Devil and the Deep

Devil And The Deep finds Tallulah Bankhead cast with two Hollywood icons, Gary Cooper and the up and coming Cary Grant as the wife of a submarine commander who has a fling with both guys. But the one who really steals the film in what was his American film debut with Paramount is Charles Laughton.

Although The Old Dark House was made first, Paramount held up its release for Devil And The Deep, the better to give Laughton exposure with a proved box office champion in Gary Cooper. Laughton is stunning as an insanely jealous husband.

I think a lot of Devil And The Deep may have been left on the cutting room floor. In the beginning it's made quite clear that Tallulah is a woman of easy virtue. But later on the tone of the film abruptly shifts so that your sympathies shift from Laughton to her. The story loses a lot of coherency with that.

Still the performances are great and the climax on board the submarine is very well staged. Definitely a must for a fan of any of the stars in the quartet.

Cary Grant's charm and looks he displayed in his first movie, 1932's "This Is The Night," earned him a role in his next feature film, his second, as a potential love-interest to the wife of a naval ship commander in August 1932's "Devil and the Deep." Grant plays Lt. Jaeckel under the command of Charles Strum (Charles Laughton), a deeply flawed and extremely jealous husband to Diana Sturm (Talluhlah Bankhead). Based on Maurice Larrouy's novel, 'Sirenes et Tritons," Jaeckel sparks Strum's insane jealousy, which is unfounded by his wife's disinterest in the lieutenant. Jaeckel is quickly shipped out early in the film and is replaced by another lieutenant, Sempter (Gary Cooper), who it turns out gets kissy-wissy with Diana. Actress Bankhead said she accepted the role because she really wanted to get physically close to Cooper.

"Devil and the Deep" was Hollywood's first detailed look at the insides of a submarine. Once the U-Boat's commander Strum has his wife and her officer boyfriend Sempter underway in the underwater sub, he sets forth his plans to kill the lovers, taking along his crew for a suicidal maneuver. Laughton is clearly the star in the movie: the actor's menacing behavior fits the deranged Strum perfectly to a tee. The English-born and raised Laughton began acting on the stage in 1926 while dabbling in film during the late 1920s before securing his first major role in "Devil and the Deep." Tallulah Bankhead, primarily a stage actress, found acting in movies to be a complete bore. Her first two years in Hollywood, 1931 and 1932, were marked with her yearning to return to the live stage. "Devil and the Deep" was her second-to-last picture before reemerging on the screen twelve years later in Alfred Hitchcock's 1944 "Lifeboat."

"Devil and the Deep" marked the return to Hollywood for Gary Cooper. Burnt out and drained from an aggressive schedule of acting in ten movies within a two-year span, Cooper suffered from anemia and jaundice from his poor dietary habits. He decided to make a break from Los Angeles, feeling depressed and lonely. Reconnecting with an acquaintance, American heiress Dorothy Taylor, now a countess living in Rome, Italy, Cooper rehabilitated himself with her good food and great advice on nutrition. Developing a continental appreciation for the arts and customs of Europe, the actor's rough Western edges were smoothed out by the countess' patient tutorship. She took him on a ten-week big game safari hunting trip in Kenya, where he bagged a variety of trophy animals. His love of the wilderness kick in during the trip. In his role as the submarine's second-in-command, Cooper appears more comfortable and restrained in his role as the leader of the mutiny when it becomes obvious its commander is attempting to kill everyone on board.

"Devil and The Deep" is the only movie, besides a brief appearance in 1933's "Alice in Wonderland," Cooper and Grant ever shared credits in the same movie. This was a bit ironic since Grant had Cooper in mind when he selected his stage name Cary after the actor from Montana.

Devil and the Deep (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Diana Sturm (Tallulah Bankhead) is married to submarine Cmdr. Charles Sturm (Charles Laughton) and everyone sees her as a bad person. The truth of the matter is that Charles is extremely abusive to her and will stop at nothing to destroy any man's life he feels she is attracted to. One night while running away from the abuse, Diana meets Lt. Sempter (Gary Cooper) and the two have a relationship, which soon leads to disaster.

DEVIL AND THE DEEP isn't a very well-known movie and I must admit that I'm quite shocked about that. I had never really heard of the film until recently and it's rather amazing because you've got not only Bankhead, Laughton and Cooper but you've also got a young Cary Grant in a nice early role. Four legendary stars from Hollywood's Golden Age and you mention the title to most film buffs and they won't be familiar with it.

Whatever the reason people don't know the film, it's really too bad because it's actually pretty good. The greatest thing about the film is the ending, which I won't spoil but it takes place on the submarine and there's no question that it's quite tense and rather claustrophobic. Director Marion Gering really does a nice job with this entire sequence and while some of the special effects shots aren't the greatest, the overall impact of the scene is very good. The film does get off to a rather slow start but it quickly picks up.

The performances are certainly the main reason to watch the picture with Bankhead delivering a fine one. She's very good in the role of the abusive wife and I really enjoyed her performance when she had to show the fear she feels for her husband. I thought the actress was very believable as an abused woman. Cooper was also very stoic in his "hero" type of role. I thought the two of them shared some very good chemistry and that helped their relationship. Grant appears early on in the picture and he's very good as well. As for Laughton, he gets a very special screen credit and he certainly deserves it as he is great as the crazed man who will stop at nothing to hurt his wife and any man who likes her. By watching this film it's easy to see why he would eventually be cast in MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY.

At just seventy-five minutes the film has a very good pace and there's no question that it's one worth watching.

With a cast like this - Cooper, Bankhead, Laughton, Grant - I just had to check out Devil and the Deep. This is the earliest Grant film I've seen and he has already established his trademark speech patterns and carriage that would be with him for his entire career. Needless to say his does a fine job. Cooper looks great but his performance is a bit flat, mostly due to the script and direction. Laughton is very good and his character brings a lit to the film. Bankhead does a fine job but her character is so weak willed and passive that it's hard not to get a bit frustrated with her character let alone root for her. It is an odd little film for sure but one that I think is still worth checking out mostly for the cast.

Devil and the Deep contains a fascinating performance from Charles Laughton as a submarine commander going nuts with the conviction that his sultry wife (Tallulah Bankhead) is cheating on him first with Cary Grant and then Gary Cooper.

The physical production features a claustrophobic studio recreation of a North African town (reminiscent of Von Sternberg's "Morocco" but without the dazzling shadow play), a romantic scene in a starlit desert oasis (said to have been filmed in an actual desert but looking exactly like a painted backdrop) and finally the laughable spectacle of toy boats bobbing around in a tank of water that we're supposed to believe is the Mediterranean.

Bankhead, like other female stars of that historical moment, is made up and coiffed to look like a Garbo clone. The style suits her without overwhelming her innate, distinctive qualities of voice and manner. Laughton's performance prefigures his later Captain Bligh in Mutiny on the Bounty and Quasimodo in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I prefer his work here to his Bligh, which was sometimes too messily overwrought. This is also the second 1932 film (the other being "Payment Deferred") in which he plays dementia with mad laughter. Cooper is wooden and awkward (and handsome) as usual and Grant does well in a smallish supporting role.