Les séducteurs

This was one of those movies whose presence on TV would guarantee my entire family's viewing, even if it came on in the middle of the night. David Niven is a suave fleecer of gullible women, who tries to teach novice Marlon Brando a thing or two. Ultimately, both set their sights on soap heiress Shirley Jones, and the games begin.

Brando's brief impersonation of Niven is worth the price of admission (or rental, or whatever). Superior to the pretty-good remake, "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."

Forget "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"! That is a mere imitation and a poor one at that. This is the original and by far one of the most outstanding comedies on film.

There is no foul language, violence, gratuitous sex or any other artifice. Bedtime Story really relies on nothing more than a great script and outstanding actors. I have seen the movie many times since my childhood and I am happy to say that my children (both adults now) also share my views.

Just buy the DVD (freely available from the UK - why not the USA????? Shame, shame).

For David Niven, Bedtime Story was the kind of part he could play in his sleep although he's quite wide awake here. But for Marlon Brando this was his second foray into comedy, he would not do another until the Nineties when he was accepting roles for money to pay his son's lawyers. Brando does quite well in Bedtime Story as the sleazy GI conman.

We meet both of them separately at the beginning, Niven in his guise as a prince living in a palace on the French Riviera, fleecing money from rich tourists trying to free his country from the rebels, presumably Communists. And Brando manages to con his commanding officer Parley Baer more worried about getting his promotion to general than in dealing out justice to the guy who disgraced his daughter into an early discharge with a private separation package.

Brando as civilian meets with Niven on board a train heading to the Riviera and brags about his exploits and talks about trying his luck on the rich babes there. Niven not wanting any competition arranges a small frame up with the cooperation of the police chief Aram Stephen. Of course when Brando gets wise to it, they're forced into a partnership of sorts.

Niven sort of glides right into a part that he's done on many occasions, in this case not even having to rely solely on his considerable charm to carry a weak film. Brando had done comedy on screen before in Teahouse of the August Moon, but the role of Freddy Benson, GI Conman extraordinary fits him far better than Sakini in Teahouse.

If Paul Henning and Stanley Shapiro on hiatus from their rural franchise at CBS had really wanted to make this a better film, they would have invested a surprise in Shirley Jones traditional good girl character. Remember she won an Oscar for playing against type in Elmer Gantry as a prostitute. Think of the ending in the John Wayne film The Train Robbers and think how it would have really fit here.

Still Bedtime Story is not a bad film and it even got remade as the Steve Martin classic, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. And hats off everyone to Dody Goodman, the legendary Fanny of Omaha.

I saw it in the late '60's on TV when I was home from school. Years later I became a screenwriter and got a call from David Bowie's production company. He and Mick jagger wanted to do a movie together and hoped I would write it. I suggested doing a remake of Bedtime Story with Bowie as Lawrence Jamison and Mick as Freddy.

They were both interested, the studio (UA) was interested, but the movie had been made at Universal and there was no way they could get the rights. A number of other studios were interested, but couldn't wrestle the right away from Universal.

Turns out no had bothered to do a copyright search. I did. Turns out the rights had reverted back to the original writer/producer Stanley Shapiro. We met at the Pink Turtle (a coffee shop at what was the Beverly Wilshire) and did a deal on a napkin.

The original title was King of Hill. Since Stanley was the man behind the Doris Day/Rock Hudson/Cary Grant movies - he decided to write (with Maurice Richlin - who went on to pen the original Pink Panther) a movie where Cary Grant and Rock Hudson would compete for Doris Day.

Apparently, Cary had asked Rock to do a movie with him, but Rock had turned him down. So Cary didn't want to do a movie with Rock. And Doris wouldn't do the movie without the both of them. Hence it was re-cast with Niven, Brando and Shirley Jones.

Stanely said this movie didn't do all that well in its original run. He felt that the movie fell flat in the south because of Brando championing civil rights.

Thought I do prefer my ending, but this is nevertheless a very charming movie. Which is why I tried to preserve as much as the original as possible. Hey, if ain't broke, don't fix it. And certainly don't change it.

1964's 'Bedtime Story' is not to be confused with the 1941 film of the same name with Fredric March and Loretta Young, an enjoyable film in its own right despite March's uneven performance. Inevitable comparisons have been made with this film and its remake 'Dirty Rotten Scoundrels', haven't seen that film in years but do remember enjoying it and intend to re-watch it when possible. Have liked all three leads in other things, with Marlon Brando especially having some iconic performances in his career.

Found 'Bedtime Story' to be a very enjoyable film, lots of fun with the leads on top form. Don't be fooled by the film's pretty cutesy and child friendly-like title ('Dirty Rotten Scoundrels' even would have been a much more apt title) that makes you think that it is going to be another film entirely. It is a long way from cutesy and very much adult-oriented, much funnier and wittier than one might think looking at that title which does the film no favours, and quite a bit better than its mixed critical reception at the time suggests.

'Bedtime Story's' script is not perfect, it could have done with some tightening up here and there as not everything felt necessary here and as a consequence the script is not as lean as ought. Meaning that the film sometimes drags and can get on the repetitive side. While the slang was interesting, it is very of the time and dates the film a bit.

Was a little more mixed on Brando, leaning towards liked but had problems with his character. Brando has great charisma, great energy and some nice comic timing, extracting as much as he can out of the material and giving it juice, often amusingly oily. He does suffer from his character being too coarse and too much of a bully, so a near-irredeemable character that is difficult to get behind, and he can play the role too heavily and broadly at times. So a mostly fun if at times uneven performance in an unlikeable and quite odd role.

David Niven, coming onto the numerous good things, has a character tailor-made for him, a character with characteristics that he was no stranger to and he is typically lively, sophisticated and charming. He and Brando have dynamite conflicting chemistry together that really gives 'Bedtime Story' sparkle, his smoothness contrasting beautifully with the broader acting style of Brando. Shirley Jones' character is not near as interesting but she is radiant, has a natural charm and appeals. The script isn't perfect, but has a wonderfully biting wit frequently and the broadness that it has doesn't get too nasty in my view. The story is not probable and the pace isn't perfect, but is enlivened by some genuinely funny set pieces and the dynamite character interactions.

It wholly succeeds as lightweight fun and is generally crisp in pace. It is a lavish looking film, especially the colourful art direction beautifully photographed, love the attention to detail that some of the camera angles have. The music score is colourful and has a lot of personality and Ralph Levy's direction avoids being too wild, not always exciting but always expertly and never bland.

All in all, uneven but good fun. 7/10