Product Description

Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley are hilarious in The World of Henry Orient, a funny, charming (Los Angeles Times), lively and imaginative (Newsweek) place you'll want to visit again and again! Two starry-eyed schoolgirls spy, stalk and scheme their way into the life of a concert pianist (Sellers) in this wacky piece of inspired lunacy (The Hollywood Reporter). With half of New Yorkincluding a bevy of befuddled cops and one man-hungry momin tow, these precocious teens do all they can to keep tabs on their harried hero, inadvertently turning The World of Henry Orient entirely upside down!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #32582 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-10-15
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 107 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
The World of Henry Orient would be a classic, if only more people knew about it. Here are the adventures of two prep-school Manhattan girls, memorably played by Merrie Spaeth and Tippy Walker, who decide to dedicate a brief but crucial moment in their lives to the adoration of one Henry Orient (Peter Sellers). Orient is a concert pianist--with curiously uncertain accent--more renowned for his mistresses than his playing. (Although Sellers is onscreen for less than half the picture, he sketches one of his comic gems.) The movie has a wonderful J.D. Salinger flavor of early-'60s New York privilege, with a keen sense of the secret lives adolescents can construct for themselves. Director George Roy Hill brings an occasional burst of New Wave style but otherwise steers the movie into the tone described by one of the girls: "I feel awfully happy in a sort of sad way." --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

underrated masterpiece finally on DVD!
Having watched this movie any time TCM showed it on TV, I was so happy to finally see it come out on DVD and in its original aspect ratio -- the only way to see this amazing movie.

Fans of the movie Ghost World might want to check out The World of Henry Orient as it is so obviously the template for GW -- although, not as cynical.

Henry Orient is a wonderfully nostalgic ode to a New York City that doesn't exist anymore. There is something truly magical about seeing the city as it was back in the '60s. The film captures this magical innocent time when you're a child and how this starts to fade when you grow up in your teen years.

The two girls are fantastic as are the adults -- especially Peter Sellers (is there anything this guy can't do?), Angela Lansbury (again, playing an evil, evil lady!), and most importantly, Tom Bosley who plays one of the girls' lovable, understanding dad -- a great performance!

This is one of the late, great George Roy Hill's best movies -- beautiful directed and shot that also features an infectious, whimsical score by Elmer Bernstein (recently released on CD)that will have you whistling it long after the movie ends.

Great coming of age comedy that you'll watch over and over!
This is what I call a "comfort" movie, one you can watch over and over and still enjoy. Tells the story of 2 teenaged girls - Val, a piano prodigy neglected by her wealthy globe trotting parents, and Gil, a lonely girl being raised by her single Mom and her mom's best friend. The two girls meet at school and become best friends. Val develops a crush on Henry Orient (Peter Sellers) a terrible pianist with a habit of chasing married women. Val and Gil dedicate their lives to the study of Henry Orient and follow him all over New York City, with hilarious results. Great performances from the two young girls as well as from Peter Sellers and Angela Lansbury, who plays Val's mother. If you know a pre-teen or older girl, she would love a copy of this video! A TRULY SATISFYING FILM.

Unforgettable portayal of two adolescent girls coming of age
"The World of Henry Orient" was, and remains, a landmark film in every way. Its portrayal of two high school girls coming of age in Manhattan, and their obsession with a 3rd rate pianist, is far more than a madcap comedy. True to the Nora Johnson novel on which it is based (she wrote the screenplay, as well), it is an unforgettable portrait of a friendship, a city, and a particular time in the life of an adolescent girl which rings hilariously--and painfully--true. In particular, Merrie Spaeth's perfect-pitch performance as the guileless Marian Gilbert is deeply touching, funny, entirely believable and perfectly nuanced. As a girl growing up in New York City, "Henry Orient" inspired in me a spirit of adventure and freedom which is as exhilarating now as it was when the film first appeared, in 1964. I own the video, and my young daughter is already completely addicted to it. Elmer Bernstein's (To Kill a Mockingbird) music is terrific, by the way. This is a classic! If you haven't seen it, do. If you have, see it again! It holds up beautifully.