Bedazzled (1967)

Having worked as a comedy team on television, Cook and Moore took their inspired brand of comedy to the big screen in the mid 1960s. This was arguably their greatest success. It's a clever takeoff on the Faust legend of a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchanges for knowledge and worldly pleasures. In this instance, Moore is a short order cook who is granted seven wishes by Cook, the devil. Of course, all the wishes go hilariously awry. Some of the episodes are funnier than others but it's all quite amusing. Bron is delightful as the woman of Moore's dreams. Welch is appropriately cast as Lillian Lust, one of Cook's assistants. This turned out to be the last good film of Donen's.

Having had my view of what comedy is revolutionised by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore via the immortal Derek and Clive, I could not wait to check them out together in a film. When I finally got the chance to see Bedazzled, I was incredibly excited to see what the most ingeniously funny duo ever could offer in a cinematic medium.Moore plays Stanley Moon, a depressively lonely cook with a secret attraction to the waitress who rarely notices him. Deciding to finish himself once and for all, his suicide attempt is suddenly interrupted by the appearance of the mysterious George Spiggot. Soon after revealing himself to be Satan, Spiggot offers Moon seven wishes for the simple price of his soul.Perhaps half an hour into Bedazzled, I started to feel somewhat disappointed. Though I was being made to chuckle, the opportunities for such weren't quite as frequent or hilarious as I had hoped. My expectations looking dashed, I decided to sit back and enjoy the substandard(by the high standards of Cook/Moore, that is) level of comedy I was getting. Of course, it was mere moments later that I was howling with laughter, a particular scene reducing me to fitful tears and gasps for air amidst the unwavering brilliance of gag after gag. The unending hilarity of that scene, and indeed all that followed, had me questioning whether I had just been in a mood not conducive to comedy. Cook's script is teeming with deliciously subtle jokes: whether cunning double-entendres or simple gestures. The dialogue is incomparable, benefiting from the clear chemistry of the two. Spiggot's twisted realisations of Moon's wishes are brilliant in themselves, particularly the now famous Order of St Beryl scene. My huge enjoyment of perhaps the latter two thirds of the film has me eagerly awaiting the chance to see it again.Tremendously funny, Bedazzled is entirely worthy of its cult status. Managing to convince me despite my initial cynicism, I have no doubt that further viewings will provide the chance to catch the likely dozens of laughs I missed first time around. Everybody must watch this film.

I'm not that familiar with the works of these comedians and I'm not going to find out more but this movie's pretty good. It's a funny, silly movie with funny, silly dialogues and a funny, silly plot, though it's pretty dated. There are some jokes that work and then the rest that kind of makes you go "heh". The story is interesting enough though, and I especially like how the wish sequences are kept short and to the point. Main guy asks for something, things go well for two seconds, then he finds out how the devil screwed it up again, lives with it for a while for the hell of it and then back to square one. Then yet another wish with a stupid obvious loophole. Meanwhile the devil causes all kinds of annoying stuff, being called while you're in the bath, working on parking meters, we've all seen mediocre stand-up comedy. It's all very kind comedy, except for some unexpected stabs to politics. They mock religion enough to make the fanatics angry (I mean they DO mention it), but it's all good and harmless. Oh and Raquel Welch is in this looking all good, but she gets so little screen time it should be a crime. I enjoyed the viewing, but it isn't sensationally good.

Being an Amerikanisch swine, more of an Anglophile than a xenophobe am I. Most of my favorite bands are English not to mention my favorite actors, directors, television shows, etc., etc., etc. How was it then that I went 48 years without seeing this "classic" British comedy? Twenty three years after the release of its predecessor, I watched the Brendan Frasier/Elizabeth Hurley remake and lust plain loved it. That made me all the more anxious to see the original, performed by the originators. My initial reaction was a huge *yawn*. The first scene between Stanley Moon and the Devil was soooooo drawn out and sooooo full of boring, long winded exposition that I literally found myself nodding off! To be fair, I soldiered on, hoping and expecting for the film to pick up its pace...I waited in vain. True, the look and feel of the whole movie was dated, but so then is Monty Python, and "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum". That doesn't stop them from being hilarious. The one thing they have that transcends time is...well...timing! Fast paced, snappy dialogue brimming with that deliciously dry English wit. I found that to be sadly lacking here. So, sorry Queen Mum, this match goes to the Americans.