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Soft Beds, Hard Battles
Soft Beds, Hard Battles
Directed by	Roy Boulting
Written by	Roy Boulting; Leo Marks
Based on	an idea by Maurice Moisiewitsch
Produced by	John Boulting; Roy Boulting
Starring	Peter Sellers; Curd Jurgens; Lila Kedrova
Cinematography	Gilbert Taylor
Edited by	Martin Charles
Music by	Neil Rhoden
Production; company	Charter Film Productions
Distributed by	The Rank Organisation (through Fox-Rank)
Release date	January 1974 (UK);
Running time	107 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Budget	£750,000

Soft Beds, Hard Battles is a 1974 British comedy film directed by Roy Boulting, starring Peter Sellers (in several roles), Curd Jürgens, 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.^[3]

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.^[4]

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
Doug 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 which he held for six years to produce "because I am anxious to make films again."^[5] 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."^[5]

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."^[2] The union withdrew the blackban provided the Boultings give "prior consideration" to Shepperton for the making of any other films.^[6] The brothers agreed.^[7] Filming finished by May 1973.^[8]

Reception

The film was a financial failure and Roy Boulting lost a considerable amount of his own money on it.^[9]

The Irish Times called it "his best film for some time".^[10] Vincent Canby The New York Times called it "a sketch film with very few jokes".^[11] 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 Fred Kite. Worth a visit for Sellers and one classic joke about a PoW."^[12]

References

^ "Soft Beds, Hard Battles (1974)". BBFC. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
^ ^a ^b Boulting threat to halt films Barker, Dennis. The Guardian19 Mar 1973: 1.
^ "Undercovers Hero Trailer, Reviews and Schedule for Undercovers Hero | TVGuide.com". Movies.tvguide.com. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
^ "Soft Beds, Hard Battles | BFI | BFI". Explore.bfi.org.uk. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
^ ^a ^b Author? Archie Bunker, No Less. By A. H. WEILER. The New York Times. 3 December 1972: D11.
^ New move in film dispute. The Guardian (1959–2003); London (UK) 20 March 1973: 5.
^ Studio workers lift blacking threat. The Guardian 23 March 1973: 5.
^ IT'S MUTUAL: Liza Minnelli Tells Love for Peter Sellers Lambert, Tom. Los Angeles Times. 23 May 1973: a9.
^ 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 Mail. 20 June 1998: 32.
^ SIX OF SELLERS Linechan, Fergus. The Irish Times. 4 November 1974: 10.
^ Canby, Vincent (23 October 1975). "Movie Review - Undercovers Hero - Screen: 'Undercovers':Sellers Plays 6 Roles in Boultings Comedy". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
^ "Soft Beds, Hard Battles". Time Out London. 27 December 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2014.