Shout at the Devil was a 1976 war/action adventure movie. Directed by Peter R. Hunt (previously best known as an editor of, among other things, the James Bond movies and as the director of On Her Majesty's Secret Service), it was based on a novel by Wilbur Smith, which in turn was (loosely) based on a true story of the sinking of the German cruiser SMS Königsberg during World War I.
In 1913, Colonel Flynn O'Flynn (Lee Marvin), an Irish-American ivory poacher, cons Sebastian Oldsmith (Roger Moore), an English aristocrat stopping by at Zanzibar, into helping him hunt elephants for their ivory and then smuggle them through German-controlled African territory. The trip takes a disastrous turn, eventually leading Flynn, Sebastian, Flynn's mute second-in-command, Mohammed (Ian Holm. Yes, really.) and the survivors of Flynn's hunting party to make their way to the home of Flynn's daughter, Rosa (Barbara Parkins), in Portuguese-controlled territory. Eventually, the Great War arrives, leading to the group joining the Allied military against the Germans.
Has no relation to the Mötley Crüe album of the same name.
Tropes
- Adaptational Villainy: In the novel Fleischer does not deliberately murder a baby; his soldiers do and he's genuinely apologetic.
- The Alcoholic: Flynn drinks constantly throughout the movie, usually gin.
- Artistic License – History:
- In the film the German ship is named Blücher; there was a vessel of this name, but it did not serve in Africa.
- The film implies that Portugal became a co-belligerent with Britain against Germany when the First World War broke out in August 1914, as the Portuguese supply O'Flynn and Oldsmith with a marked Portuguese plane with a Portuguese pilot to conduct surveillance in German territory. In reality, the Portuguese would not have allowed this as they remained neutral until 1916.
- Black-and-Grey Morality: Zigzagged as far as the Germans in the film are concerned. While Flynn and Sebastian's actions usually place them in the grey, the Germans tend to range from solid black (Fleischer, who even if you ignore the moral ambiguity of the war is still a despciable person) to grey (the other German commanders, who act more professionally).
- Blackface: Invoked; as part of the operation to sink the Blücher, Sebastian has his skin temporarily darkened with berry juice to look like one of the natives in order to infiltrate the ship.
- Brownface: Yes, that is Ian Holm playing a man named Mohammed.
- Cutting the Knot: Sebastian hides his cash bag under the pillow when he stays the night at a hotel room. The next day he discovers someone (implied to be working for Flynn) has cut a hole through the bed and removed it!
- Death of a Child: Sebastian and Rosa's infant daughter is killed by Fleischer's soldiers when they destroy her plantation.
- Fat Bastard: Fleischer is quite heavyset, utterly evil and cowardly, and is stuffing himself with chicken in his introductory scene.
- Florence Nightingale Effect: Rosa falls in love with Sebastian while treating him for malaria.
- Homage: The fight between O'Flynn and Oldsmith was an homage to lengthy brawl in The Quiet Man.
- It's Personal: Fleischer's hatred of Flynn goes far beyond what Flynn's status as a criminal.
- Only in It for the Money: Flynn usually has to be motivated either by money or some other material gain to aid the Allied military.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Von Kleine. In stark contrast to Fleischer, who will hunt Flynn to the ends of the Earth for the sake of a personal vendetta, he is more competent and dispassionate, refusing to let Fleischer just execute Flynn when his boat is rammed.
- Revenge: Rosa, and to a lesser extent Sebastian, help in the fight against the Germans to kill Fleischer and avenge the daughter he killed.
- Same Language Dub: Reinhard Kolldehoff was dubbed by Robert Rietty, and Karl Michael Vogler was dubbed by Julian Holloway.
- The Silent Bob: Mohammed to Flynn, due to having been rendered mute by an attempted hanging at Fleischer's hands.
- Spared by the Adaptation: In the novel, all three of the main characters die. They all live in the film.
- Time Bomb: The climax of the movie has Sebastian plant a bomb on the Blücher while it's being repaired.
