" The Party " SF Film (Special Edition) - Region 2

(aka "Hollywood Party" or "Kom og vask min elefant" or "Birdie Nam-Nam")

directed by Blake Edwards
USA 1968

You’ll never work in Hollywood again! – Does that include television work?

Enter Hrundi V. Bakshi. Perhaps the worlds worst actor. An incompetent over polite Indian bit-player, who tries to make a living in Hollywood, and who considers extreme overacting dramatic punctuation. By accident he gets invited to a fancy Hollywood party by the producer, as the studio head writes his name on the guest list, instead of on the “never to work in Hollywood again” list.

That’s the setup for “The Party”, a film that divides both fans of Blake Edwards and fans of Peter Sellers, but remains one of the most unique comedies ever made and one of the major cult movies.

The story itself is basically non-existent. The first 2/3rds or the party sets Bakshi is simple situations turning into disasters and the last third is pure chaos, involving a painted baby elephant and gallons of soap.

While Sellers after “A Shot in the Dark” had said, that he never wanted to work with Edwards again, as their work relationship was head on collisions of two major egos, Sellers found the idea for the film so fascinating, that they put all differences aside. Working on a limited script, allowing for extensive improvisations, the comedy of Sellers is an extension of the techniques of Tati. Bakshi isn’t funny himself, but works as a catalyst for comic situations, and Edwards took advantage of the video-assist system, previously used by Jerry Lewis, to time the comedy to a split second.

To me, “The Party” is the quintessential Sellers movie and one of the most daring films of Edwards. A masterpiece.

Henrik Sylow

Posters

Theatrical Release: April 4, 1968

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DVD Review: SF Film (Special Edition) - Region 2 - PAL

Big thanks to Henrik Sylow for the Review!

DVD Box Cover		CLICK to order from:
Distribution	SF Film Region 2 - PAL
Runtime	1:34:50 (4% PAL speedup)
Video	2.33:1 Original Aspect Ratio 16X9 enhanced Average Bitrate: 7.00 mb/s PAL 720x576 25.00 f/s
Audio	5.1 Dolby Digital English, German (dub), French (dub), Spanish (dub) and Italian (dub)
Subtitles	English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, Polish, Greek and Turkish, none
Features	Release Information: Studio: SF Film Aspect Ratio: Widescreen anamorphic - 2.33:1 Edition Details: • Inside 'The Party' (23:59) • The Party revolution: A new technology (16:30) • Filmmakers profile: Blake Edwards (5:59) • Filmmakers profile: Walter Mirisch (4:25) • Filmmakers profile: Ken Walsh (7:19) • Vintage interview with Peter Sellers (21:40) • 3 Barkley Bank Commercials (3:06) • Original Theatrical Trailer (1:54) • Photo Gallery DVD Release Date: September 27, 2004 Double Amaray Chapters 32

Comments

A generally great transfer. There are minor edge enhancements and the film is quiet grainy, but when viewing hardly noticeable.

The SE has gotten an update in sound from the original 2.0 Dolby Digital on the 2001 release to a 5.1 Dolby Digital.

The extras begin with a 24-minute reflection of the production and the impact of the film with Blake Edwards and others. A great feature. Following this is a featurette on the development of video-assist system. Another great feature. Then comes filmmakers profiles, before we get nine excerpts from a Sellers interview, running 22-minutes, where Sellers talks about his character, about comedy, about television and so on. Missing here is a "Play All" option, as it becomes frustrating to constantly have to return to the menu to get the next excerpt.

What I feel is missing is a program on Sellers, specifically on his skills of improvising, on his comedy and his timing, and his career in general.

* Bitrate is an approximation by visual read-out, as bitrate wasn't recordable.

- Henrik Sylow

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