Review of World of Henry Orient, The

Introduction

The way that society changes is often a source of amazement to me. Naturally films are a source of entertainment, but they also serve as a record of how people used to behave in a not so bygone age. Today we wrap our children in a security blanket, shuttle them to and from school, anything to protect them and preserve their innocence. Yet today is also the era of the broken home, where more often than not, mother and fathers have separate addresses and more marriages end in divorce than don`t. Forty years ago, society was markedly different, and The World Of Henry Orient reflects that. This was a time when marriage was still sacrosanct, and it`s almost impossible to imagine how audiences reacted to a dysfunctional family or worse, a mother raising a child with no father figure in sight. Today, this scenario seems tame, but the sight of children wandering and playing in a big city, getting into all kinds of mischief with nary a hint of adult supervision would no doubt shock today`s hypersensitive parents.

Valerie Boyd and Marion Gilbert are two fourteen-year-old girls who meet and form a friendship at a New York school. Marion`s parents are divorced and she lives with her mother. Valerie`s parents lead a jet setting lifestyle as their business takes them all over the world, leaving her in New York to attend school. The two are soon fast friends, wandering the city, indulging in flights of fancy and generally getting up to monkey business. One day in Central Park, they come across concert pianist Henry Orient, as he is trying to conduct a discreet affair with a married woman. Initially he is merely aggravated by the impertinent kids, but when a series of coincidences has further assignations interrupted by the two girls, his paranoia begins to grow. It`s when Valerie and Marion attend one of his concerts that Valerie is smitten by the intense looking Orient. Nursing a crush on him, Valerie makes a pact with Marion to worship Henry Orient and learn all about his world.

Video

The World Of Henry Orient gets the back catalogue treatment from MGM, but the image is impressive nevertheless. The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 anamorphic ratio and the image is uniformly sharp, clear and colourful. In fact the only negative point is the state of the print, which while hardly touched by grain, does show 40 years of age all too well, with the minor dirt, specks and scratches associated with print damage.

Audio

You get a choice of DD 2.0 English, German, French, Italian and Spanish. The dialogue is clear throughout, and were it not, all would be alleviated by a wide selection of subtitles. The late Elmer Bernstein provides the music, and it`s wonderfully suited to the story. A particular joy is Henry Orient in concert, a majestic cacophony indeed.

Features

Due to circumstances beyond my control, this section will remain devoid of any pertinent text.

Conclusion

The World Of Henry Orient is certainly an enjoyable one. It`s a sweet rites of passage tale as two young girls pass into adolescence. It has a charm and an innocence that certainly invoke a certain nostalgia, hinting at those mythical `simpler times` that people of a certain age are fond of recalling. Yet it manages this without being pretentious or slipping into sugar coated schmaltz that similar contemporary films would be apt to. It`s a wonderful gentle comedy that shows that age when girls are vulnerable to earth-shaking, awe-inspiring, epic crushes and the consequent obsessions. Unfortunately it`s Henry Orient who becomes the object of Valerie`s dreams, unfortunate because Henry Orient is trying unsuccessfully to pursue a married woman and the sight of two teenaged girls wherever he tries to meet with his paramour is driving him to fits of paranoia.

This film is about the girls` friendship first and foremost, and both Merrie Spaeth as Marion and Tippy Walker as Valerie do a great job carrying the film. I liked the way the friendship developed between them and the sense that this was a pair of misfits. There is an innocence about them that is appealing and they are certainly watchable. Peter Sellers is almost a guest star in this film, despite being the titular Henry Orient. He is excellent, if understated as the philandering pianist that Valerie develops a crush for. His reaction to the constant presence of the girls as he tries to court his lover is priceless, and the highlight of the film has to be Henry Orient in concert, a piece of avant-garde music that is both discordant and strident, but is performed by the orchestra with understated hilarity. It`s fun watching him trying to find the right key. Tom Bosley and Angela Lansbury provide able support as Valerie`s parents.

There is another side to the film that looks at families and relationships. The film implicitly accepts Marion as a product of a single parent family and shows that she is none the worse off for having been raised without the influence of a father. Valerie`s family is shown as completely dysfunctional, with a fourteen-year-old girl left in New York to go to school while her parents travel the world. Things are not too happy at home either and the message seems to be that it`s better to be brought up by a single parent rather than live in a house split by acrimony. The titular Henry Orient is the catalyst to these changes, the blossoming of the girls and the cause of much marital distress. He`s the lothario that preys on married women, breaking up happy homes, but ultimately he is shown as a ridiculous and laughable figure. While today this film may seem tame, it must have been a different matter back in the sixties, when the average sitcom would have mother at home slaving over a hot cooker, father out there breadwinning, and 2.4 shiny happy freckle-faced kids being wholesome underfoot. Having said that, the sight of fourteen-year-old girls wandering New York at all hours has me quaking at the thought of such neglect. How times have changed…

The World Of Henry Orient is a charming film that certainly cast its spell on me. It`s a simpler tale from a more innocent view of the world. While Peter Sellers stars, it`s not a Peter Sellers vehicle. It`s still wholly entertaining though, and this disc while bare of extras certainly shows the film in a very good light.