In a coastal city in Italy, Peterson (Robert Morley) and his confederates wait for the SS Nyanga to set sail to Africa. They have grand plans to acquire uranium-rich property and become millionaires. Of course, not all is on the up and up. Ex-pat Billy Dannreuther (Humphrey Bogart) is the formerly wealthy man with contacts in Africa, but he is now a pauper. Billy's wife, Maria (Gina Lollobrigida), is an anglophile who wants nothing more than to find a refined British man with a well-manicured lawn. As it happens, Harry Chelm (Edward Underdown) appears to be just such a British fellow. Harry's wife, Gwendolen (Jennifer Jones), is smitten with Billy, proclaiming her love for him soon after they meet. She is flighty and prone to exaggeration about her husband and most everything else. Will Billy and Harry swap wives? Will Peterson have Major Jack Ross kill either Billy or Harry to protect his plans? Will the captain of the SS Nyanga remain sober long enough to set sail?
A peculiar comedy that more often gets its laughs by the crazy events than any humorous lines. The most outrageous bit was when the stalled car got away from those pushing it and plummeted off a cliff and into the sea. Truman Capote was on hand for the screenplay while John Huston directed. The cast also includes Peter Lorre as one of Peterson's associates and Bernard Lee, the future M of the James Bond series, as Inspector Jack Clayton of Scottland Yard.
Robert Morley is particularly good as the oafish and yet often menacing villain. He is outwardly genial but there is always the undercurrent of threat. This mixes quite humorously with how all his plans go awry. He is hapless. Peter Lorre is Peter Lorre, though a bit less threatening. As Morley's lieutenant, he plays messenger while Ivor Barnard's Jack Ross is the big threat. That too is kind of funny since Bogart towers over him, and Bogart was not a tall man.
It certainly has its moments, but the pacing is uneven and the overall story unsatisfying.
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