Beat The Devil (Dir. John Huston, 1953): Beat the Devil is a wacky comedy that's played as straight as any film noir and is even funnier as a result. Five men (Bogart, Lorre, Morley, Barnard, and Tulli) are out to garner control over East African land which they believe contains a rich uranium ore lode. Billy Dannreuther (Bogart) is married to Maria (Gina Lollobrigida), the other four are their "business associates", and Jones and Underdown are added to the mix for some interesting diversification. As the boat leaves from Italy to Africa a hodge-podge of amusingly silly adventures begins.

There isn't a moment when the picture doesn't take a left turn when you expect it to turn right. Director Huston manages to parody a number of his earlier films, including The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierrra Madre, and Key Largo. Bogart, who, of course, was in all those films, seems to be having a marvelous time skewering them and gives them a memorable performance.

British Intelligence (Dir. William Nigh, 1940): They say that Karloff preferred character parts, and in British Intelligence he's Valdar, a sabrescarred butler who might be a secret agent. The picture boasts some great miniature work and was shot by Sidney Hickox, whose credits also include The Big Sleep, White Heat and Them!

Gangster Story (Dir. Walter Matthau, 1960): Matthau plays mob leader Jack Martin whose girlfriend Carol (Grace) is desperate for him to give up his unlawful and dishonest lifestyle. The problem is Jack doesn't have the same yearning to turn his back on his shady past but the crunch comes when he persuades the bank manager to lease him an office in the building and promptly robs the bank!
With events turning very nasty is there any point in Carol trying to save her man from himself when all the signs indicate that he's hell bent on a course to self-destruction.