Kurt at 17:50, 24 January 2023

2023-01-24T17:50:38Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 12:50, 24 January 2023
Line 1:		Line 1:
	{{short description\|1974 film by John Boulting, Roy Boulting}}		{{short description\|1974 film by John Boulting, Roy Boulting}}
	~~{{Use dmy dates\|date=May 2016}}~~
	~~{{Use British English\|date=May 2016}}~~
	{{Infobox film		{{Infobox film
	\| name = Soft Beds, Hard Battles		\| name = Soft Beds, Hard Battles
	\| image = ~~"Soft_Beds~~,~~_Hard_Battles"_~~(1974).jpg		\| image = Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974).jpg
	\| image_size =		\| image_size =
	\| alt =		\| alt =

Kurt: 1 revision imported

2023-01-24T16:51:40Z

1 revision imported

← Older revision	Revision as of 11:51, 24 January 2023
(No difference)

en>Bearcat: removed Category:World War II films; added Category:British World War II films using HotCat

2022-09-24T20:19:47Z

removed Category:World War II films; added Category:British World War II films using HotCat

New page

{{short description|1974 film by John Boulting, Roy Boulting}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2016}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2016}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Soft Beds, Hard Battles
| image = "Soft_Beds,_Hard_Battles"_(1974).jpg
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption =
| director = [[Roy Boulting]]
| writer = Roy Boulting<br />[[Leo Marks]]
|based_on = an idea by [[Maurice Moisiewitsch]]
| producer = [[John Boulting]]<br />Roy Boulting
| starring = [[Peter Sellers]]<br />[[Curd Jurgens]]<br />[[Lila Kedrova]]
| narrator =
| cinematography = [[Gilbert Taylor]]
| editing = [[Martin Charles]]
| music = [[Neil Rhoden]]
| studio = Charter Film Productions
| distributor = [[The Rank Organisation]] (through [[20th Century Fox|Fox]]-Rank<ref>{{cite web|title=Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974)|website=[[BBFC]]|access-date=31 January 2022|url=https://www.bbfc.co.uk/release/soft-beds-hard-battles-q29sbgvjdglvbjpwwc0yoty5mja}}</ref>)
| released = {{start date|df=yes|1974|01}} (UK)
| runtime = 107 minutes
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| budget = £750,000<ref name="guard">Boulting threat to halt films
Barker, Dennis. The Guardian19 Mar 1973: 1.</ref>
| gross =
}}
'''''Soft Beds, Hard Battles''''' is a 1974 British [[comedy film]] directed by [[Roy Boulting]], starring [[Peter Sellers]] (in several roles), [[Curt Jurgens]], [[Lila Kedrova]] and [[Jenny Hanley]]. Sellers reunited with the [[Boulting brothers]] for this farce, in which the women of a brothel help the war effort to rid the world of the Nazi peril - in the bedroom.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://movies.tvguide.com/undercovers-hero/121672 |title=Undercovers Hero Trailer, Reviews and Schedule for Undercovers Hero | TVGuide.com |publisher=Movies.tvguide.com |date= |access-date=2014-03-12}}</ref>

The film took a limited release; in the United States, it was released under the title '''''Undercovers Hero'''''.

==Plot==
Set in Nazi-occupied France, the story follows Major Robinson of the British Army. Installing himself at a Parisian brothel, he assists the French resistance and works with Madame Grenier and her girls who find themselves eliminating high ranking German officers (using ingenious rigged beds and killer flatulence pills) right under the noses of the Gestapo. The girls find themselves enlisted in the [[Free French Forces]] and finally help to foil Hitler's plan to blow up Paris. They later receive medals from the French president.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6b65365a |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120712182503/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2b6b65365a |url-status=dead |archive-date=2012-07-12 |title=Soft Beds, Hard Battles | BFI | BFI |publisher=Explore.bfi.org.uk |date= |access-date=2014-03-12}}</ref>

==Cast==
*[[Peter Sellers]] as General Latour/Major Robinson/Herr Schroeder/[[Adolf Hitler]]/President of France/Prince Kyoto/Narrator
*[[Lila Kedrova]] as Madame Grenier
*[[Curd Jürgens]] as General von Grotjahn
*[[Béatrice Romand]] as Marie-Claude
*[[Jenny Hanley]] as Michelle
*[[Gabriella Licudi]] as Simone
*[[Françoise Pascal]] as Madeleine
*[[Rex Stallings]] as Alan Cassidy
*[[Rula Lenska]] as Louise
*[[Daphne Lawson]] as Claudine
*[[Hylette Adolphe]] as Tom-tom
*[[Vernon Dobtcheff]] as Padre
*[[Douglas Sheldon]] as Kapitan Kneff
*[[Thorley Walters]] as General Erhardt
*[[Timothy West]] as Chaplain
*[[Jean Charles Driant]] as Jean
*[[Philip Madoc]] as Field Marshal Weber
*[[Patricia Burke]] as Mother Superior
*[[Basil Dignam]] as Brigadier
*[[Nicholas Loukes]] as Schultz
*[[Stanley Lebor]] as 1st Gestapo agent
*[[Gertan Klauber]] as 2nd Gestapo agent
*[[Barry J. Gordon]] as 3rd Gestapo agent
*[[Joan Baxter]] as Vera Lynn
*[[Carolle Rousseau]] as Hélène
*[[Windsor Davies]] as Bisset
*[[Nicholas Courtney]] as French Intelligence Officer (uncredited)

