Peter Sellers is such a unique and choreographed actor that always seems to have moments of brilliance, and this film is no exception. Often times when I watch Sellers films there are moments that bring the legendary Charlie Chaplin to the forefront of my mind because while I am watching a genius in Chaplin perform, I often catch myself with my jaw dropped because I feel I am watching a masterful ballet. Sellers is one of the few artists that can bring Chaplin's genius to the forefront of my mind from time to time, which is saying a ton.
But as good as Sellers is, the film wouldn't be extremely good with him alone, and Blake Edwards, Christopher Plummer and Herbert Lom are there to make the film extremely good overall while keeping pace with Sellers.
Sellers stars opposite Christopher Plummer and Plummer performs good in this role. An actor with less skill could have easily overreached or left far too much on the table in the role that Plummer performs, but Plummer does neither and turns in a good needle threading performance. Herbert Lom is extremely good in his part for sure, and he plays the part just over the top enough so it braises my forehead, which is just what the character calls for, and he delivers.
And somehow Blake Edwards is able to balance these 3 good performances that all come from quite different angles into an extremely good film, and Edwards has his vision shine through while allowing performers to perform.
We have all seen comedies like this that simply do not work because the Directing & Acting is not of a high enough caliber, but it is refreshing to see in a film such as this when the Directing & Acting do indeed work, and we end up with an extremely good film.
