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The Ghost of Peter Sellers
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray A - America - Severin Films Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (31st August 2025). |
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The Film
 Peter Medak’s 2018 documentary "The Ghost of Peter Sellers" is less a traditional making-of than a haunting confession. Nearly fifty years after the doomed production of "Ghost in the Noonday Sun" (1974), Medak confronts the chaos that surrounded his attempt to direct Peter Sellers in a pirate comedy. The result is not only an excavation of a failed film but also a self-portrait of an artist still wrestling with guilt, anger, and bewilderment. The film’s structure alternates between archival footage, interviews with surviving crew, and Medak’s own anguished reflections. This blend works effectively in showing how an ill-fated production spirals out of control. The problem is not simply bad luck or logistical setbacks but the mercurial force of Sellers himself. Medak portrays him as a genius comedian who, at this point in his career, was deeply erratic and self-destructive. Sellers’ refusal to cooperate, his manipulative behavior, and his constant undermining of the crew derailed the project before it had a chance to breathe. The documentary, however, resists painting Sellers as a one-dimensional villain; it acknowledges his fragile mental state and the corrosive pressures of fame. What makes the film compelling is not the behind-the-scenes gossip, but the way Medak positions himself as a character. This is less about settling old scores than about exposing how one failed production can leave an open wound in a filmmaker’s psyche. Medak is unflinching in admitting his own mistakes—his inability to rein in Sellers, his desperation to salvage the project, his reluctance to walk away when he knew he should have. That candor elevates the film from an anecdote about a doomed comedy into a meditation on artistic responsibility and the long shadow of failure. Visually, the documentary is modest, but its emotional resonance comes from Medak’s presence. His voice trembles between sorrow and disbelief, giving the film a raw intimacy. At times, however, the narrative risks circling the same grievances, and the pacing can feel indulgent. Yet that repetition mirrors the obsessive way Medak has clearly replayed the disaster in his mind for decades, unable to let go. Ultimately, "The Ghost of Peter Sellers" is not just about a collapsed film shoot, it is about memory, trauma, and the way artists internalize defeat. Medak transforms what could have been a bitter industry anecdote into a deeply personal reckoning. For cinephiles, it is a fascinating cautionary tale about the fragility of filmmaking; for Medak, it is a belated exorcism. The ghost here is not merely Sellers, but the specter of failure that refuses to leave a director’s conscience.
Video
Presented in 2.35:1 widescreen this HD image is 1080p 24/fps and mastered using AVC MPEG-4 compression. The image is a mixture of digitally shot interview footage and archival footage. The image is good, no real complaints but nothing spectacular either. Detail, sharpness, color, and black levels all look good.
Audio
Two audio tracks are included in either English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround or English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 surround. I chose to view this film with its 5.1 audio, dialogue is clean and clear, the score and surround channels do a surprising amount of work for a documentary that is primarily interviews and archival footage. Optional subtitles are included in English for the hearing impaired.
Extras
Severin has included a handful of supplements, below is a closer look. First up is an audio interview with Peter Medak (17:18), conducted by filmmaker David Gregory, this is a very short audio clip that is mostly an introduction to the film and on a filmmaker making a film that's about one of their own films. "The Ghosts Inside the Scrapbook" featurette (20:28), in this clip the director takes us through his scrapbooks for the film's he's made. "Love Left the Masquerade: Peter Medak’s Cinema of Pretenders" featurette (13:58), this is an essay on the Medak and his career. Rounding out the extras is the theatrical trailer (2:19)
Packaging
Packaged in a black standard keep case.
Overall
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