VividSimon Simply Perfect

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

bobthomp Great movie. Is this public domain? Who owns the rights? There must be a reason this never made it to DVD. The DVD that's out there was made from a VHS tape. But the movie shows Brando could do comedy. Of course if you are familiar with Niven you know he had a natural comedic gift. Please, someone put this out in high def. I think I actually bought the paperback book that came out when this movie first came out. I'll have to check my bookshelf. I was watching Send Me No Flowers the other night. I know it was remade but I think it's time for another version. Rock Hudson was great. And also another remake of My Favorite Wife. Didn't like the 60's remake.

dbdumonteil Very funny comedy .The repetitive side ("My granny is sick...She needs an operation...Alas I've not got enough money! Poor dear") is no problem.On the contrary,it becomes funnier and funnier as the movie progresses."Bedtime story" hints at fairy tales characters ,particularly the Little Red Riding Hood and Prince Charming (David Niven may be a fake shrink ,but he is a true prince short of the readies,a prince going as far as to "create" an evil prince in his château).But the most successful gags are provided by the spoof on all the Freudian works which were thriving since the forties (their heyday with such directors as Siodmak,Hitchcock,Lang ,Tourneur ..).Brando about to faint and pretending he is suffering each time he sees lovers dance is a nod to all these movies in which the hero(ine) couldn't stand a certain thing,because in his/her past something bad happened.I even suspect the writers of having borrowed the scene in which Shirley Jones and Brando are on the beach (You can do it on my legs too)from the famous scene on the boat when Marilyn Monroe tries to arouse Tony Curtis's desire .A treat for big babies.

Mercury-4 I didn't expect much from this movie.I saw the Steve Martin/Michael Caine remake, I tend to like Brando in movies, so I wanted to see it purely out of curiosity. The fact that it is not generally available left me guessing it was probably not a very good movie. That it was a light comedy from the sixties did not seem to bode well. And as much as I tend to like Brando in movies, I always have a vague foreboding that any of his movies will be one of the very BAD ones he made.I found a copy on Amazon.com and added it to my wish list and kind of forgot it. One of these days, I thought, I will get around to watching it.Then for Christmas my step-mother got it for me.But it turned out to be region 2, so I couldn't watch it anyway.Finally I got a region-free player (I already had three other movies that I got in a similar way that were non-region-1.) And I watched this last night.This movie had me HOWLING, at times at least.There is a scene towards the start. Brando's character is trying to seduce the town Burgermeister's daughter. He has managed to strip down to his underwear under rather bizarre pretenses.Unexpectedly, her dad, the Burgermeister, walks in at just that moment.Brando says: "Good evening sir ... I suppose you're WONDERING what I'm DOING here!" Now I know that's not funny to read. But you have to see Brando's facial expression at just that moment. It is truly hilarious.I don't know how to describe it. It's like a mix of cunning, genius, utter stupidity and complete insanity all at the same time. If it weren't the early sixties I would say it also threw cokehead psychosis in there ... which, undoubtedly, is not the case, but it is so completely INSANE and conniving that you could throw anything in the description.I rewound it three times and played it back and it had me howling every time.I have seen Brando be funny in interviews (with Dick Cavett, for instance) but I thought Brando in a comedy would be painful. But this is not just good, it's great. In my opinion anyway; comedy is a funny thing.Anyway it is not just that one scene; that one, if you see the movie, hopefully you will see what I mean. There are a number of scenes that I think are comic gold. Brando outflanking his commanding Colonel. Brando blithely explaining the facts of life to David Niven when they first meet. Brando playing the mentally-challenged young Prince.In fact really, a lot of the best moments are, in my opinion, Brando as a comic. Which blows my mind, I tend to associate him with serious, even over-the-top-serious, roles.My personal review then overall is that this movie has a large number of scenes that are extremely funny and if you like good comedy, are well worth going to the trouble of finding a copy and even getting a region-free player.Now, I don't think this movie is perfect, by a long shot.The one scene with Brando and the Burgermeister's daughter, after the great moment that impressed me so much, Brando walks out, doing calisthenics as he goes.This to me is a lame, TV-situation-comedy kind of pratfall.There are, similarly, some moments that feel very weak, like something on "I Love Lucy" at its worst.Worse ... as much as I loved a lot of this movie, honestly, I think it only really holds up well about half-way through.Somewhere around the half-way mark, I think they had basically taken advantage of the really good comedic potential of the premise. After a certain point, the really stand-out comedic moments are gone, and the movie is just developing and resolving it's plot.I can't see how they could have got around it, the plot had to work it's way out. But it's just not funny anymore. Not -really- funny. I can't think of any really funny moments after Shirley Jones has really gotten involved in the plot.Despite that, I still think this is a very funny movie well worth seeing, I highly recommend it, and if your sense of humor is anything like mine, you will get some good laughs about halfway through.I can't imagine watching it that far without having the urge to see how the plot works out, so you will probably watch the second half.Maybe you can catch up on your email while you see how it ends.

TxMike 'Bedtime Story' is the earlier movie that 'inspired' the more recent 'Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels.' I say inspired because, although most characters are the same, and the predominant story line is the same, including many identical scenes, the two movies end quite differently. Enough so to make them different movies, instead of the latter being a remake.I enjoyed 'Bedtime Story', but I strongly prefer 'Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels', which has come to be my all-time favorite comedy. I will watch it over and over, but one viewing of 'Bedtime Story' is enough for me. I never liked Brando as an actor, his delivery of lines, which sounds to me like a speech impediment, is distracting. I only liked him in the 'Godfather' movies, where he was the perfect choice.I also thought the 'Rupreckt' sub-character was played much better by Steve Martin, who is clearly better than Brando ever could be in this type of role. Niven is perfect here, even better than Michael Caine, and I love Shirley Jones (Janet Walker, not Colgate) in anything, but they are not enough to bring this marginal comedy any higher than '7' of 10. Plus, 'Bedtime Story' was obviously filmed on a set, with filmed scenes of Germany and southern France shown in the background. In contrast, 'Scoundrels' was filmed in France, which makes it a much more authentic movie.MAJOR SPOILER FOLLOWS - In 'Bedtime Story' a telegram back to Janet exposes the hoax, but she doesn't know Freddie is involved, so marries him, with Freddie moving back to the States to work in the soap factory, while Niven's character is tracking down a new target. In 'Scoundrels', it turns out that Janet has scammed both of them, disappears, and turns up later, with a group of investors, looking for help from the boys to work this real estate scam.