''Soft Beds, Hard Battles'' is a 1974 British

comedy film The comedy film is a film genre that emphasizes humor. These films are designed to amuse audiences and make them laugh. Films in this genre typically have a happy ending, with dark comedy being an exception to this rule. Comedy is one of the o ...

directed by

Roy Boulting John Edward Boulting (21 December 1913 – 17 June 1985) and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting (21 December 1913 – 5 November 2001), known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for thei ...

, starring

Peter Sellers Peter Sellers (born Richard Henry Sellers; 8 September 1925 – 24 July 1980) was an English actor and comedian. He first came to prominence performing in the BBC Radio comedy series ''The Goon Show''. Sellers featured on a number of hit comi ...

(in several roles),

Curd Jürgens Curd Gustav Andreas Gottlieb Franz Jürgens (13 December 191518 June 1982) was a German-Austrian stage and film actor. He was usually billed in English-speaking films as Curt Jurgens. He was well known for playing Ernst Udet in ''Des Teufels Gener ...

Lila Kedrova Yelizaveta Nikolaevna Kedrova (Russian: Елизавета Николаевна Кедрова; 9 October 1909 – 16 February 2000), known as Lila Kedrova, was a Russian actress of the screen and stage. She won the Academy Award for Best Suppo ...

and Jenny Hanley. Sellers reunited with the

Boulting brothers John Edward Boulting (21 December 1913 – 17 June 1985) and Roy Alfred Clarence Boulting (21 December 1913 – 5 November 2001), known collectively as the Boulting brothers, were English filmmakers and identical twins who became known for thei ...

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. 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 __NOTOC__ The French Liberation Army ( ; AFL) was the reunified French Army that arose from the merging of the Armée d'Afrique with the prior Free French Forces (; FFL) during World War II. The military force of Free France, it participated ...

and finally help to foil Hitler's plan to blow up Paris. They later receive medals from the French president.

Cast

as General Latour/Major Robinson/Herr Schroeder/

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

/President of France/Prince Kyoto/Narrator *

as Madame Grenier *

as General von Grotjahn * Béatrice Romand as Marie-Claude * Jenny Hanley as Michelle *

Gabriella Licudi Gabriella Licudi (born Gabrielle Carmen Stuttard, 14 September 1941 – 18 September 2022) was a British actress. Biography Born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, Licudi was the daughter of Northern Ireland-born naval engineer Wilfred James Stutta ...

as Simone * Françoise Pascal as Madeleine * Rex Stallings as Alan Cassidy *

Rula Lenska Rula Lenska (born Roza Maria Leopoldyna Lubienski 30 September 1947) is an English actress. She mainly appears in British stage and television productions and is known in the United States for a series of television advertisements in the 1970s ...

as Louise * Daphne Lawson as Claudine * Hylette Adolphe as Tom-tom *

Vernon Dobtcheff Vernon Alexandre Dobtcheff (born 14 August 1934) is a French-British character actor, who has appeared in over 300 film, television, and stage productions in a career spanning six decades. Rupert Everett described him as a "patron saint of the ...

as Padre *

Doug Sheldon Doug Sheldon (born Bernard Bobrow, 22 June 1936) is an English former pop singer, actor, and novelist. Early life Sheldon was born into a family of carnival businesspeople, and he worked as a barker while receiving training in acting.Bruce Ed ...

as Kapitan Kneff *

Thorley Walters Thorley Swinstead Walters (12 May 1913 – 6 July 1991) was an English actor. He played comedy roles in films including '' Carlton-Browne of the F.O.'' (1959) and ''Two-Way Stretch'' (1960). Early life Walters was born in Teigngrace, Devon, th ...

as General Erhardt *

Timothy West Timothy Lancaster West (20 October 1934 – 12 November 2024) was an English actor with a long and varied career across theatre, film, and television. He began acting in repertory theatres in the 1950s before making his London stage debut in 19 ...

