Bedazzled | | Cast : | Peter Cook, Dudley Moore | | Director : | Stanley Donen | | Studio : | | | Format : | | | Released Date : | December 10, 1967 | | DVD Released Date : | April 15, 2003 | | Language : | | | Audience Rating : | PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) | | | BUY THIS DVD FROM AMAZON |
Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | August 02, 2005 | | Summary | Fine picture | Content
 | This picture is a "must" for Peter Cook - Dudley Moore fans. A clever plot with a lot of inserted laughs for those who know the literature on the devil e.g., "He who sups with the devil must use a long spoon". Final transformation of Moore is a feat of comic genius ... and unlike Faust, he escapes the devil's bargain. |
| Rating | | | Date | April 28, 2005 | | Summary | A great and classic take on the tragi-comedy of being human. | Content
| "Bedazzled" of 1967 by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore is a multi-layered delight as well as a deeply insightful variation on one of the most famous legends in Western Civilization: the man who sells his soul to the devil for (choose any or all of the following) sex, pleasure, riches, power, or to know all things as God knows them. Cook and Moore, by both word and action, refer back to Marlowe's tragedy of "Dr. Faustus," to Goethe's epic drama "Faust," and even to Hannah Arendt's theory of the "banality" of evil with reference to the Holocaust, and they do it with the wacky finesse one associates with Monty Python. Philosophy, theology, the slapstick of vaudeville, the Irish-accented intellectualism of James Joyce, upper-class Oxbridge-snobbery, the trench-coated detective of the English mystery novel, your grandmother being bilked by traveling salesmen, puns high and low, and loud, wet "thhhpts" of rasberries thhhpt'd in hopeful despair - the 1967 film lacks nothing of humor and insight into the foolishness of us humans. This film bedazzles the world-weary viewer back into having faith in the future of humanity. And you can even have fries with that. I mean "chips." Or maybe "crisps." And extra onions for that man over there in the corner in the black tuxedo and the scarlet lined opera cape who is wearing red socks.
The DVD is not yet available. Grab the VHS version new or used. Someday, someday we'll see this gem digitally restored, but until then - don't pass it up! |
| Rating | | | Date | February 19, 2005 | | Summary | Different, But Great | Content
| I will begin by saying I first saw the 2000 version with Hurley and Frasier. That got me interested in this original version. Genereally, when there are two versions of the same story, people seem to prefer one or the other. I think this is one case, where the situation is that they're different, but they are both good. Granted, the Hurley/Frasier one has more zany comedy. Also, the comical charm of having the protagonist's coworkers in his fantasies. Not to mention the clever original touches by Ramis. (The Abraham Lincoln scenario, and Frasier's well worded passage on that wishing just doesn't work, and that what really matters is how we get where we get.) All of that said, the original version is well done, and as funny, but in a different way. The 60s style adds to the charm of this version. While Frasier and Moore have similar problems, it is interesting that in this version, Moore is so dejected that he contemplates and attempts suicide in the beginning. While Hurley relies more on her looks and erotic ways as the devil, Peter Cook concentrates more on being articulate. Sometimes, so much, that we are lead into sympathy for him. 'God wants you to exercise free will and choose good over evil. How can his plan be accomplished if I'm not there to provide that evil?' Or: 'Adam and Eve were happy in the Garden of Eden because they were ignorant.' Another interesting aspect of the original version is the presence of the 7 deadly sins. (undoubtedly borrowed from Marlowe's play 'Dr. Faustus.') Some of the fantasies parallel that of Frasier's, but there are also a number of different ones. (So it's not quite the exact same movie with different actors.) But like Frasier, Moore does in fact wish for a lot of the things a reasonable person would want in life. But ofcourse like Hurley, Cook finds the way to insert one or more unwanted elements into Moore's wishes. On one level it is comical, but there are also moral lessons and elements. I don't want to say too much and possibly ruin the movie. But I will say that while it's certainly slower and more wordy than the Hurley/Frasier version, it is is very well done IN A DIFFERENT WAY. And while we may like Hurley and Frasier in their way, we can like Cook and Moore in their way. This is one case where it truly does pay to see both versions. |
| Rating | | | Date | December 26, 2004 | | Summary | EXCELLENT! | Content
| I am appalled that this wonderful movie is not available on DVD! It is a real comedy classic. I love everything about this movie, especially the music. I'll get the opening theme stuck in my head sometimes for days. This movie never gets boring no matter how many times I watch it. I love this movie and I can't wait until it is available on DVD. This is one of my favorite movies.
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| Rating | | | Date | September 19, 2004 | | Summary | Excellent faustian comedy ! | Content
| Trying to connect a comedy based on the dark mood of the Faustian legend , Cook and Moore pulled remarkably well . The jokes go for a double channel ; visual and verbal ; kinetic movie with nonstop pace ; with enough outrageous and inventive to satisfy the most exacting viewer . Raquel Welch was never sexiest than this one . Stimulating comedy and through the years has increased its status as a fundamental cult movie. The trampoline scene is a classic.
Forget the another version . Hurley is a very beautiful woman but she will never the sexual punch of Raquel Welch.
In the other hand , the dazzling direction of Stanley Donen makes an almost unbeatable handicap. |
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