The Party

Peter Sellers stars as Hrundri V. Bakshi – a one-man destruction machine cum film extra who finds himself fired after accidentally triggering explosives, thus destroying part of a film set. To add insult to injury, Bakshi, thanks to a misunderstanding, receives an invite to an exclusive party hosted by the movie executive and it doesn’t take Bakshi more than ten minutes to wreak havoc inside the luxurious mansion!

Blake Edward’s hilarious comedy kicks off on a film set though the first impression cleverly deceives us for we are made to believe that we are about to watch a battle scene set in Colonial India with British officers fighting local rebels. Only after we hear a director shouting ‘Cut’ does Edwards reveal that what we just witnessed is a film within a film. Not for long though, because bumbling ‘extra’ Bakshi – just having made a total twit of himself during a fight scene, accidentally triggers explosives while attempting to tie his shoelace and several second later the set of the epic war movie is history! Understandably perhaps, furious director Herb Ellis has not a single shred of patience left for Bakshi and instructs his executive producer Fred Clutterbuck (J. Edward McKinley) to fire him. Clutterbuck, always super-organized, immediately places several phone calls to warn the rest of industry of the walking disaster that it Bakshi and in order to make extra sure he is banned for life scribbles his name on a piece of paper to be added to the industry blacklist when immediately after, he is called outside the office. During his absence, Clutterbuck’s secretary enters the office to compile a list of names of all those guests which will be invited to Clutterbuck’s mega-party. Spotting the note with Bakshi’s name on the desk, the well-meaning secretary assumes he is to be added to the list and so it is that the following day Bakshi finds an invite in the post.

Arriving at Clutterbuck’s penthouse mansion, the latter has no idea what Bakshi – the blacklisted extra – actually looks like… meaning Bakshi has free reign to throw everything into chaos within the first minutes of his arrival… from losing a shoe (which ends up in an artificial pond inside the building) to attempting to carve a chicken (which ends up on a female guest’s tiara) to attempting to flush the toilet (which leaves the bathroom in a mess)… the list of catastrophes in endless! Only one of the female party guest, a French girl called Michele (Claudine Longet) senses that there is an incredibly sensitive if not altogether romantic side to Bakshi and before the party is over there could indeed be romance in the air. But the night won’t be over for some time and leaves Sellers with many more slapstick opportunities before everything descends into chaos and the assembled party guests go wild, eve a painted elephant baby is brought to the party and quickly becomes the focus of attention.

Sellers convinces with a convincing Indian accent and has the demeanour to match. You know what to expect from him and you get it! McKinley as the long-suffering producer Clutterbuck is in his element too while the rest of the cast join the riotous fun. The PARTY itself if filmed in an almost observational style, allowing us to take a peep at the guests and the action as the camera zooms from one corner of the rooms to another.
This restored Blu-ray edition is a treat for all Sellers fans and will amuse young and old!