The Ghost of Peter Sellers

This documentary by Hungarian-born director of mostly British films, Peter Medak, is an interesting self-retrospective. In 1973 Medak was fresh off a few successful films like "The Ruling Class" (1972). He was then asked by world famous comedian Peter Sellers, to helm a pirate-themed comedy, starring Sellers and his comedic frenemy Spike Milligan. This resulted in "Ghost in the Noonday Sun", a film so infamously bad, that it couldn't be released.

"The Ghost of Peter Sellers" documents the making of the pirate comedy in Cyprus. Sellers was always difficult but on this film, he was unbearable. Medak recounts everything he had to go through during the production. It obviously left him with a great deal of traumas, and this documentary seems to be his way of finally getting closure. The title is correct in that Peter Sellers is a ghost looming over this narrative, not the main subject of the narrative. I found this to be very interesting, and it's educational too. You should never make a film just because you can get the financing together. Otherwise you are bound to have on your hands nightmares just like this one.