I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Absolutely Fantastic

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

The World of Henry Orient is a film about growing up and the pain of that first celebrity crush.....Come on! Admit it! All of us has had that love affair with a celebrity and the pain of finding out our illusions or gods had feet of clay.Set in the majestic scenes of New York City in the early Sixties, we meet the two central characters, Marion Gilbert, a somewhat curious girl, eager and adventurous and Val Boyd, a lonely but boisterous in need of a friend because of her parent marriage is falling apart at home. The girls become fast friends and Val confides that she is in love with a pianist named Henry Orient played by the talented Peter Sellers. Even though the film is named after Henry Orient we don't see too much of the character in a lot of scenes. Henry Orient is really a shallow, untalented pianist who is more interested in womanizing than perfecting his art. Will Val discover her dreams of love are just youthful dreams or will fate deal her a unkind hand to shatter her fantasies? The World of Henry Orient is one of those films that I encourage the young to see. It is a story of innocent youth maturing in a quiet sweet way. Perfect for that tween age between childhood and adult when a girl copes with the feeling of "falling in love". It is also a film where most adults look back at some fond memories The scenes of New York are visually beautiful and compelling---very much "New Yorkish" with it's scenes of Central Park and row townhouses. So if you are looking for one of those sweet silent comedy films---this would be the one!

If you go into this film expecting to see a lot of Peter Sellers, you will be disappointed. Make no mistake, he's in there and he's very funny but this film is not about his character, a mediocre pianist with a penchant for married women. Rather, it's about two 14-year old girls who are making the awkward transition from childhood to adulthood. One of the girls has an incredible crush on Orient and her friend is helping her worship him from afar. Henry Orient is the catalyst for their transformation when they learn a little too much about his "world".The acting is uniformly fine. Sellers' character is a rat but he's so clumsy and foolish you find him endearing. Angela Lansbury, as the coldly selfish mother of one of the girls, is extremely hissable. It's hard to believe that she's the same actress playing the warm, friendly Jessica Fletcher so many years later. Paula Prentiss is very amusing as Orient's exceedingly nervous married girlfriend. Tom Bosley plays Lansbury's kind-hearted husband. One of the final scenes in the film is between him and Lansbury and their daughter and it's a great one. There's a great deal of superficial dialogue but the subtext is unmistakable and it becomes the climax of the film. The best part is the two young actresses playing the girls. I have a fourteen year old daughter and she acts just like they do (almost anyway, she doesn't jump over fire hydrants). Their portrayal of giddy women/children is what the film is really all about.Highly recommended.

Is there another movie where the lead actor has his characters name in the title and yet his part is almost irrelevant to the film? This can hardly be called a Peter Sellers movie.The movie really belongs to the two girls with a crush on the Sellers character, Henry Orient, a schlocky avant-garde pianist. Gil (Merrie Spaeth) has a the big crush on Orient and her friend Val (Tippy Walker) is her cohort in the 2 member fan club. Their relationship seems so natural you forget they are acting. Neither girl had a long career in movies (few child actors do) and it's nice to see child actors carry a movie so effortlessly. So many times kid actors can only play cute and you are quickly reminded that real kids never act that way. I suspect George Roy Hill deserves some credit for their performances - I know he got good performances from Diane Lane and Thelonious Bernard in A Little Romance. Their performance doesn't rank up there with Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon but are still very good. Considering it was the first movie for each of them, their performances are even more remarkable.After the girls the performance by Paula Prentiss stands out. Playing a much more glamorous role than she had previously (think Tuggle in Where The Boys Are) she is funny and sexy as the married object of Seller's affections. A pleasant surprise and an indication that she should have been a bigger star than she was. Why couldn't she have had more roles like this?Tom Bosley also plays a warm father to Val - a more sentimental version of his role as Mr C on Happy Days. Angela Lansbury practically reprises her role from The Manchurian Candidate as the worst mother she could be. As for Sellers, his accent shifts continually. Maybe he thought he was playing numerous characters as he did in Dr Strangelove and never realized when he changed costume he was still Henry Orient. As much as I love and respect Sellers, I could see other actors in the role without hurting the movie.If you want to see teenagers do a good job of acting like teenagers (albeit in 1964 and having a crush on a concert pianist instead of the Beatles) this is a good flick. Plus New York looks really good - you almost believe it's safe for teenage girls to wander the city late at night.As a side note, I was surprised to discover that Merrie Spaeth was the founder of Spaeth Communications. She may not have had a long career as an actress but she sure became a success as an adult.

It was 1964 and the great wave of fascination with Peter Sellers as an actor who could do anything well - could flesh out any character - was in full bloom. His films were growing an international audience that would culminate with his "Clouseau" performances and his multiple performances in DR. STRANGELOVE. But his films did show some odd choices, one of which was this unexpected study of adolescent puppy love. Sellers played avant garde (or self-appointed avant garde) pianist Henry Orient, who manages to pick up two acolytes, Tippy Walker as Val Boyd and Merrie Spaeth as Gil Gilbert. Both come from Manhattan homes with some claims to privilege (they attend the same girls school), but Walker is from a family with more money. Both girls also have family problems: Spaeth's parents are divorced, and Walker's parents are in a state of marriage doldrums. Walker's mother is Angela Lansbury (at her most irritatingly snobbish) and her father is Tom Bosley, a decent man who is increasingly showing strains putting up with his wife's behavior and even her possible infidelities. He is a loving father, and this despite his uncertainty if Walker is his daughter or not. Spaeth's mother (Phyllis Thaxter) is a decent woman raising her daughter with the help of her friend (Bibi Osterwald).The girls decide on being devoted followers of a "cult" of Orient, a concert pianist of dubious popularity whose records they collect and whose photos they pick up. Gradually they also invade his personal life, following Sellers all over the place. He starts getting a complex about them, wondering if they are detectives. They certainly spoil his personal lifestyle - especially his relationship with wealthy Paula Prentice.Sellers had some choice, but minor moments in this film - his trying to put a curse on the girls at one point, or his running from backfire (thinking it is a jealous husband). Prentice had a hysterically funny scene when her tryst with Sellers is spoiled - a scene where Al Lewis popped up as a nosy shop-keeper who signals the police. There was also a concert sequence with the conductor getting angry at the "embellishments" in the score that Sellers puts into the concerto he is playing.But the bulk of the film was really carried by the two girls, who are shown growing up and trying to maintain their friendship. And the equally trying problems concerning Walker and her mother. It was sold as a Peter Sellers movie, and he has a sizable part, but it was really not his film at all. It was a film that featured him in support of Walker and Spaeth. That it was a good film is not in doubt, but for a person interested in Seller's mad, creative artistry it was not as important as the earlier British comedies, or some of his later international films.