Bedazzled
I'VE no doubt written about the dizzying delights of Bedazzled in these pages before. As one of the seminal cult comedies of the 1960s and a stylishly appointed big screen vehicle for the offbeat allure of much loved TV duo Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, that only seems right and proper.
However, with the recent passing of one of the film's most dynamic attractions, Raquel Welch, a brief return to that weird and wonderful world is surely fully justified.
Welch's contribution to director Stanley Doren's 1967 fun-filled take on the Faust legend is small but unforgettable all the same. She plays Lillian Lust, the embodiment of sexual desire who is sent as one of the seven deadly sins to torment a poor little short order cook when he unwisely sells his soul to the Devil.
Moore is his usual nervy everyman self as Stanley Moon, the ineffectual dolt who is in love with waitress Margaret Spencer (Eleanor Bron) but can't bring himself to talk to her. The aloof and snarky Peter Cook is the debonair George Spiggott, a mysterious figure who comes to Stanley at his weakest moment and offers to solve his problems in return for a small payment. As George is actually the Devil in civilian clothing, that payment involves signing over his soul to the dark side – and that's where the fun really starts. Granted seven wishes, Stanley is thrown into a selection of farcical scenarios that will supposedly allow him to hook up with his beloved Margaret.
This being a devilish comedy, it's hardly unsurprising that every one of those opportunities – essentially the seven deadly sins – is scuppered by the small print in the sneaky Spiggott's contract. There's much fun to be had as the ineffectual Stanley grapples with the concepts of envy, gluttony, avarice, vanity and such like, but nothing compares to Welch's timely arrival as Lust.
Stripped down to her bright red underwear for her seduction scene with Dudley and spouting out her suggestive lines in a sultry southern US accent, she stands out in a film full to bursting with quirky characters and surreal set pieces.
It may not be her greatest onscreen performance – for that, seek out her breakthrough turn in the trippy 1966 sci-fi classic Fantastic Voyage – or even her most iconic – her fur bikini clad role as Barbarella in One Million Years BC takes that title with ease – but it's certainly up there.
There's a lot of competition, from trampolining nuns to the sight of Cook warbling away as pop star Drimble Wedge, but it's Welch's image that lingers long after the credits roll. She dominates every contemporary poster of the film, usually in a pose where she's towering over a besotted Dudley, and every video and DVD cover released features her front and centre.
It may be Pete and Dud's movie, but to the viewing public of the time and even today, it's the Chicago-born beauty who really stands out.
There are many reasons to remember the screen siren that was Raquel Welch. Bedazzled is one of the best.
