Product Details

• Actors: Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Natalia Borisova, Jean Carson, Marge Champion
• Directors: Blake Edwards
• Writers: Blake Edwards, Frank Waldman, Tom Waldman
• Producers: Blake Edwards, Ken Wales, Walter Mirisch
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
• Language: English, Italian
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
• VHS Release Date: March 2, 1994
• Run Time: 99 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (178 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6301972066
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #167,678 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Though this film is a relatively minor one in the massive canon of Peter Sellers, it has moments of absolute hilarity. Written and directed by Blake Edwards, one of Sellers's most fertile collaborators, the film stars Sellers as a would-be actor from India (let them try to get away with that today) who is a walking disaster area. After ruining a day's shooting as an extra on a film, he finds himself unintentionally invited to a big Hollywood party. That's pretty much it as far as plot goes, but Edwards and Sellers know how to milk a simple idea for an unending string of slapstick gags. The result is a film that is episodic and sketchy, but also frequently loony in an inspired way. --Marshall Fine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

67 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sellers would have been a silent movie star, December 26, 2004

By 

The Rocketman (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Party (DVD)

THE PARTY is a movie whose title gives away the plot. Ooops! Should I have said "spoiler warning" before I wrote that?

The fact is, this movie is a showcase for Peter Seller's comedic talents. Just as in the PINK PANTHER movies, he plays a fish out of water (here an Indian rather than a Frenchman). There's a bit of a dramatic arc to the movie, which is why this isn't just sketch comedy, but the real point is to see how funny improvised pantomime can be. Yes, a few minutes could have been edited out of the ending where the slapstick level rises dramatically, but that was the style back then.

Reasons to watch this film:

a) To see a 3-wheeled Morgan.

b) To see how Sellers be amazing funny without pulling faces (a la Jim Carrey) or even dialogue. Seller's character is a real person and not an over-the-top characterization. This is the type of film that Charlie Chaplin could have made 50 years prior to it's release.

c) To see a stylized version of 60's fashion. Blake would shoot another extended party sequence 10 years later in SOB (1981) and it's interesting to compare the passage of time via fashion and social behavior.

d) To learn comedic timing from one of the masters: Peter Sellers. This movie would simply not be possible without him in it. Watch and see how much humor he can derive from such simple actions as retrieving a shoe, flushing a toilet, or finding a men's room. This is the reason why you can have surprisingly long takes (and in master shots no less!): Sellers knowns how to pace the timing and doesn't need the film editors to do so.

e) To see Gavin MacLeod before he became a TV star on Mary Tyler Moore and the Love Boat. (And he plays a nasty guy here!)

f) To remind yourself that sometimes very subtle gestures can be the most funny.

This movie plays like an old-time silent film and you might be inspired to look at the works of Charlie Chaplin, Buster Keaton, or Harold Lloyd if you like this movie.

30 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Joy to Watch!, October 2, 2002

By 

Fernando Silva "fedo" (Santiago de Chile.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Party (DVD)

I've watched this movie about a thousand times and I have never get bored of doing it, it's just so hilariously funny, that I could go on watching it over and over again, forever.

Peter Sellers, the master of comedy himself, stars as Hrundi Bakshi, in this un-timely film. He's invited by mistake to a lavish dinner party and from then on, all goes wrong, with the aid of a drunken waiter, played with great comedy skill by Steve Franken. Pretty french actress and singer Claudine Longet, plays a basically nice & good natured starlet, who's taken to the party by a lecherous producer (Gavin McLeod), eventually befriending our hero.

Lots of gags in this sarcastic and ironic look at Hollywood parties and its characters (the fading cowboy star, the italian/latin bombshell, the starlets, the highbrow senator's wife, the affected phony princess, the stuffy party hostess, etc.)

You must watch the dvd, the film being shown in its original widescreen format is a must-see, `cos you won't miss any details of what's going on!

41 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lesser-known classic..., April 12, 2004

By 

JR Pinto (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Party (DVD)

Blake Edwards is an underappreciated director - perhaps because he has made so many bad films at the end of his career. Yet he remains one of the great cinematic voices of the sixties and seventies. Any Austin Powers fan would do well to watch his films, which are the real deal. Edwards captured the spirit of the swinging sixties the way few others have. And he and Stanley Kubrick were the only two American directors who were able to properly utilize Peter Sellers.

I wonder how this movie will play to politically correct crowds. Much of the humor derives from Sellers' doing an Indian accent. Blake Edwards Breakfast at Tiffany's is criticized for the somewhat hateful caricature of a Chinese man played by Mickey Rooney. In this film however, Sellers' makes us laugh at the character without robbing him of his dignity - he is, after all, the romantic lead.

In the end, what this film really is is Edwards' homage to silent film. Yes, there is talking but most of the humor is physical and much of the dialogue is obscured by music. For any fans of the Pink Panther series, this film would be a welcome addition.