The lowdown: Yet another vehicle to showcase the sublime acting talents of Peter Sellers, 'Soft Beds, Hard Battles' is
set in occupied France in 1940. Sellers plays six separate characters, including Adolf Hitler. Much of the action takes 
place in a brothel, where Madame Grenier and her ladies entertain the German troops while working with the resistance 
to drive the Nazis out of France. Madame Grenier works with Major Robinson of British Intelligence (played by Sellers, 
of course) to kill off Nazi soldiers who visit the brothel. Herr Schroeder of the Gestapo (Sellers again) is suspicious and
believes that Madame Grenier is up to no good.

Nicholas Courtney has a brief cameo as a French Intelligence Officer (no, it is not an oxymoron!) who meets with his 
British counterparts at a special operations HQ somewhere in France. Sadly, he is only in one brief scene, and he was
not even credited in the film's closing credits, but his character was very much like the Brigadier (and indeed the film was
produced in 1974, at a time when Courtney was well-known for his other military role). Several others actors in 'Soft Battles'
will be familiar to Doctor Who fans - Philip Madoc (Solin in 'The Brain of Morbius') and Rula Lenska (Styles in 'Ressurection
of the Daleks') also have brief roles, while Blake's 7 fans may get a glimpe of Stephen Grief, who played the original Travis.

Aggedor's Verdict: Not one of Sellers' best efforts, to be honest. The film has a few good one-liners but is generally short 
on laughs, has too many predictable double entendres, and just feels way too long. Peter Sellers of course is magnificent,
although some of his characters could have been cut without making any difference to the film. This include Japan's Prince
Kyoto, and it is frankly embarassing to watch a white man playing an Asian - complete with unconvincing makeup - today). 
Recommended for die-hard Sellers fans, but otherwise you are better off watching 1980s British sitcom 'Allo Allo', which 
provides a lot more laughs in a similar vein.


  Quote:
Brigadier: We shall fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them in the hills.
  We never thought we'd be fighting them in the knocking shops.
  Video Clip:
Intelligence meeting   (3.1mb)
 

 
 
 
 
 

 


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