as Chaplain * Jean Charles Driant as Jean *

Philip Madoc Philip Madoc (born Philip Arvon Jones; 5 July 1934 – 5 March 2012) was a Welsh actor. He performed many stage, television, radio and film roles, and was recognised for having a "rich, sonorous voice" and often playing villains and office ...

as Field Marshal Weber *

Patricia Burke Patricia Burke (23 March 191723 November 2003), was an English singer and actress in cinema, stage and TV. She was the daughter of actress Marie Burke and British operatic tenor Thomas Burke. On stage she enjoyed success in the 1943 West End mu ...

as Mother Superior *

Basil Dignam Basil Dignam (24 October 1905 – 31 January 1979) was an English character actor. Basil Dignam was born in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire. Before the acting, he tried many jobs, from a company clerk to a journalist. He acted on film and ...

as Brigadier * Nicholas Loukes as Schultz *

Stanley Lebor Stanley Harvey Lebor (24 September 1934 – 22 November 2014) was an English actor. He was best known for his roles as Howard Hughes in the 1980s BBC TV comedy series ''Ever Decreasing Circles'', the Mongon Doctor in ''Flash Gordon'' (1980), and ...

as 1st Gestapo agent *

Gertan Klauber George Gertan Klauber (5 March 1932 – 1 August 2008) was a Czech-born British actor, known for playing various character parts in films and television programmes, particularly the ''Carry On'' comedies. Early life Of Sudeten German and ...

as 2nd Gestapo agent * Barry J. Gordon as 3rd Gestapo agent * Joan Baxter as Vera Lynn * Carolle Rousseau as Hélène *

Windsor Davies Windsor Davies (28 August 1930 – 17 January 2019) was a British actor. He is best remembered for playing Battery Sergeant Major Williams in the sitcom '' It Ain't Half Hot Mum'' (1974–1981) over its entire run. The show's popularity resulted ...

as Bisset *

Nicholas Courtney William Nicholas Stone Courtney (16 December 1929 – 22 February 2011) was an Egyptian-born British actor. He was best known for his long-running role as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in the BBC science fiction television series ''Doctor Who''. ...

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 British Lion or British Lions may refer to: * British Lion, a national symbol of Great Britain Sport * British & Irish Lions, a touring side playing rugby union, known until 2001 as the British Lions * Great Britain national rugby league team, fo ...

which he held for six years to produce "because I am anxious to make films again."Author? Archie Bunker, No Less. By A. H. WEILER. ''The New York Times''. 3 December 1972: D11. 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." 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." The union withdrew the blackban provided the Boultings give "prior consideration" to Shepperton for the making of any other films. The brothers agreed. Filming finished by May 1973. The Rank Organisation financed four films by the end of the 1974 financial year,''Carry on Dick'', ''Carry on Girls'', ''The Belstone Fox'' and ''Don't Just Lie There, Say Something'', and partly financed ''Soft Beds and Hard Battles'' and ''Caravan to Vaccares''.

Reception

The film was a financial failure and Roy Boulting lost a considerable amount of his own money on it. ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' called it "his best film for some time".

Vincent Canby Vincent Canby (July 27, 1924 – October 15, 2000) was an American film and theatre critic who was the chief film critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1969 until the early 1990s, then its chief theatre critic from 1994 until his death in 2000. ...

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called it "a sketch film with very few jokes". '' 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 ''Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb'' (known simply and more commonly as ''Dr. Strangelove'') is a 1964 political satire black comedy film co-written, produced, and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is loosely ...

and Fred Kite. Worth a visit for Sellers and one classic joke about a PoW."

References

External links

*
''Soft Beds, Had Battles''
at BFI {{Boulting brothers 1974 films 1974 comedy films British comedy films 1970s English-language films Films about prostitution in Paris Films about the French Resistance Films directed by Roy Boulting Films set in France Films set in the 1940s Military comedy films British World War II films 1970s British films