The Party

The Party, After destroying the set of an expensive movie, the Indian Hrundi V. Bakshi (Peter Sellers) becomes “persona-non-grata” in Hollywood. However, due to a mistake of the secretary of the producer of the foregoing film, he is invited to a party for the big shot, where the Clutterbuck hosts the most important and powerful personalities of Hollywood. I do not know how many times I have seen this movie on cable TV, but yesterday I saw it once again now on DVD. “The Party” is a classic comedy, one of the funniest I have ever seen, and I laughed again as if it were the first time I was seeing it. This movie certainly is Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards’ masterpiece, having lots of improvisation in many scenes. The first seventy-five minutes running time are outstanding, beginning with a funny parody of “Gunga Din”. The rhythm slows down when the romance between Bakshi and Michele Monet (Claudine Longet) begins, but anyway there are still some funny jokes. I do not know why this movie has never been released on VHS in Brazil, and only a couple of months ago it was released on DVD. It is amazing how the British actor Rowan Atkinson imitates the clumsy and careless movements, looks and behavior of Bakshi in his character of Mr. Bean! Does he pay for the use of copyright to the family of Peter Sellers?