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Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

SOFT BEDS, HARD BATTLES is a deeply unfunny WW2 sex comedy that makes the 1970s-era CARRY ON films look like works of comedic genius by comparison. The main problem this film has, aside from the smutty and lowbrow script, is the presence if Peter Sellers. What kind of ego drives a man to believe he can convincingly and amusingly portray no less than six of the major roles in a film? Sellers is something of an acquired taste, I've discovered, but he simply isn't very good here. The nadir of the film is the Japanese character he plays with the aid of stilted pronunciation and yellow-face makeup. I remember the defence of his similar Chinese role in MURDER BY DEATH being that he was referencing the old Hollywood films where western actors played Chinese characters, but he doesn't have that excuse here.The rest of the film is cheap and uneventful. The story takes place in a French brothel frequently visited by British spies, Nazi officers, and various other oddball characters. Farcical comedy ensues. There are some fun character actors present here playing the stock Nazi types: Curd Jurgens, Ian McCulloch, Michael Sheard, and Richard Marner, while the British beauties playing the prostitutes include the ubiquitous Francoise Pascal, Rula Lenska, and Jenny Hanley. Lila Kedrova is a delight as the brothel madam. Overall, though, this is a far cry from the kind of quality you'd expect director Roy Boulting to bring.

As we saw in Dr Strangelove, Peter Sellers is extremely adept and talented at playing many roles. However, in this lame and unfunny comedy, he literally falls flat on his (many) face(s).(For those not in UK, 'Allo, 'Allo is a long-running British family comedy series, set in a Belgian war-time town and occupied by the Germans.)It might be due to the winds of time and the changing tastes in comedy, but as someone who would have very young at this film's release, I didn't laugh once, neither at the jokes nor the visual slapstick.Sure, this send-up of everything second world war (Sellers plays all the world leaders, it seems) could have provided many comedy highlights but at times it's just painfully embarrassing. The dodgy accents either grate or annoy. I found the 'story' impossible to follow, assuming there actually was one and within half an hour had lost interest and only followed it to the end for reviewing purposes.The oft nude working girls of the 1940's Paris-set brothel made this an X-certificate novelty back 40 years ago and today, the toplessness a mere '12' certificate. These are pleasant distractions for the average male viewer of course but the novelty soon wears off and soon we are amidst the awful masks that Sellers wears to turn himself 'Japanese'. Even though the film runs for 90 minutes, it seems far longer.There's also a young-ish Timothy West as a Cardinal and Curt Jurgens as an SS Officer.This may remain Peter Sellers' single worse film. He made some truly great ones, this is the exact opposite.

What I find interesting about this rather domestic small budget film (made at a time when Sellers's box office clout was at its lowest) is the fact that, yes Sellers plays six different characters, however the film is not saturated with him. In fact Sellers blends in remarkably to the rest of the film.Although I wouldn't necessarily call this film a comedy, there are some funny little bits in it, its strikes me more as a delightful war-time adventure story.In my opinion, the main focal point of this film is brothel owner Madame Grenier and her girls and their work for the French Resistance in occupied France. Sellers plays a whole host of characters around this central plot point and comes across far more as a counter-point to the action of Mme Grenier and her girls instead of screaming "Peter Sellers film Peter Selers film!" In his roles, he's also playing rather straight, not pushing for laughs, unlike his rather outrageous and dominating roles in the Pink Panther films.All in all, this British-made film is rather domestic in feel, not a big budget, and while it's enjoyable if you happen to come across it on cable one day, but don't be prepared to be knocked out.

To my mind, Sellers was at his peak when he made this film. It wasn't a commercial success like the Panther films, but it was a personal success for Sellers. He was being funny AND enjoying himself whilst doing it. I saw this film when it was first released at the cinema and enjoyed it then, and then again when it was shown on British TV. It hadn't aged, it was still excellent. I just wish Warners would release it on Video or DVD now......