The Party (1968)

Director: You.
Hrundi V. Bakshi: Me?
Director: Yes, you. Get off of my set, and out of my picture. Off, off! You're washed up, you're finished! I'll see to it that you never make another movie again!
Hrundi V. Bakshi: Does that include television, sir?

Quote No. 2
C. S. Divot: You mashuga!
Hrundi V. Bakshi: I am not your sugar.

[Mashuga is Yiddish for crazy/nuts, therefore here means crazy person]

Director: Blake Edwards
Producer: Blake Edwards
Main Cast:  Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, J. Edward McKinley
Runtime:  99 minutes

Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers had great success with the series of original Pink Panther movies (The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, The Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, Revenge of the Pink Panther and much less so Trail of the Pink Panther) up till Peter’s death two years after the release of Revenge of the Pink Panther in 1982.  

The only movie by the pair outside of the Pink Panther franchise was The Party and it was something completely different.  In fact, it was originally meant to be an homage to silent films.  The script was only about 60 pages long which meant that the movie was mostly ab-lib by the actors and really brought out Peter Sellers comedic abilities.  They shot the film in sequence and even designed an add-on camera so they could view the footage after it was shot for fine tuning and continuity purposes (being able to view what you just filmed was previously un heard of, so it was similar in a way to our digital cameras where we no longer have to wait to get the film developed to view what we just shot).  

We start off with the filming of a movie where accident prone actor from India Hrundi V. Bakshi (Peter Sellers with his darkened skin) innocently stuffs things up including the eventual blowing up of the major set piece in the film.  In disgust, the director orders Hrundi off the set yelling that he will never work in Hollywood again.  The producer of that film then contacts the Movie Studio boss Fred Clutterbuck (J. Edward McKinley) who demands to know the name of this fool who ruined the movie so he can spread the word so that he will never get a role again.  Fred writes down Hrundi’s name on what he thinks is a scrap bit of paper on his disorganised desk but it is in fact an invitation list for his wife’s party.  
Hrundi gets the invite in the mail and turns up at the movie studio boss’s home and there begins The Party.  Poor ol Hrundi innocently gets into all sort’s strife and in the end the house gets flooded and filled with foam from excessive detergent usage.  This is really one of those old classics that you will remember once you have seen it with the often quoted “Birdie Num Num” likely topping the list.

Similar to Sellers Inspector Clouseau, everything goes wrong for Hrundi from losing his shoe, accidently flicking his food into the hair piece of a lady at the table, breaking the toilet, flooding the bathroom and ruining expensive art.  The film does not have a lot of dialogue but simply follows the great actor Peter Sellers around within the party for the majority of the 99-minute runtime.  As discussed earlier, much of the film is improvised where the actors are mostly set free and allowed to do, to some degree, as they feel and that really gives us the relaxed feel of the film, though some may find it slow.

Overall the movie is a complete crack-up that is hard to describe in words, however those familiar with Blake and Peter’s fantastic work in the Pink Panther series of films would know in some ways what to expect, though this has a more laid back style to it.  If you have a good sense of humor, and do not mind an English actor with face paint playing an Indian character this will give you a great night of laughs.  For those who don’t like the idea, keep in mind that one of the old Indian Prime Minister’s (Indira Gandhi) often quoted one of the character’s lines so it really can’t be all that bad ;)

    

The Bluray reviewed is the American Region A (above left image) locked release (un-viewable in Australian Bluray players) however a near identical Region B release has just crept into the Australian market in December 2016 so the review here equally applies to the Australian release pictured to the right above.

The image is in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio and once we get to the “Party” section of the film the image quality is really good, however at the start it is a bit inconsistent in places.  Once we get into the main part of the film the image quality is really good with a sharp vibrant image throughout.  The sound quality is DTS HD Master Audio 2 Channel Stereo on the Region A USA disc and Dolby 2 channel stereo on the Australian release which for this type of film is fine though the DTS would have the better clarity for the great Henry Mancini soundtrack.  If you happen to have the old DVD release of the film, know that this edition of the film is leaps above in quality so it’s well worth the upgrade to the new edition of the DVD/Bluray.

Both Blurays also contain the same extras being:

• Inside THE PARTY featurette
• THE PARTY Revolution featurette
• Original Theatrical Trailer
• Blake Edwards profile
• Walter Mirisch profile
• Ken Wales profile

Overall this a great classic that is a must see for all Peter Sellers fans and even a memorable one for those who are not really aware of the actor or his great ability to bring a comic flavour to almost everything he does.  It’s a great film and comes highly recommended!

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