Average Rating: 
Rating:  - A Brilliant, Fresh, Irreverent Cult Comedy
How wonderful that 20th Century Fox finally chose to distribute Stanley Donen's 1967 masterpiece, starring Dudley Moore, Peter Cook, and Eleanor Bron, at a reasonable price! For years, this film cost an astonishingly high $60.00, and one could only locate copies in obscure video stores... Once, I caught it on A&E at 4am... Sad, considering the value of the picture.Hilarious moments and scenes abound in this mod-ish update of Marlowe's "Dr. Faustus", all thanks to the pairing of Cook and Moore, of "Beyond the Fringe" fame, and a wonderful performance from Bron, as their straight woman. As Leonard Maltin and Danny Peary observed, "Bedazzled" revels in sacrilege, simply because Donen and screenwriter Cook make God the villain and Cook's Satan (ie. "George Spigott") the devilishly fun hero... who spends his time provoking spite in humans by having pigeons "release their doo-dahs" on the heads of vicars and smashing up crates of fresh bananas that will be sent to market. But it's still a barrel of laughs... irreverent, fresh, and unique... and inventive, as well, with an animated sequence and musical numbers. Great bits include: the scene in which Cook transforms Moore into a nun of the Order of Leaping Berelians (with their sacred trampolines), the appearances of the "Seven Deadly Sins" (particularly Vanity, who carries a giant mirror affixed to himself, can't see around it and ends up crashing into everything), and, in my favorite moment, Moore's transformation into a teenage pop idol on a Hullabaloo-like television show. It's embarrassing and a little silly that Harold Ramis decided to "remake" this film, with a cast that includes Brendan Fraser and Elizabeth Hurley. Doubtless, he probably wishes he'd written and directed the original. But you can't improve on something that's already a masterpiece.. particularly if you're Ramis. Anyway... if that's what it takes to convince MGM to rerelease the original at a more reasonable price, I suppose every cloud does have a silver lining.
Rating: - DON'T BLINK
There is a sight gag in almost every frame. At Mrs. Whisby's (she is played by Moore's mother), Peter Cook (The Devil) sits at the table and uses HER tableware, but hands Dudley Moore (Stanley Moon) a large wooden spoon he has withdrawn from his worksuit. Dudley accepts and employs it without notice--like it was a normal thing. I had seen the film over ten times before I took just the right friend who had heard the old Dutch adage that applies. It takes many viewings to catch all the gags--visual and entendre.My favorite line from any movie, in the song (they were all written by genius concert pianist Moore) by rock group 'Drimbel Wedge and the Vegetations (The Devil, of course):' "You fill me with inertia." This, funnily enough (as they say in that quaint land where this film was made), is also what most movies do to me these days. Seeing most of them even one time is too often, but I've seen Bedazzled more than fifty times in the quarter century I have known about it. I hate to add to the already too many reviews, but this is a MUST POSSESS, desert island, type classic. Happy repeat viewing TEC
Rating: - Cook's Classic 1967 Comedy; When is the DVD coming out?
This is an all-time comedy classic that should not be remade. However, the plus side of the fact that a remake has been churned out by Hollywood mediocrities is that it will draw more attention to the original and hopefully get it a release on letterboxed DVD (the original film is in widescreen 2:35 to 1 aspect ratio, so the video copy that's supposed to come out on the market is absolutely NOT RECOMMENDED). Peter Cook wrote the 'Faustian Bargain' based screenplay and acted the lead as the Devil alongside comedy partner Dudley Moore (who also wrote the music) and Stanley Donen (Yes, he of "Singing in the Rain" fame) did a masterful job directing. Eleanor Bron (who also appeared in the Beatles' Help!) plays the unattainable dream-girl greaseburger-chef Dudley hankers after, eventually deciding to make a bargain with the Devil. Of course, every little scenario that the devil cooks up for him in exchange for his soul, not only does not give him what he wants but contains a trap, and endless hilarity ensues (the bug-on-the-wall scene and trampolining nuns scene are one-of-a-kind classics). What makes "Bedazzled" special is the highly literate quality of Peter Cook's screenplay and also his 'Monty Pythonesque' wise-aleck presence as an actor. Cook turns this film into a deep satire that does not insult the audience's intelligence even while they're laughing their heads off. They're welcome to dig deeper if they're so inclined. In fact, this film is probably the standard by which all so-called 'Faustian Bargain' films (there have been many of them) should be judged. Cook was never able to reach this level of brilliance again but even one film of Bedazzled's quality in an artist's lifetime is a gift. Lastly, the atmosphere of Bedazzled is completely saturated with the mid-'60s, 'swinging' London feel and vibe of the period, with Moore's semi-psychedelic, R&B influenced score constantly grooving away in the background. Bedazzled becomes a fascinating historical relic as well as a superb comedy. As '60s sex-goddess Raquel Welch (playing 'Lust') shakes her 'big shoes' in Dudley Moore's mesmerized face, we (whoever 'we' are) time-travel back to an era when the Beatles were on acid growing their hair long and Elvis still had a greaser haircut.
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