User reviews

Between this and Guys and Dolls and the Godfather parody w/ Mathew Broderick, Marlon showed that he could be very funny. Sort of like Errol Flynn, I wish he had been given more opportunities.

I have looked in vain for this on DVD it was supposed to have been released a couple of years ago, I'm not sure what happened.

As noted many will be familiar with the remake (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels), though I prefer the original. There is a priceless scene where Marlon (as Freddy)is caught with his pants off after seducing the burgomeister's daughter in a German town. He explains that he is part of the new Exercise instruction program and he begins doing calisthenics as he makes his exit.

I also liked when David Niven and Brando first meet and realize that they are competing in the same line of work albeit at different levels.

Highly recommended.

'shoes

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.

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."

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

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.

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"...

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.

"Bedtime Story" is a very unusual film in that I actually much preferred the remake, "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"...and I rarely enjoy remakes. I won't bore you with a lot of details--suffice to say that it's pretty much the same plot but the character played by Marlon Brando is very sexist and crude...much more so and much more of a jerk than the character played by Steve Martin. And, therein lies the problem--he plays such an obvious pig that the film loses the audience. You just cannot believe he's a con man...and a successful one at that. Overall, an interesting idea that only is modestly interesting...at best. Stick with the 1988 film...your brain will thank you.

I was ten when the movie came out, my dad encouraged me to watch it years later when it played on television. I was hooked...

Brando is uproarious as the American GI in Europe, an egotist, sometimes crude, a hustler, preying on gorgeous woman through sympathy, his good looks and his almost pathetic hilarious charm....David Niven is the slick, cool, rich charming Englishman and yes, he's also as conniving as Brando. Though Niven is a bit smarter than "Freddy" (Brando) - It makes for a weird but funny and brief partnership between Niven and Brando, to seduce & fleece some very rich, sometimes beautiful, but always naive, trusting & very willing women.

And thus begins an even funnier competition between Brando and Niven, as the movie really gets rolling along...as each character underestimates the other in cons and setups, then untimely outwits the other...all the way until the final twist of an ironic and funny ending to the film.

Yes, there are indeed a couple of silly and corny scenes...but overall the movie is a very funny farce, as enjoyable & well written comedy to come out of that early 60's era, (1964) or any era for that matter....Brando is truly terrific - Accept no substitutes, i.e., "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels"!

Having enjoyed Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, the 1980s comedy with Michael Caine and Steve Martin, i was intrigued to learn it was a remake of a 1964 film, Bedtime Story. The story is mostly the same: an elegant English conman on the Riviera is annoyed to find his pitch invaded by an uncouth American huckster. They briefly become partners, then rivals.

In the original, the leads are taken by David Niven and Marlon Brando, of all people. But it's a comedy masterclass - in how not to do comedy. Just about every scene in the remake milks the full comic potential far better.

In DRS, there's a scene where Freddie the Yank conman is thrown into a French jail. Steve Martin has a loud check shirt, a big white Panama hat and big shades, he's the epitome of the loud American abroad and out of his depth as, leaning against the bars,he goes all self- pitying and pleading to the unimpressed French inspector. Watching the original we find that Martin filched the entire performance from Brando, with one crucial difference - Martin is funny. Brando - he just ain't funny...

At one point, Freddie is asked if he has a reliable local character witness. Martin goes through a minute of exasperated tip-of-his-tongue recall, jumping up and down, banging his head until he gets it at last. Brando just gives him the name. Brando seems to be enjoying himself, but Martin has the comic's gleeful sadism/masochism towards his character's plight.

Later you may recall Caine is required to impersonate a German psychotherapist. He has a cold sadistic tone that works well against Martin's horrified incredulity. Niven, who plays the same role, is called upon to impersonate a Swiss doctor. And just plays him as Niven, with the same voice and everything. Critics say Caine is always the same, but Niven though urbane really is shown to be a one-note actor in this.

The comic scenes are generally leaden, though to be fair Martin borrowed Rupret's hulking suspicious demeanor from Brando, except again he's funny and Brando is not. Worst of all, the film ditches the surprise twist of DRS, ending with a real cop out.

They could have cast it with Jerry Lewis as Freddie and maybe Dean Martin as the smooth one, or even as a Hope and Crosby vehicle. But bland Niven and unfunny Brando sink it.

Brando and niven. Kind of an odd pairing of leads. With shirley jones, a couple years after music man and gantry. And john banner is the mayor, in a small role, just before hogan's heroes. It's very similar to the 1988 version, where they are both con men. But the endings are quite different! And the 1988 version is much more clever. Many of the lines are the same, word for word, but i thought the casting and the script were both much better in the 1988 one. It was kind of strange that in this 1964 version, freddy gets out of the army right at the beginning, and then proceeds to wear his uniform for the rest of the film. A bit odd and un-necessary. It's not bad. Just not as good as the 1988 remake. Directed by ralph levy. Had worked with jack benny and bob newhart, so he must have known how to do comedy.

Marlon Brando proves he has quite the comic touch as serial seducer "Benson" who encounters the suave sophisticated David Niven "Jameson" - a man after his own heart - who poses as an exiled Prince on the French Riviera to fleece a wealthier clientele. Together they join forces with considerable success until Shirley Jones ("Janet Walker") arrives on the scene and soon the two men are at loggerheads determined to be "King of the Mountain". Niven is in his element here, and the three gel well on screen with good pace and plenty of witty one-liners as Jones craftily manipulates both men. The production is polished, and although the humour is a little too slapstick at times (never my favourite) this is an enjoyable little comedy that spawned many a successor - none, in my view, as good as this original.

Marlon Brando is just amazing in this HILARIOUS film.Most people don't understand Brando's career choices during the sixties.But I think that as years go by,they will.His ideas were way ahead of his time.His talent and range is unbelievable.Every actor tries to imitate his intensity (deniro,penn,nolte,.....) with no success.Definitely the king of acting.

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).

Being the basis for "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," I couldn't help watching this one. I had the bad fortune of seeing the remake first, however, and they are scene-by-scene identical up until the last bits. I think that I liked "Bedtime Story" more, however. Marlon Brando did a much better job than Steve Martin did 25 years later. David Niven played the part better too. "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" twisted the end of the movie and set it up for a sequel, but that never came through. I like it fine, anyway, just how it is.