The usually less-than-dependable Dudley Moore does a good job here as Stanley Moon, a short order cook leading a go-nowhere life but always eyeing waitress Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron, whom you may recognize from "Help!"). Enter the Devil (Peter Cook),going by the alias George Spiggott. Satan gives Stanley seven wishes, so as to help the poor bloke win Margaret's heart. Stanley makes his wishes, but there's always a loophole leading to a rather embarrassing situation.
Maybe "Bedazzled" was sort of a period piece. A particularly dated scene is when a policeman is showing someone a rape victim and says "She brought it on herself." But overall, it's pretty funny, and Raquel Welch is really something playing Lillian Lust (one of the seven deadly sins).
Bedazzled
1967
Action / Comedy / Fantasy / Romance
Bedazzled
1967
Action / Comedy / Fantasy / Romance
Keywords: cult filmdevilseven deadly sins
Plot summary
Stanley Moon (Dudley Moore) is a short order cook, infatuated with Margaret (Eleanor Bron),the statuesque waitress who works at Wimpy Bar with him. Despondent, he prepares to end it all when he meets George Spiggott, a.k.a. the Devil (Peter Cook). Selling his soul for seven wishes, Stanley tries to make Margaret his own first as an intellectual, then as a rock star, then as a wealthy industrialist. As each fails, he becomes more aware of how empty his life had been and how much more he has to live for. He also meets the seven deadly sins who try and advise him.
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devil went down to England
Fencing For Your Soul
Bedazzled finds Dudley Moore as a short order cook at a Wimpy's in London trying his best to score with the lovely Eleanore Bron who comes in every day for an order. He'll do just about any old thing to make it with her and when you say that, you know that old Scratch will come up from the bowels of the earth to offer you a deal for your soul.
But Moore doesn't give up that easy in fact he worms seven different chances with this girl and as the devil his partner Peter Cook comes up with a loophole every time. I have to give Moore credit, he negotiates like a Philadelphia lawyer, but Cook is up to each and every one. The way he gets out of the seventh and last is one for the books.
Starring along with Moore and Cook is the city of London in the Sixties when because of the Beatles it was the pop capital of the world. For those who want a look at London back in the day, Bedazzled is definitely the film for you.
The only other American on this film besides director Stanley Donen is Raquel Welch who plays the deadly sin of lust personified. And I can't think of anyone better for that time period.
There is some physical comedy in Bedazzled, but the real treat is watching Moore and Cook fence for Moore's soul. It's the Faust theme with a real comic twist. Tab Hunter should have only been this cagey with Ray Walston in Damn Yankees.
Moore and Cook did quite a few films together before splitting in the late Seventies. Dudley Moore of course had far greater success as a single than Peter Cook did. Then again this side of the pond did not see that much of Cook. The team did a lot of British television together that we in America never were privileged to see. I'm told some of those programs are classic. Bedazzled is yet another classic for them that is available and should be looked at.
Modern British Comedy
A hapless loser (Dudley Moore) sells his soul to the Devil (Peter Cook) in exchange for seven wishes, but has trouble winning over the girl of his dreams (Eleanor Bron).
An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, Cook is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He was closely associated with the anti-establishment comedy that emerged in Britain and the United States in the late 1950s.
Others have said Cook (and this film) are sort of a precursor to Monty Python, and I can see that. The mocking of religion is there, especially with the nuns on trampolines. The film does seem to run a bit long and get stale in places, but as a whole it is a breath of fresh air, a piece of film history ushering in a new era of comedy.