The Party **** (1968, Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Natalia Borisova, Marge Champion, Steve Franken, Fay McKenzie, Denny Miller, Buddy Lester, Jean Carson) – Classic Movie Review 8868

Director Blake Edwards’s 1968 comedy The Party is a sometimes underestimated, often hilarious vehicle for Peter Sellers, reprising his strictly non-PC Indian turn from The Millionairess as clumsy Indian film extra Hrundi V Bakshi, in an inventive series of slapstick gags as he wrecks millionaire movie producer Fred Clutterbuck’s party he’s invited to by mistake. The trouble starts when Bakshi accidentally has his first sip of alcohol, a bit like Kim Basinger in Edwards’s Blind Date.

It is notable as the only non-Pink Panther collaboration between Sellers and Edwards. The script was only 63 pages and is a loosely structured series of set pieces for Sellers’s bravura improvisational comedy talents. Edwards said that it was the shortest script he ever shot from, and that most of the film was improvised on set.

The Jacques Tati-inspired style of comedy is generally brilliant, and Sellers delivers a masterclass in bumbling. But it is a pity about the outmoded British view of ‘comic’ Indians. Though is it any more offensive than the Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau voice is to the French? So, both of them offensive then, a bit like Mickey Rooney in Edwards’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

The Party is supposed to have a reputation as a classic comedic cult film, but it is largely forgotten, certainly compared with the Pink Panther films, or some of the other works of Sellers and Edwards.

Steve Franken has a good time as the increasingly drunk waiter. Fay Mckenzie plays Alice Clutterbuck, the hostess of the film’s chaotic bash.

Also in the cast are Claudine Longet, Marge Champion, Steve Franken, Denny Miller, Buddy Lester, Natalia Borisova, Jean Carson, Al Checco, Corinne Cole, Dick Crockett, Frances Davis, Danielle De Metz, Herbert Ellis, Paul Ferrara, Kathe Green (as Molly Clutterbuck), Allen Jung, Sharron Kimberly (as Princess Helena), J Edward McKinley (as the host Fred Clutterbuck), Stephen Liss (as Geoffrey Clutterbuck), and James Lamphier.

It is written by Blake Edwards, Tom Waldman and Frank Waldman, from a story by Blake Edwards.

The score is composed by Henry Mancini, including the song ‘Nothing to Lose’ (lyrics by Don Black; performed by Claudine Longet). Mancini noted: ‘That’s what I get for writing a nice song for a comedy. Nobody’s going to hear a note of it.’

Fernando Carrere the production designer reused the fireplace he designed for The Pink Panther (1963).

Producer Walter Mirisch was nervous because he knew that Sellers and Edwards were considered liabilities. He recalled: ‘Blake had achieved a reputation as a very expensive director, particularly after The Great Race.’ But Mirisch need not have worried. The Party was a fair-sized hit. Costing $1.5 million, it took $2.9 million in rentals.

The Party was released on 4 April 1968, the day of the assassination of Martin Luther King, so many opening night audience members were unaware of the tragedy.

The film’s interiors were shot at the Samuel Goldwyn Studios, 7200 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood. Mr Clutterbuck’s House is 9271 Robin Drive, Los Angeles. Michele Monet’s Apartment complex is 1427 N Poinsettia Place, Los Angeles.

Fay McKenzie in the 1940s.

Fay McKenzie, Gene Autry’s co-star in five movie Westerns, died at 101 on 16 April 2019. She also appeared in Edwards’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Experiment in Terror and S.O.B.  Her screenwriter husband Tom Waldman worked on the screenplays for Edwards’s High Time (1960), The Party (1968) and Trail of the Pink Panther (1982).

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8868

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com