From "10" to "Victor/Victoria," PBS' delightful Blake Edwards doc honors the lover of slapstick

PBS' “Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames” is an affectionate cinematic portrait of the actor, writer, director and artist. The documentary chronicles Edwards’ career chronologically, from his difficult childhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to his move to California, where he started working in the entertainment industry, with radio, television and film productions, culminating with his honorary Oscar in 2004. Director Danny Gold traces Edwards’ personal and professional highs and lows, features home movie footage and family photographs, and also wrings laughs with film clips from several of the director’s classic comedies, including “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “10” and “Victor/Victoria.”  

While his adult children, Jennifer and Geoffrey Edwards, remember their father fondly, Julie Andrews, along with several comedians, including Patton Oswalt and Jay Chandrasekher, provide commentary about highlights from Edwards’ career. When filmmaker Rian Johnson recalls, “As a kid, there was nothing better than the opening sequence of the ‘Pink Panther’ films,” it is hard for viewers of a certain age racing down memory lane not to agree with him.

“Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames” opens with Andrews describing the “silly but elegant” waterfowl sculpted by her late husband, and it is an apt symbol for him. Edwards was classy, but also slapstick-y. His daughter confirms that Laurel and Hardy were her father’s muse, leading Paul Feig (“Bridesmaids”) to explain that Edwards’ genius was his ability to inject lowbrow humor, gags and physical comedy into a highbrow setting. 

Case in point: “The Party,” where Hrundi V. Bakshi (Peter Sellers), wreaks havoc at a fancy Hollywood insider’s dinner table with a chicken and a woman’s hairpiece, as well as in a bathroom with a broken toilet, a painting and a roll of toilet paper. These hilarious scenes beautifully illustrate Edwards’ “magic,” recounted in an archival interview, about doing a joke, topping that joke and then topping the topper. It may be cute that Feig and other interviewees are seen watching the clips but their annotations feel like overkill. 

The discussion of “The Party” does allow Jay Chandrasekher to talk about Sellers playing a character in brownface, acknowledging that at the time, Sellers was the hero of the film and gets the girl, which was rare, practically excusing the performance. Critic Leonard Maltin adds that “what was acceptable in the late '60s, no longer is,” which feels like a balanced if equally forgiving response. This discussion echoes an earlier conversation in the documentary about Mickey Rooney’s problematic and controversial performance in yellowface in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” and Edwards is seen expressing regret about the racism in a 2006 interview. 

There are other low points in Edwards’ career, from going overbudget on “Darling Lili” (1970), the first film he made with Andrews, to fighting with a studio head over the final cut of “Wild Rovers” (1971). These failures contributed to his ongoing depression and even prompted him to move to Europe and away from the industry. However, after he had a box office hit with “Return of the Pink Panther,” (1975) he was able to continue his comeback and create two personal films, “10” (1979), and “S.O.B.” (1981).

The documentary suggests that Edwards wanted control of his projects. It was why he shifted from acting in films in the 1940s, to writing — his TV series “Peter Gunn” (1958) was a huge hit — and eventually directing. “Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames” shows how his work influenced him; he reportedly stopped drinking and smoking after making the drama “Days of Wine and Roses” (1962) about an alcoholic. But it was his art imitating life where Edwards was most successful. 

His blockbuster hit “10” featured a “lived in” bedroom scene between George (Dudley Moore as Edwards’ alter ego) and his patient girlfriend, Samantha (Julie Andrews), where she reprimands him for his sexist talk and behavior. Moreover, it is quite different from the bedroom scene between George and his fantasy girl, Jenny (Bo Derek), which occurs in the end of the film where George sees that Jenny may not be who (or what) he wants after all. Derek remarks in the doc that Edwards “loved women” and created strong female characters, while Patton Oswalt unpacks the “terror George has meeting a truly liberated woman.” These impressions enhance the appreciation of the film. 

The success of “10” may have allowed Edwards to make “S.O.B.,” his vitriolic satire of Hollywood, where Felix Farmer (Richard Mulligan as Edwards alter ego) is a suicidal filmmaker. Andrews and others effuse about the film, which has its moments — including a famous eight-second sequence involving Andrews bearing her breasts — but “S.O.B.” feels overpraised. Likewise, hearing that “Darling Lili” is being rediscovered now also feels like a stretch despite Rob Marshall and others gushing about its fabulous opening sequence.

Edwards had another hit, arguably his last, with “Victor/Victoria,” (1982) but the documentary focuses equally on the Broadway production and Andrews declining her Tony nomination because no one else in the cast and crew were recognized. Actress Lesley Ann Warren, who received an Oscar nomination for her role in the film version, gets a sound bite with her insightful comment about the film’s depiction of gender. One wishes she had been featured more prominently. 

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Gold includes one more passion project, “That’s Life!” (1986), which is known as Edwards’ “cathartic home movie” as it was filmed in Edwards and Andrews’ home and starred the couple’s friends and family members. Harv (Jack Lemmon as Edwards alter ego) is a self-pitying, self-involved man whose wife (Andrews) on his 60th birthday secretly awaits the results of a cancer biopsy. It’s a bittersweet if atypical Edwards film, so nice that it was included. Many of the director’s subsequent film, such as “Blind Date,” “Sunset,” “Skin Deep” and “Switch” are ignored.

The documentary ends with footage from a 2009 exhibition of Edwards’ paintings and sculptures, as well as a poem Andrews reads aloud about her husband. There is certainly no discussion of the director’s last theatrical feature, the execrable “Son of the Pink Panther” which has Roberto Benigni playing Inspector Clouseau’s son. That is probably for the best. “Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames” is a loving tribute to the filmmaker, designed to prompt fans to reevaluate if not revisit his work.  

“Blake Edwards: A Love Story in 24 Frames” premieres on “American Masters” on PBS on Aug. 27.