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The Party
1968
In one of their few non-Clouseau efforts, Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers preserve the spirit of the French bumbler in the person of Hrundi V. Bakshi, an accident-prone Indian actor. Brought to Hollywood to play the title role in SON OF GUNGA DIN, Bakshi destroys the film's most elaborate set with his bungling and is banned .. Read more
| Starring | Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Gavin McLeod, Buddy Lester |
|---|---|
| Director | Blake Edwards |
| Genres | Comedy |
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The Party
In one of their few non-Clouseau efforts, Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers preserve the spirit of the French bumbler in the person of Hrundi V. Bakshi, an accident-prone Indian actor. Brought to Hollywood to play the title role in SON OF GUNGA DIN, Bakshi destroys the film's most elaborate set with his bungling and is banned from the set by Edward Clutterbuck (J. Edward McKinley), the film's producer. But because of an error by the producer's secretary, Bakshi's name is added to the guest list of his next party, an A-list affair. Shortly after arriving, Bakshi begins accidentally dismantling Clutterbuck's carefully staged event, destroying a flower bed, knocking a servant through a bay window, and triggering the lawn sprinklers, soaking the producer's pretentious guests. When the producer's daughter, Molly (Kathe Green), and a group of her friends arrive with a Day-Glo-painted elephant, Baskhi is shocked by the sacrilege and insists on washing the pachyderm in one of the house's indoor pools. As the other guests begin to join in the fun, pandemonium erupts. Sellers is typically brilliant in a film abounding in sidesplitting sight gags.
| Starring | Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Gavin McLeod, Buddy Lester |
|---|---|
| Director | Blake Edwards |
| Studio | MGM ENTERTAINMENT |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 35 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Comedy |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: 27 Sep 2004 Production year: 1968 |
| Format | DVD |
The Party (1968)
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Critics' reviews (3)
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Peter Sellers was always difficult to keep in check, and his Pink Panther director Blake Edwards struggles to contain him in this straight-up farce. Edwards had promised the star a diversion from his Inspector Clouseau role, and the result is a one-joke idea in the two-reel style of a silent comedy. Sellers puts on the accent that enraptured Sophia Loren in The Millionairess to play a clumsy Indian actor who inadvertently wrecks a Hollywood production. There are some very funny moments, but Sellers, like the character he plays, overstays his welcome.
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Sellers gets to do his funny accent as an accident-prone Indian actor brought to Hollywood, fired for inadvertently... read more on Time Out
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Most helpful member's review
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14 out of 16 people found this review helpful
One of the funniest films...
I love this film so much that, although I already own it on VHS, I want it on DVD!
Peter Sellers is perfect as the naive Indian actor new to Hollywood.
From the very start of the film, where we see him on location for a movie, things do not go well for him. He is just as much a victim of his own bumbling, accident-prone self as Sellers most famous screen character Inspector Clouseau. But he is also continually self-effacing and over-gracious, with a big smile and pressed palms, which I think is just right. Watching him is both hilarious and slightly painful.
He finds himself invited (by accident) to a hip Hollywood party hosted by a top producer in his too-modern-for-its-own-good house. Of course he doesn't realise he's only got invited by accident but it is immediately obvious (both painfully and hilariously) that he does not belong there at all. In both a literal sense, when for example there is no seat for him at the table, and socially where no-one knows him and he doesn't know what to do with himself. He attempts to blend in and not bring attention to himself, but instead ends up doing the reverse. The aforementioned house provides much of the physical comedy for him, with moving floors, swimming pools and open central fireplaces, etc. He also experiences the universal problem of a guest trying to find the bathroom and then getting it to flush. This scene is somehow far more enjoyable than all the many versions of this scenario in more recent films.
Naturally he also falls for the beautiful, sweet girl, who is also new to the business, as well as managing to make ?friends? with a Texan cowboy-type actor who finds him amusing.
As the evening progresses things descend more and more into chaos. This chaos finally includes a trope of Russian dancers, an elephant and a lot of bubbles. It is wildly silly but great fun, I have rarely laughed so much. This film has a real feel-good factor and the characters all get the appropriate ending.
It is a hugely enjoyable 70's film, which I highly recommend. -
Most recent members' review
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4 out of 5 people found this review helpful
Simply his funniest film.
I think is the funniest film Sellers ever made.
Sellers always had a particular fascination for the Indian accent and seems very comfortable playing a rather naïve Indian gentleman who gets invited to a swish Hollywood party by mistake. The setting is severely dated and may put newcomers off, but I regard it as a marvellous period piece representing the Hollywood elite lifestyle of the late 60s (just look at that furniture).
The slapstick starts out low key, but as Sellers confuses things by playing with the tannoy, pushing buttons and gadgets that he shouldn’t then the film crescendos to a fantastic pandemonium of the type that all great parties should consist of (especially if it’s to the detriment of the pretentious rich).
This may all sound puerile but just watch Sellers relishing this role. -
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