Les séducteurs

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.

I think the reason I found Bedtime Story so entertaining was because it was surreal to hear the lines from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels delivered by different people in a different movie. I never would have imagined Marlon Brando as Ruprecht and David Niven fits the role of Lawrence Jameson perfectly. This movie features enough similarities to keep me entertained, and enough differences to keep me interested.

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

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."

Before tackling the film proper, I'd like to point out some fascinating trivia first: originally, this was planned with Cary Grant and Rock Hudson in mind who were to compete for Doris Day and, allegedly, it was almost revived as a starring vehicle for (brace yourselves) David Bowie and Mick Jagger (!!)…before saner minds prevailed and we got DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS (1988) – with Michael Caine and Steve Martin replacing David Niven and Marlon Brando respectively – instead. Anyway, the premise was quite original at the time – rival con-men decide to collaborate but clash over fleecing a woman who turns out to be poor – and the film itself was actually better than I was expecting: in any case, "The most vulgar and embarrassing film of the year" – as The Daily Express had deemed the film on its release – it certainly wasn't!

Given that BEDTIME STORY was one of Brando's efforts from his lean period (and, uncharacteristically, a comedy at that), I didn't have high hopes for it initially – especially since some of the other "comedies" I had seen Brando in had been pretty desperate attempts: A COUNTESS FROM HONG KONG (1967) and CANDY (1968; see above). Still, that the Method actor was capable of handling lighter material than the brooding dramas he was best-known for, was already evident early on in his career with GUYS AND DOLLS (1955) and THE TEAHOUSE OF THE AUGUST MOON (1956), but this is perhaps his most engaging performance in this field; that said, it's rather disquieting to see him mugging like a Jerry Lewis wannabe (when posing as Niven's half-wit brother)! His co-star isn't particularly taxed by his role – having often played the roué, it's one he could have done in his sleep – but he's always good value in this type of light entertainment; ditto Shirley Jones, who plays it more or less straight.

The delightful opening, lending fairy-tale connotations to the narrative (hence the title) and the various schemes by which the two male stars attempt to outwit one another in order to obtain Jones' favors (and, in the process, her money) constitute the film's highlights; these include the famous scene in which Brando poses as a paraplegic – recalling his celebrated debut performance in Fred Zinnemann's powerful social drama THE MEN (1950) – as a result of which Jones arranges for him to be "cured" by renowned shrink Niven!

I watched the film via the R2 DVD from Orbit Media, presenting the Universal film in a full-screen format; I haven't been able to ascertain what the original aspect ratio was, but I didn't find the compositions overly compromised; for the record, BEDTIME STORY is still unavailable on R1 DVD and one wonders what held it from being included in Universal's four-film 2-Disc Set of "The Marlon Brando Franchise Collection"...