BEDAZZLED (Twilight Time Blu Ray) Fox 1967

BEDAZZLED (Twilight Time Blu Ray) 20th Century Fox,1967 Color. 104 mins. Region Free (A/B/C) $29.95

https://www.twilighttimemovies.com/bedazzled-blu-ray/

“You fill me with inertia !”

 

 

1967 was a year for wonderfully twisted comedies. THE PRODUCERS (Embassy)THE FEARLESS VAMPIRE KILLERS(MGM), THE GRADUATE (Embassy,1967), and GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER(Columbia) were among the gems released that year.

 

Perhaps the most twisted and yet still funny as all get out film of the bunch was BEDAZZLED. Peter Cook and Dudley Moore were two giants of the boom in British comedy and satire in the 1960s, with anti-establishment humor endearing them to the young of the time

The pair of Peter Cook and Dudley Moore first shot to international fame with their performances in both the U.K. and ten a successful two-year run in NYC in a satirical review called BEYOND THE FRINGE. Also, n the cast was playwright Alan Bennett (the play THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE) and Jonathan Miller (later to run the Old Vic Theatre).

The four intelligent young men were the heirs of absurdist humor previously popular in England due to programs like THE GOON SHOW (Spike Milligan, a very young Peter Sellers, Harry Secombe, and Michael Bentine) and their creative intelligent wit mixed with surreal silliness made them the forerunners of MONTY PYTHON’s FLYING CIRCUS.

 

Several popular appearances on the BBC, with shows like NOT ONLY…BUT ALSO (1964,1966,1970) helped increase their popularity. The pair also successfully appeared major supporting roles in the big budget comedy THE WRONG BOX (Columbia ,1966), and so studios were open to the idea of pairing them in a starring project.

 

Meanwhile, American director Stanley Donen (who passed away two days after this Blu Ray release) had been MGM ‘s top director of musicals in the 1950s (SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN.1952 and SEVEN BRIDES FOR SEVEN BROTHERS ,1954). After leaving MGM to free-lance at other studios, Donen spent the 1960s living in England, directing and producing several films there.

 

 

After a few box office disappointments, Donen was back on track with CHARADE (Universal,1963), a fun thriller often referred to as “the Best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock never made”, starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. He followed this with the similar ARABESQUE (Universal,1966) starring Gregory Peck and Sophia Loren, which was nearly as successful as the previous film.

These two hits allowed him to experiment a bit, and so he did TWO FOR THE ROAD (Fox, 1967) and the film under review here, BEDAZZLED (Fox,1967).

 

With a screenplay by Peter Cook (based upon a story by Cook and Moore), director Donen (no stranger to devils, having directed DAMN YANKEES in 1958 for Warner Brothers) gets into the style and mood of the swinging sixties to tell this modern reworking of the Faust legend. Moore and Cook build upon their established persona from previous routines, with Moore being the slower witted, usually taken advantage of by the fast talking, gleam in his eye Cook.

 

Stanley Moon (Moore), a short order cook, moons over Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron, most famous for appearing in the Richard Lester Beatles vehicle HELP, U.A. 1965, as well as appearing in Donen’s ONE FOR THE ROAD that same year), a waitress who barely acknowledges his existence at the Wimpy’s Burgers Restaurant at which they both works. Indeed, one of her gentlemen pick her up from work just as Stanley gets the courage to ask her out, driving the Stanley to abject despair.

 

Poor Moon  doesn’t notice the customer with the small sunglasses and wearing an opera cape sitting at one of the tables, watching all this with great intensity.

Returning home, Moon wants to hang himself from a pipe in his ceiling, and only succeeds in breaking the pipe, causing water to fall into his tiny flat. Stepping into the apartment comes the stranger from the restaurant, who identifies himself as George Spiggott (Cook).

 

Spiggott then admits that is but one of the many names he has, for he is the Devil himself. To prove it, he will grant Moon one wish, save for Margaret Spencer. Thinking Stanley asks for an ice lolly. Sure enough, they go board a bus, and, using Stanley’s money, purchases an ice lolly. Not believing that Spiggott is anything more than a looney, Spiggott sighs and with the magic phrase “Julie Andrews”, they are whisked across London to a less reputable part of town, melting the ice lolly in transit. It is here that Spiggott has his seedy club that he works out of.

