I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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.

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).

'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.

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.