The World of Henry Orient (1964)

Very best movie i ever watch

Simply Perfect

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Manhattan 14 year old private school girls Val Boyd (Tippy Walker) and Marian Gilbert (Merrie Spaeth) become best friends. They run across egotistical famous avant-garde pianist Henry Orient (Peter Sellers) who is having an affair with married Stella Dunnworthy (Paula Prentiss). They keep running into him and starts stalking him. Orient becomes paranoid. Val is infatuated and writes in her diary. Val's absentee parents (Angela Lansbury, Tom Bosley) return home and her mother discovers the diary. There is trouble in the marriage. Her mother confronts Henry Orient and end up in an affair with him.The girls are adorable troublemakers and Peter Sellers has great reactions to them. Tippy Walker is absolutely winning. There is a fun lightness in the adolescent misadventure with a dash of impending adulthood. The movie is better staying with the girls. Peter Sellers is a great comedian but this is not his movie. It does get more serious but it never goes completely dark.

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!

A truly lovely and engaging film, with surprisingly real and complex characters anchored in the perceptive viewpoints of adolescents -- their joys, confusions and hurts, paving the way for future joys, confusions and hurts. This is a remarkable film with countless moments to cherish--the adults with all their foibles, inconsistencies, concerns real or selfish--and those two girls exploring the world with wonderment and imagination born of exuberant discovery and painful denial. The feelings are so complex--it is often playful fun, but with a tinge of bittersweet wisdom that pervades practically every frame of the film. And New York. For those that love New York City, this film is a must. Filmed over 40 years ago--it is a joy to see all the familiar, beloved landmarks as they looked before. Only Woody Allen has filmed NYC with as much loving detail. From the opening scene on the East River where the girls first meet, to their first romp through the glories of Central Park (The Bow Bridge never has looked more elegant and graceful--and the Rambles never more wild and rustic), Park Avenue in the snow with the Christmas tree lights all glowing (truly capturing the magic of NYC at holiday time)--to surprising scenes of Carnegie Hall, and the wonderful Greenwich Village neighborhoods with their charming mews and meandering streets. How appropriate that the girls' discoveries should take place in this beautiful, complex city. One final comment--Elmer Bernstein's film score is a sheer delight-befitting this delicate, but profound story--bathing the film in a musical glow as beautiful as New York City.

I've been watching this film on television over many years and I'm still struck by the unusually frank take on the parent child relationship that's shown here. Instead of the claptrap that all mothers love their children, this film shows a mother who really considers her daughter to be an inconvenience who's hindering her social life. Moreover this film shows a girl facing a relatively tough situation and overcoming it quite well. That's not shown too often. While this film is easily seen as a cutesy early 1960s fluff piece, I really think its not-too extreme situation is a good lesson for adolescent kids, and especially for girls.