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The World of Henry Orient

Play trailer Poster for The World of Henry Orient Released Mar 19, 1964 1h 46m Comedy Play Trailer Watchlist
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91% Tomatometer 11 Reviews 58% Popcornmeter 1,000+ Ratings
While trying to seduce a married woman (Paula Prentiss), egotistical concert pianist Henry Orient (Peter Sellers) is interrupted by two precocious schoolgirls, Valerie (Tippy Walker) and Marian (Merrie Spaeth). At first he thinks nothing of it, but as he sees them more often, he becomes convinced they're spies for his lover's husband. The girls, meanwhile, have found out who he is, and Valerie insists she's in love. She starts a scrapbook, which her mother finds and, of course, misconstrues.

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The World of Henry Orient

Critics Reviews

View All (11) Critics Reviews
Tim Cogshell FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles) I love this film. Funnily, I don't think you could make this film today. Jan 25, 2020 Full Review Eddie Harrison film-authority.com …with impressive location work on NYC streets, and a bygone, innocent flavour, The World of Henry Orient offers a jolt of old-fashioned nostalgia that was fading even in 1964… Rated: 3/5 Jul 7, 2022 Full Review Nathanael Hood The Retro Set ...one of the warmest, most delightful, and honest portrayals of female adolescence in cinema. Rated: 8/10 Dec 28, 2018 Full Review Matt Brunson Creative Loafing A memorable picture in which youthful exuberance believably gives way to the bracing pain of parental betrayal and dashed expectations. Rated: 3/4 Aug 8, 2015 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews An immensely enjoyable film. Rated: A Dec 1, 2006 Full Review Jake Euker F5 (Wichita, KS) Rated: 3/5 Jul 29, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member Two young teenage girls in New York City develop a crush on a concert pianist and follow him around, to the latter's dismay. The pianist is a womanizer who even fools around with married women; and the girls themselves have their own domestic problems. One has divorced parents and lives with one of them; the other has parents who are still married but her mother is both unfaithful to her husband and indifferent to her daughter. As might be expected, pianist and mother meet and complications ensue. The story is based on a novel of the same name, which itself was based on a real-life teen's obsession with Tony Bennett. The adults are technically the stars, but the teenage girls are the real ones, and you are interested in what they do and what happens to them. Recommended. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/22/23 Full Review steve d Nowhere near as amusing as they think it is. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review aristidis m Was just good/ok, nothing special, sorry. :( Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member One of my favorites from George Roy Hill. A classic that lives in a New York now long forgotten. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/29/23 Full Review Audience Member One of my favorites of the era. Always loved George Roy Hill movies, and this is one of his most underrated. Peter Sellers is hilarious, but the young girls steal the show. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member as a child, I went out of my way to see this movie because it was billed as a comedy starring my then hero, peter sellers. Of course, that being said, it was a mostly serious movie; not at all what I expected, and not even a "comedy" in the current American sense of the word. It was even SAD at times!!! I was bored to death. (I still see it sometimes billed as a "comedy" and while it is mildly humorous at times, it was clearly not written as a "ha-ha comedy." As a child, most of the movie went right over my head... but watching it again, (several times), I now understand: it's an excellent, intelligent, sensitive, wise, and deceptively finely crafted and under-rated movie. The same guy who co-wrote this movie (nunally johnson) also wrote the man in the grey flannel suit; another of my very favorite movies (warning: only see the full uncut original movie; do not see the butchered-for-tv version of the man, which loses most of the original plot. Also the original book is superb.) Anyhow, the world of henry orient is highly recommended for adults (children will completely miss all the intelligent bits). peter sellers acting is shockingly bad at times here... but more on this later: according to wikipedia... the original book was a semi-autobiographical essay by nunally johnson's daughter... who as a teen, crushed on middle-aged pianist oscar levant (the levant is where the sun rises... that is to say, the east, or the "orient," hint, hint.) NOW that I know this; I can see sellers trying to poke fun at levant... who was also a commedian and who (i assume) sellers probably knew personally in 1964 when the movie was made. without knowing that sellers was making fun of levant; nothing he did was funny. However, it's at least a little funnier, knowing what sellers was aiming at, with his performance. Levant was in several movies; it might help to see one of his performances BEFORE watching a movie which parodies him... or just see the movie, and understand that sellers is acting so weird because he's trying to make poke fun at another actor. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/23/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The World of Henry Orient

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Movie Info

Synopsis While trying to seduce a married woman (Paula Prentiss), egotistical concert pianist Henry Orient (Peter Sellers) is interrupted by two precocious schoolgirls, Valerie (Tippy Walker) and Marian (Merrie Spaeth). At first he thinks nothing of it, but as he sees them more often, he becomes convinced they're spies for his lover's husband. The girls, meanwhile, have found out who he is, and Valerie insists she's in love. She starts a scrapbook, which her mother finds and, of course, misconstrues.
Director
George Roy Hill
Producer
Jerome Hellman
Screenwriter
Nora Johnson, Nunnally Johnson
Distributor
United Artists
Production Co
Pan Arts Productions
Genre
Comedy
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 19, 1964, Original
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 20, 2017
Runtime
1h 46m
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