The World of Henry Orient on DVD

Peter Sellers is given star billing, but it’s really a pair of young girls who star in this charming comedy.

Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth play Val and Gil, the pair of pre-teen loners who become best friends growing up in 1960’s Manhattan. When Val develops a schoolgirl crush on avant garde pianist Henry Orient (Sellers), the pair fantasies about him and practically stalks him as he tries to bed a variety of women - including one very close to Val’s heart.

They practically drive Orient nuts, giving Sellers some good opportunity for his patented characterizations, and one scene in particular where he’s in concert playing some awful new age piece of “classical” music is particularly hilarious. And he can’t get a break, not that he deserves one; while trying to bed married Paula Prentiss, the girls keep cropping up and ruining things between them, giving Prentiss her much-needed opportunities to escape his amorous intent.

The movie also takes an uglier turn when Val’s mother - superbly played by Angela Lansbury (you’ll really hate her guts!) - complicates all of their lives, but Val is rescued by her well-meaning father (Tom Bosley).

This movie is billed as a comedy, and it does have its share of good laughs, but it’s more a bittersweet look at life as seen through the eyes of the two girls, and the performances of Tippy Walker and Merrie Spaeth are top notch indeed. We found it more than a tad slow at the beginning and though it never really moves along swiftly it manages to draw you in and we left the movie feeling better for having seen it.

As hinted at above, the title and the billing of this movie are quite misleading because while the character of Henry Orient is important to the storyline, the movie is not about him or his world. It’s clearly the story of the girls, though we suppose the title and marketing focus makes sense if the plan is to get bums into the cinema seats: Peter Sellers would certainly outdraw two unknown teenagers!

George Roy Hill’s direction is excellent, as is the screenplay by Nora Johnson and Nunnally Johnson (based on Nora Johnson’s novel). Hill, incidentally, would go on to helm such classics as Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and The Sting.

The DVD is okay. MGM has given it an anamorphic widescreen, 16x9 TV compatible, transfer (you can also watch it in Pan&Scan, but we don’t recommend it) and the colors are terrific although the picture itself suffers from graininess and isn’t nearly as sharp as we’d like to see. It's too bad, because there are some lovely shots here.

Audio is Dolby Digital mono and is unremarkable.

The only extra is the theatrical trailer.

The World of Henry Orient, from MGM Home Video
107 min. anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1), 16x9 TV Compatible/ Pan&Scan, Dolby Digital mono
Starring Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury, Tippy Walker, Merrie Spaeth, Tom Bosley
Produced by Jerome Hellman
Written by Nora Johnson and Nunnally Johnson, directed by George Roy Hill

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