Well they gave it the old college try on this one but it was probably doomed to fail. Shaw's comedy/drama about the Revolutionary War plays with the idea of heroism, idealism and religion not stuff to attract the film going public.
The presence of two screenwriters means that a lot of Shaw's dialog was dropped for the film version. This was probably for the better, Shaw's plays are always very dialog heavy and would be a chore to watch in a film. The film version of The Devil's Disciple also opens the play up and adds a fight scene between Burt Lancaster and a bunch of British soldiers.
The film was apparently what they call a "troubled production." The original director Alexander Mackendrick was replaced by Guy Hamilton who had to step in and finish the film at the insistence of the producer Burt Lancaster.
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| The cast is all smiles |
The Devil's Disciple isn't a total failure. Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas are very good. Laurence Olivier as the British General John Burgoyne is excellent. Some of the remaining Shaw dialog is quite witty and there is at least an attempt to make a film with a little more meat in it than usual.
82 minutes.
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