THE PARTY
US, 1968, 99 minutes, Colour.
Peter Sellers, Marge Champion, Claudine Longet.
Directed by Blake Edwards.
The Party is a Peter Sellers comedy and focuses on him and his talents. It was written and directed by Blake Edwards who had made quite a variety of films but often specialised in comedy, especially the Pink Panther series also with Sellers. For the most part The Party is quite hilarious. Peter Sellers does his Indian impersonations starting with a parody of Gunga Din and for the most part shows the unwelcome guest making faux pas after faux pas at the party.
However, the film tends to go on and on and the extravagant ending is a bit too broad in its humour compared with the remainder of the film. But it is a very good example of Blake Edwards’s style of comedy and Peter Sellers’ talents.
1. The quality of the film as a comedy, for smiles, laughs?
2. The film's reliance on comic situations, dialogue, characters, satire, sight gags? Which sequences illustrate each of these traits best?
3. The film's reliance on the plausible aspects of human behaviour coupled with those implausible? The nature of its irony and satire? Was it successful?
4. The focus of the film on the party itself? Audience expectations of filmed parties, people's behaviour, the ordinary things that happen? The film's presentation of these in a satirical manner? The gradual growth of mishaps, the arrival of the elephant and the excesses? The party and people's behaviour as self-destructive?
5. How enjoyable was the character of Hrundi? Peter Sellers' skill with his Indian style and character? The kind of person that Hrundi was, kind and gentle yet prone to accidents? A credible hero?
6. The important comedy in his characters the blowing up of the set, his arrival at the party, loss of his shoe, his seating at dinner and the chicken, his wanting to go to the to the toilet, the elephant etc.? Were these comic incidents credible, funny?
7. The contribution of Michelle, her character, personality, liking Hrundi, the contribution of the song, the happy ending?
8. The characterization of the guests and their styles, the satire on wealth and society? The daughter and the hippies?
9. The importance of the comedy with the waiter? The timing, the balance to Peter Sellers' comedy?
10. What is the value of enjoying a comedy like this? Just the laughter, the appeal to human values? The sense of the ridiculous?
