Bedazzled 1967

Bedazzled ~ This Faustian tale from 1967 features the comedy duo of Dudley Moore and Peter Cook, at the time very popular on British television and film. They also wrote this film. Bedazzled was their only starring performance in a movie, although they do appear in and steal a number of other films, Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies springs to mind immediately.

Cook is the real star here as The Devil tempting Moore and doing dastardly deeds throughout the film. Quite often it's difficult to pay attention to the dialogue and plot watching and laughing at the deviltry of Cook done in the background. Moore plays Stanley Moon (an alias he would use in his own life for years afterward), a mild mannered short order cook who sells his soul for seven wishes all designed to garner the affections of a waitress he adores. Each wish is given a separate skit like vignette.

The real fun however is the verbal swordplay between Cook and Moore, and the skewering humor aimed at organized religion. One wonders how they got away with it back in the day. Raquel Welch is also fun as Lust. She is barely in the film, but as you can see by the advertising, they took full advantage of her appearance, and her popularity at the time.

It should be noted that even though it shares a title and a plot with its reputed remake in 2000 starring Brendan Fraiser and Elizabeth Hurley, it is a completely different kind of movie. So different that comparison is pointless, they are both terrific in their own way.

This Bedazzled is a wonderful time capsule of its irreverent generation in the late 1960s, and great fun. Recommended.