THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT (1964) -- Movie Review by Porfle

 

Originally posted on 8/17/21

 

Currently rewatching: THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT (1964), directed by George Roy Hill and starring Peter Sellers.

I have such a deep sentimental attachment to this movie that when I got the DVD in the mail today and popped it into my DVD player, I started to tear up just from hearing the menu music.

This was the second movie I ever recorded from the TV on my very first VCR back in 1981 (the first was ALIEN off of HBO) on my very first blank videotape.

 

It stars a deliciously deadpan Peter Sellers (THE PINK PANTHER, DR. STRANGELOVE, BEING THERE), but the real stars are the two kooky tweener girls who fall in love with his character, an egotistical avant-garde pianist (and cad) named Henry Orient, and start stalking him and interrupting his attempts to have an affair with a married woman until he goes nuts.

The girls come from broken homes and find solace in their unlikely friendship. It's a funny comedy but is also filled with heartwarming sentiment and stuff. The two teens, Tippy Walker as flighty, rebellious Val and Merrie Spaeth as soft-spoken, conscientious, but easily-led Gil, do a fantastic job and are infinitely likable.

The film is solidly directed by George Roy Hill (BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID, THE STING, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP) with a playful but poignant score by Elmer Bernstein. It also stars Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury, Tom Bosley, Phyllis Thaxter, Bibi Osterwald, and Al Lewis.

 

Lansbury plays Val's aloof, cold-fish mother as only she can, giving us a clear indication of where many of the poor girl's problems come from. Tom Bosley does his familiar big old teddy bear routine as her soft-spoken father, who regrets neglecting his daughter over the years and hopes to make amends.

Prentiss, as usual, is a delight as Henry's object of desire, forever frantic that their impending affair will be discovered. Phyllis Thaxter and Bibi Osterwald play Gil's divorced mother and her brassy live-in friend, giving the girl a supportive home life as opposed to Val's empty existence which she must fill with wild fantasy.

Hollywood doesn't know how or particularly want to make warmly sentimental coming-of-age comedies like THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT anymore--especially G-rated ones--which makes this finely-rendered example of that lost genre even more of a treasure. It means as much to me now as it did back when it was one of the only two movies in my home video collection.