Bedazzled

MOVIE DESCRIPTION:

Falling somewhere between the Beyond the Fringe school and the Monty Python league, Bedazzled is an irreverent Faust take-off, written by and starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore (Moore also composed the music). Moore plays a short-order cook at a London Wimpyburger restaurant, who falls hopelessly in love with waitress Eleanor Bron. About to commit suicide, the broken-hearted Moore is approached by Satan (Peter Cook). The Fallen Angel offers to purchase Moore's soul in exchange for seven wishes--the first of which is squandered when Satan buys Moore an ice cream bar (something over which the two stars quarrel throughout the film). Enticed by living personifications of the Deadly Sins--Raquel Welch, wearing next to nothing, is "Lillian Lust"--Moore allows Satan to grant him his heart's desire, utilizing the magic words, "Julie Andrews!" But with each wish, Satan, being Satan, can't help but gum up the works with a double-cross. The desperate Moore ultimately wishes to be allowed to spend the rest of his life with Eleanor in an environment with no other men--whereupon Satan transforms both Eleanor and Moore into nuns! Finally Satan has a change of heart, allowing Moore and Eleanor to fall in love in more orthodox surroundings and permitting Moore to regain his soul. Satan hopes that God will appreciate this good deed and allow him to re-enter Heaven. But God doesn't buy this; He's satisfied with Satan remaining mankind's "necessary evil". ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

DVD FEATURES:

• Region: 1
• Number of Discs: 1
• Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1 (Cinemascope)
• Screen: Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV
• Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
• Features:
  • Peter & Dud: An interview with the Devil
  • Peter Cook & Dudley Moore on the Paul Ryan Show
  • A Bedazzled conversation with Harold Ramis
  • Original theatrical trailer
  • Still gallery

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

• Cast:

  
       Peter Cook - George Spiggott
       Dudley Moore - Stanley Moon
       Eleanor Bron - Margaret Spencer
       Raquel Welch - Lillian Lust
       Alba - Vanity
       Bernard Spear - Irving Moses
       Barry Humphries - Envy
       Parnell McGarry - Gluttony
       Daniele Noel - Avarice
       Howard Goorney - Sloth
       Robin Hawdon - Randolph
       Michael Trubshawe - Lord Dowdy
       Evelyn Moore - Mrs. Wisby
       Charles Lloyd Pack - Vicar
       Lockwood West - St. Peter
       Betty Cooper - Sister Phoebe
       Anna Turner - Shop assistant

• Director:

  Stanley Donen

• Producer:

  Stanley Donen

• Screenwriter:

  Peter Cook

• Cinematographer:

  Austin Dempster

• Composer (Music Score):

  Dudley Moore

• Editor:

  Richard Marden

REVIEW:

• Musical specialist Stanley Donen is the nominal director of this brilliant comic parody of the Faust legend, but the real auteurs are undoubtedly its two stars, half of the groundbreaking "Beyond the Fringe"comedy group. Dudley Moore plays a wimpy bar waiter, hopelessly in love with his co-worker (Eleanor Bron). When he's on the verge of suicide, Satan (Peter Cook) appears, offering him seven wishes in exchange for his soul. Irreverent and surreal, ranging from high-flown wit to raunchy low comedy, despite moments of inertia, the film remains one of the funniest of its decade. Cook and Moore start out to explore the irrationality of commonplace fears and insecurities along with the commercial exploitation of same, and end with a wholesale comic critique of then-contemporary society which mostly still applies. As funny as Moore is as a man whose various wishes are bent askew by the devil, Cook is the comic center of the film, a mischievous demon who goes about the daily business scratching LPs ('60s), tearing out the endings of books, and flicking parking meters "expired" in his tireless efforts to make the human race miserable. His proudest achievement thus far: advertising. The film reaches its apogee as Moore, now morphed into a nun, takes his rightful place with the sacred order of the Leaping Beryllians. To reveal more would be sacrilege. Bedazzled also represents the apogee of the partnership of Cook and Moore, who would soon go their separate ways, with the latter finding stardom in Hollywood. ~ Michael Costello, Rovi