The bouncer, Anger (Robert Russell, superlative a year later as Vincent Price’s evil sidekick in WITCHFINDER GENERAL; Tigon/AIP,1968), tosses Stanley out, but Spiggott escorts him back in. Within the club, Stanley will also meet among others Envy (Barry Humphries, before he donned drag to gain international fame as Dame Edna. Cook had befriended and even helped support Humphries early in his career), Vanity (Alba), who walks around with a mirror in front of him, and of course, Lust (personified with a Southern Belle accent by Raquel Welch, the actress being featured upon almost all the advertising and posters).

 

Japanese film poster

Basically, Spiggott offers Moon the standard contact of seven wishes upon which to win his true love. Sadly, for Stanley, the Devil is truly in the details, as each attempt at a new life to win Margaret Spencer ends in disaster for the love besotted chef.

 

 

Along the way, it seems that the police believe that Moon has succeeded in his suicide attempt, with Inspector Clarke (Michael Bates, later the sadistic Chief Guard Barnes in the Stanley Kubrick masterpiece, A CLOCKWORK ORANGE, WB,1971) starting to woo the young Miss while they try and find Moon’s corpse!

 

The wonderfully whacky film also explores with fittingly fiendish delight the modus operandi of the Devil, whether it be scratching records before they are sent off to sale, or exploring good and evil .Along the way, a strange friendship develops between Moon and Spiggott ,though in the end they both know after the seven wishes granted to Stanley his soul will belong to Spiggott. Spiggott must gain 100 Billion souls to regain his entryway into Heaven and sit again as God’s favorite. The friendship works in a mysterious twist at the end, costing Spiggot to lose is bet with the Almighty. The film ends with an unseen God laughing in a deep voice, almost insanely as the end credits roll. Maybe the Devil indeed has a right to be angry.

 

A few bits from earlier sketches by the pair are woven into the episodic storyline , the most famous and obvious being from NOT ONLY…BUT ALSO , “The Leaping Nuns of the Order of St Beryl” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiO_9UIUx7M .

 

 

 

The film sparkles with wit as well as silliness (to get out of a failed wish, Stanley needs to make a “raspberry “sound) that keeps it moving swiftly over the course of 103 minutes.

 

 

Austin Dempster had been camera operator on ARABESQUE and TWO FOR THE ROAD for director Donen, but BEDAZZLED was his first credit as cinematographer. At one point, the film switches to black and white to recreate an early television studio broadcast (as well as perhaps reference films like A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (UA,1964)). This leads into one of the most fun sequences, where fans including an awe-struck Margaret Spencer go nuts for rock star Stanley (who basically screams “Love MEEEE”), until Drimble Wedge and the Vegetation sing an emotionless version of “Bedazzled “. The fickle fans run to the latest flavor of the moment and abandon poor Stanley ,trying to blow a razzberry as fans nearly trample him to reach their new idol. The music, by the way, for the film was composed by Dudley Moore. Several artists have done covers of the “Bedazzled” song, most notably Nick Cave and Anita Lane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPJWkQudhPo .

 

The film when released received mixed reviews but made a profit in the United States.

Since its release, BEDAZZLED has continued to increase its cult following due to late night tv showings as well as various releases on Beta, VHS and in 2007 on DVD by Fox Entertainment.

Now TWILIGHT TIME has released the best-looking release of this film on home media, perhaps even since its original release. Another marvelous 1080p HD transfer, some of the colors are more vibrant than I’ve ever seen in this film, particularly the red of Spiggott’s inner cape lining or Raquel Welch’s tiny bra and panties she wears while hopping into bed with Stanley. Some reviewers have mentioned a slight elongation of the figures, but I didn’t notice any of this when I viewed the film.

 

The disc has two English only audio selections: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio Mono, the sound is clear and clean, with no noticeable sound pops, and does justice to the quippy fast delivered dialogue as well as Moore’s music.

For the hearing impaired, there are clean easy to read optional subtitles.

As an extra, you can listen to the isolated music and sound effects track, so you can enjoy the clever jazzy score and songs.

