at best.