==Production==
John and Roy Boulting had been pursuing separate careers for several years before reuniting to make this film. John left his position as managing director of [[British Lion Films|British Lion]] which he held for six years to produce "because I am anxious to make films again."<ref name="new">Author? Archie Bunker, No Less
By A. H. WEILER. The New York Times 3 December 1972: D11.</ref> He called the film "a flippant look at war and the absurdities of war... All naked men are alike really and the film stresses the idea that wars are not won or lost by top level Whitehall, Pentagon, or Wilhemstrasse strategy but by fortuitous intangibles and by the foibles of human beings."<ref name="new"/>

The brothers were directors of British Lion, which was sold to Barclay Securities. They proposed to sell 45 of the 60 acres of Shepperton studio for housing development. The union protested and said if any of the previous directors of Shepperton, such as the Boultings, tried to make films anywhere they would be blackbanned. Production on the film began in March 1973 but was halted due to uncertainty about the banning. John Boulting blamed "a little cabal of Communists who are ideologically motivated. They are dedicated in my view not to the improvement of our industry but to the destruction of the whole fabric of society." The union said the Boultings were "hysterical."<ref name="guard"/> The union withdrew the blackban provided the Boultings give "prior consideration" to Shepperton for the making of any other films.<ref>New move in film dispute
Our own Reporter. The Guardian (1959-2003); London (UK) [London (UK)]20 Mar 1973: 5.</ref> The brothers agreed.<ref>Studio workers lift blacking threat
Our own Reporter. The Guardian 23 Mar 1973: 5.</ref> Filming finished by May 1973.<ref>IT'S MUTUAL: Liza Minnelli Tells Love for Peter Sellers
Lambert, Tom. Los Angeles Times23 May 1973: a9.</ref>

==Reception==
The film was a financial failure and Roy Boulting lost a good deal of his own money on it.<ref>hayley was my true love, but I lost her and my son. now I've found him again Film legend roy Boulting on a life of infidelity and reunion with his pop star son: [1ST_STH Edition 5]
Middlehurst, Lester. Daily Mail20 June 1998: 32.</ref>

''[[The Irish Times]]'' called it "his best film for some time".<ref>SIX OF SELLERS
Linechan, Fergus. The Irish Times 4 Nov 1974: 10.</ref> [[Vincent Canby]] ''[[The New York Times]]'' called it "a sketch film with very few jokes".<ref>{{cite web|last=Canby |first=Vincent |url=https://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9806E4D8173FE034BC4B51DFB667838E669EDE |title=Movie Review - Undercovers Hero - Screen: 'Undercovers':Sellers Plays 6 Roles in Boultings Comedy |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=1975-10-23 |access-date=2014-03-12}}</ref> ''[[Time Out (magazine)|Time Out]]'' wrote: "Its raison d'être is Peter Sellers, back in brilliant form as six variations on blinkered authority, including Hitler and a De Gaulle-ish French general, but particularly as the Gestapo chief Schroeder, limping-cum-strutting from disaster to disaster, an extraordinary amalgam of [[Dr Strangelove]] and [[I'm All Right Jack|Fred Kite]]. Worth a visit for Sellers and one classic joke about a PoW."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timeout.com/london/film/soft-beds-hard-battles |title=Soft Beds, Hard Battles|website=Time Out London|date=27 December 2007|access-date=12 March 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{IMDb title|0070855}}
*[https://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6b65365a ''Soft Beds, Had Battles''] at BFI
{{Boulting brothers}}

[[Category:1974 films]]
[[Category:1974 comedy films]]
[[Category:British comedy films]]
[[Category:1970s English-language films]]
[[Category:Films about prostitution in Paris]]
[[Category:Films about the French Resistance]]
[[Category:Films directed by Roy Boulting]]
[[Category:Films set in France]]
[[Category:Films set in the 1940s]]
[[Category:Military humor in film]]
[[Category:British World War II films]]
[[Category:1970s British films]]

Soft Beds, Hard Battles - Revision history

Kurt at 17:50, 24 January 2023

Kurt: 1 revision imported

en>Bearcat: removed Category:World War II films; added Category:British World War II films using HotCat