 

The Blu Ray cover sleeve shows us a photo of Cook as Spiggott (which for some reason reminded me of Peter Cushing in DR TERRORS HOUSE OF HORRORS (Paramount, Amicus,1965).

 

Twilight Time also commissioned a very fun illustration for a cover as well.

Julie Kirgo provides her always welcome liner notes in a separate booklet included with the disc, concentrating a great deal on director Donen.

Extras carried over from the 2007 FOX DVD are

Two trailers for the film,

A 2007 interview with director /comedian Harold Ramis, who directed the unnecessary 2000 remake of BEDAZZLED. Ramis waxes poetic about how wonderful the film and indeed the comic pair of Moore and Cook were.

An excerpt from THE PAUL RYAN SHOW , a 1977 British talk program ,where the pair of Moore and Cook reveal that there were tensions  between them  ,due to their different attitudes on dealing with things (oddly, IMDB.com only lists Moore and not Cook, but since Moore only appeared on the show once, we must assume episode 109 was the one featured here). One wishes there was the whole broadcast of this here, but we are grateful indeed to get a glimpse of this black & white rarity.

 

I cannot recommend this wonderful original comedy enough.

The press run is limited to only 3,000 copies, so get yours now- before George Spiggott makes all of them vanish on you.

Get BEDAZZLED 

HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION .

-Kevin G Shinnick

 

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BLUE MOVIE(1971) Cult Epics Blu Ray/DVD combo release

BLUE MOVIE (CULT EPICS Blu Ray DVD Combo, Feb 2019) Dutch,1971 89 mins. Color. Dutch, with optional English subtitles.
https://www.paypal.com/webapps/hermes?token=1E9409251B771762H&useraction=commit&mfid=1552229982906_40b8158c54ef8

 

                          “This is Holland Today.” -Michael (Hugo Metsers, BLUE MOVIE)

BLUE MOVIE is an interesting motion picture that became one of the most successful Dutch films ever made (it is still listed as number 5). Its importance cannot be overlooked, as it was a film that showed that an intelligent thoughtful film could be made that contained actual (as well as simulated) sex within it.

Indeed, were it not for films like BLUE MOVIE helping break down and through the censorship that films endured both in Europe and the U.S., it is doubtful that Catherine Breillat, Gaspar Noe, and Lars Von Trier would probably not being creating their works today.

A “blue movie” was one that was considered racier than the standard film of the time. Andy Warhol had done a film also called BLUE MOVIE (1969), which became the first film with explicit sex that received a wide theatrical release in the U.S. and began what became in the 1970s as “porn chic”.

 

 

The 1971 film being reviewed here could have played like a comic sex romp similar to the popular Robin Askwith films from England that followed in the decade, such as CONFESSIONS OF A WINDOW CLEANER (Columbia, 1974), were it not for the thoughtful direction, script and performances. That said, the filmmakers do sometimes see the humor in the various couplings, with one sequence within an elevator showing the couple going at it within the box, while frustrated people gather below wondering what is holding up the lift.

 

Michael (Hugo Metsers*, at age 28 ,starring in his first feature after just two t.v. appearances) has been released from prison after five years ,due to having sex with an under-aged girl .His parole officer Eddie (Helmert Woudenberg )escorts Michael (oddly none of the characters seem to  have a last name, not even those who are married seem to have a surname) to a sterile modern apartment block. Michael’s small apartment seems almost as small as a prison cell, barely furnished. Eddie tells Michael that he will be keeping an eye upon him.

 

 

Still, Michael has urges, and, one night, peers around his balcony and watches his neighbors have sex. Later, he meets with the neighbors, and becomes sexually involved with the wife Elly (Carry Tefsen). He soon finds others within the building are open to sexual exploration, and he is soon having flings with several within the complex, including one amusing bit wherein a husband walks in on his wife and Michael, only to jump in and join them!

 

Michael, however, starts developing actual feelings for Julia (Ine Veen) ,an unmarried mother within the complex. He cares for her but skips a date with her rather than possibly hurting her.

