by Stanley Donen, 1967.
Starring: Michael Bates, Eleanor Bron, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Raquel Welch.
Rating: 8/10, 8/10.
Long before Brendan Fraser inflicted himself upon the world, Dudley Moore sold his soul to the devil, and hilarity ensued.
If such a thing is possible, I would call Bedazzled a stately screwball comedy. Screwball because thing after thing keeps happening, messing up the situation more and more, and it’s absolutely hilarious. Stately, because the characters somehow never seem to really lose their cool. The Devil, George Spiggot (Cook) is always calmly sending off pigeons to poop on people’s heads, or tapping into phone lines to reveal nasty secrets, or receiving shipments of ready-to-be-sold Agatha Christie novels and tearing out the last pages, sublimely in control (or so it seems). Moore’s character, on the other hand, has gone through desperation and come out on the other side, and has achieved a sort of rational irrationality there that never falters. That Cook and Moore had worked together closely for years prior to this definitely helps. The chemistry is amazing.
As usual when discussing a comedy, it is very difficult to come up with things to say about it. I’m tempted to just list all of my favourite funny parts, but then again, I want to leave them as surprises. Suffice it to say, if I WERE to list all my favourite funny parts, this review would be, by far, the longest on this site. So what is left to say?
The music, written by Dudley Moore himself, is great. The music during the opening credits would have fit well into The Knack & How To Get It, and there are two fabulous, fabulous songs later in the film. Stanley Donen’s direction is also great, with all these deliberately heavy-handed camera angles that make Moore look like he’s behind bars, or emphasize ridiculous religious imagery. But really what it boils down to is Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, being their wonderful, fabulous, outstanding, hilarious selves.
Oh, and I really like Peter Cook’s sunglasses.
nb. The picture at the top is in black and white; the film is in colour.