Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Roy Boulting

Writers:

Roy Boulting (story)
Leo Marks (story)

Release Date:

22 October 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

The movie with the 6 best Sellers in one!

Plot:

In this comedy, set during the Nazi occupation of France, Peter Sellers plays most major male parts...

Plot Keywords:

Brothel | Hitler | Agent | Soldier | Undercover

Cast

Peter Sellers	...	Général Latour / Major Robinson / Herr Schroeder / Adolf Hitler / The President / Prince Kyoto
Lila Kedrova	...	Madame Grenier
Curd Jürgens	...	General Von Grotjahn
Béatrice Romand	...	Marie-Claude
Jenny Hanley	...	Michelle
Gabriella Licudi	...	Simone
Françoise Pascal	...	Madeleine
Rex Stallings	...	Alan Cassidy
Rula Lenska	...	Louise
Daphne Lawson	...	Claudine
Hylette Adolphe	...	Mlle. Tom-Tom
Vernon Dobtcheff	...	Padre
Douglas Sheldon	...	Kapitan Kneff
Thorley Walters	...	General Erhardt
Timothy West	...	Convent Chaplain

Also Known As:

Party for Hitler
Undercovers Hero (USA)

Runtime:

107 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:12 (DVD rating) | UK:X (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Netherlands:AL | Norway:15 | Sweden:15 | USA:R

Company:

Charter Film Productions

Trivia:

The last film of Basil Dignam.

Quotes:

Schultz: What do you look forward to?
Herr Schroeder: After the war? I look forward to going back to my old job in civilian street.
Schultz: What did you do?
Herr Schroeder: I was an income tax inspector.
Schultz: Very different from the Gestapo.
Herr Schroeder: Not the way I do it!

Movie Connections:

Edited into 42nd Street Forever Part 4 (2009) (V)

If I'm being honest (and I am), this film is a tragedy.

The tag line: "The film with Six Best Sellers in one!"

a) The word Best in that sentence is misleading; b) That sentence is funnier than the film itself.

"Soft Beds" is a very disjointed, rambling film set in World War 2. France is being invaded, and a local brothel seems to be getting mixed up in the conflict. A group of prostitutes, with help from a British and an American soldier, save Paris from being blown up by the Gestapo.

Well, there you have it. I don't think I'd need go on, as that sums up the whole rubbishness of the film adequately, but I think I might as well press on.

The only reason anyone may remember this film is because Peter Sellers plays six roles. However, none of them are impressive, and several are characterisations played with far better flair in his other films; the old man who is married but prefers to spend time with the young ladies was played a lot better in "Waltz of the Toreadors", whilst the Japanese man, with pidgin English, was funnier in "Murder by Death". Sellers also plays another French character who has about 3 minutes screentime and isn't worth remembering, a Gestapo leader who is neither funny nor menacing, and Adolf Hitler, there so that we can make a joke about the fact that the Fuhrer was racist. It sums up the tone of the film quite nicely. The only character played by Sellers who gets any laughs is a British officer, who has the same voice inflections as Captain Mandrake from "Strangelove", and is funny only because Sellers can say "Sod it!" in a funny way.

The film is just a long line of sketches involving prostitutes getting one over on the Nazis, with the British Sellers wandering in and out of the narrative to shoot someone. The rambling, unfunny plot, coupled with several scenes in which people die of flatulence, are the final nails in the coffin for this sorry film. In fact, the only fun one could get from this film is the fact that the cast list is chocker with actors and actresses you'll recognise from other shows (including Phillip Madoc, and good old Nick "the Brigadier in Doctor Who" Courtney, uncredited, and managing even to out-act Sellers with 3 lines). And Rula Lenska is topless in her first scene, which probably counts for something.

It's rubbish. Stay away. 3/10