 

He continues exploring the sexual mores of the time, and soon comes upon the idea of making money off the obvious fixations within the complex. He starts a private sex club and his neighbors stand about staring at black & white porn films (which have the most graphic sex of a few seconds that are depicted within Blue Movie), and later nude models walk about and finally a doctor is invited who examines the guests who wish to take part in an orgy .

One of the guests, Newman (Bill van Dijk, later to star on Broadway in the title role of CYRANO THE MUSICAL ,1994 as well as international pop star) commits suicide by leaping from the balcony of the apartment . Things start to fall apart, but Michael realizes that he truly has feelings for Julia. Can sex be truly satisfying without an emotional connection?

 

One of the Dutch Sex Wave, these films helped change how films were reviewed and censored. The producers released several other films that continued and expanded the trail blazed by BLUE MOVIE, and CULT EPICS has several of them available (see trailers mentioned below).

Though low budget, the film shows true talent both in front of and behind the camera.

The most notable is the director of photography is Jan de Bont .Mr. de Bont, after hopping back and forth from other European productions (most notably THE 4TH MAN ,Rob Houwer Productions,1983)and low to mid budget U.S. films ( CUJO, 1983;Sunn Classics/Taft) , he got major notice for his works on such blockbusters as DIE HARD (Fox,1988) before becoming a director himself on the megahit SPEED (Fox 1994),

 

The soundtrack by Juergen Drews (he played a street singer in the giallo SHORT NIGHT OF THE GLASS DOLLS (Deter Geissler Filmproduktion ,1971) is a simple effective score, which at times reminds me of the music used in MIDNIGHT COWBOY (U.A.,1969) .

 

CULT EPICS has done a phenomenal job with their restoration.

A 1080p HD transfer (thanks to the Eye Institute in Amsterdam, using original 16mm and 35mm negative elements), the picture is clean ,with outdoor scenes having a strong blue tinge . This seems to be more due to the color stock used than any intentional referencing to the title. The film is as sharp as it has probably ever looked.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono track on the blu ray Dolby Digital dual Mono sound is crisp and clear, with no noticeable pops in the Dutch language only soundtrack. Optional English subtitles are easy to read.
Extras on the discs include

-A 1971 Interview from the director Wim Verstappen (who passed way in 2004) who discusses (in Dutch, with burnt in English subtitles) about making the film, dealing with censors, raising funds outside of the country, and plans for a thriller.

-A 2018 interview with producer Pim de la Parra while he was attending a retrospective of the “Dutch Sex Wave “. We learn that the director based his film upon sexploitation films that he had seen when he had visited New York.

 

-Another 2018 interview (in English) with Hugo Metsers Jr, son of the lead actor. He talks about seeing this film when he was quite young, and how seeing his father was the star destroyed any eroticism the film might have had upon him. He also recalls his father is happier with stage work over film.

 

– A short piece on, the Eye Film Institute. The organization is dedicated to the preservation of film, particularly Dutch works. Also, in their collections are rare film books, posters, and publicity material, as well as screening rooms. By the way, should you wish to check out their website in English, https://www.eyefilm.nl/en . The structure, built near the river in Amsterdam, looks like the Sydney Opera House mated with the MOMA in New York!

– A poster and photo gallery for BLUE MOVIE.

-Four trailers for films by the same production team (Pim & Wim’s Scorpio Films), including

BLUE MOVIE (which gives you an idea of how the film may have looked before the restoration),

OBSESSIONS (1969 ,which shows a strong Hitchcock influence as well as a Bernard Herrmann score that he used from pieces he created back in 1957 for the CBS Music Library!) available from Cult Epics http://www.cultepics.com/product-detail/obsessions/

 

FRANK & EVA (1973, also starring Metsers) http://www.cultepics.com/product-detail/frank-eva/ ,

and MY NIGHTS WITH SUSAN, SANDRA, OLGA and JULIE (1975 ,that appears to be a more erotic variant of THE BEGUILED ,Universal, 1971) ,currently not listed as available from Cult Epics.

Recommended, especially for fans of foreign films, art house, and erotica.

Kudos to Cult Epics for the care that they give to these films.

–Kevin G Shinnick

*- there is another Dutch actor, also named Hugo Metsers, who was only about 3 when BLUE MOVIE was made.

 

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