The World of Henry Orient Movie Download

9 / 10

A delight!
Two teenage girls stalk a pianist in “The World of Henry Orient,” a 1964 film starring Peter Sellars, Angela Lansbury, Phyllis Thaxter, Tom Bosley, Paula Prentiss, Merrie Spaeth and Tippy Walker.

Spaeth and Walker are the 14-year-old teens, and the writing for them isn’t good – it’s PERFECT, capturing what it’s like to be that age and having your first crush. The object of their affections is vain, paranoid Henry Orient (Peter Sellars) a pianist who apparently specializes in somewhat ugly modern music whom the girls see kissing his married girlfriend (Prentiss) in the park. When they see him again, he recognizes them and becomes unnerved. Then they attend a concert — he sees them from the stage and nearly goes into orbit. After that, the girls read all they can about him and start staking out his apartment and restaurants he frequents.

The Prentiss character, Stella, lives in fear of her husband finding out about her non-affair – she refuses to go to Orient’s apartment, and whenever she acquiesces, she ends up running out of the back of the restaurant while he’s getting a cab. Finally Henry gets her to his place. He spots the girls outside, and Stella becomes convinced that her husband has hired two child detectives. The kids have told a storekeeper next to their stalking stoop that they’re waiting for their mother, Jayne Mansfield, who has been kidnapped. It goes from there – and it’s HILARIOUS.

The teens are sensational, giggly, wildly imaginative and creative, swooning, and faking terminal illness and other events on the street as they race all over the gloriously photographed New York City. Val comes from a super-rich family and neglectful parents, played by the glamorous Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley as her quiet, hard-working husband. Her story, despite all the humor, is a poignant one.

Sellars is fantastic, sporting an odd accent, and using the most subtle of expressions and body language to show what he’s thinking. Lansbury is terrific and looks great, Bosley is excellent, and Prentiss is a riot as a neurotic mess.

But the young girls – what memories they brought back of fantasy, crushes, wild laughter, pranks, and complete devastation. Phenomenal direction by George Roy Hill, gorgeous cinematography, great music. A no-miss if you want to recapture days of record albums, sitting on your bedroom floor with your friends, scrapbooks dedicated to the love of your life, hating teachers, and complete, uninhibited, euphoric daring.Read More