Thursday, January 30, 2020

Movie review - "The World of Henry Orient" (1964) ***

Sweet, charming film about two 14 year old girls on the loose in New York City, having adventures, telling white lies that get mistaken for the truth and (one of them) obsessing over a pianist based on Oscar Levant (Peter Sellers).

Sellers is great fun as is Paula Prentiss as the married woman he keeps trying to shag but gets interrupted. These two are great together - but then Prentiss was one of the best comics of the 60s.

The real stars are the girls, who bond instantly with their fantasy worlds, and broken homes - the movie is very moving on the topic of divorce.

New York looks lovely. So clean. And the adults, while bossy, at least care. Well, everyone except Angela Lansbury who is a slightly too convenient villain with nice Tom Bosley as dad... but he did ignore his child too. Having said that the depiction of Lansbury's adultery is well done, and the scene where Bosley bonds with his daughter is lovely.

I can see why the film wasn't a big hit - it is slow in paces and doesn't have a strong narrative drive. It feels long.

There are some racist-ish jokes which haven't worn well - the girls joking about being ravished by the Chinese and what not. But it's a movie made with affection and care.

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