Blake Edwards dark psychological film about the effects of alcoholism on a previously happy marriage, starred Jack Lemmon and Lee Remick. It has been described as "perhaps the most unsparing tract against drink that Hollywood has yet produced, more pessimistic than Billy Wilder's "The Lost Weekend"". The film gave another major boost to Edwards's reputation as an important director. "Darling Lili" star Julie Andrews married Edwards in 1969. While a few critics such as George Morris thought the film a major picture ("it synthesizes every major Edwards theme: the disappearance of gallantry and honor, the tension between appearances and reality, and the
Blake Edwards Hardy. Both Sellers and he appreciated and understood the comedy styles in silent films and tried to recreate them in their work together. After their immense success with the first two "Pink Panther" films, "The Pink Panther" (1963) and "A Shot in the Dark" (1964), which adapted many silent-film aspects, including slapstick, they attempted to go even further in "The Party" (1968). The film has always had a cult following, and some critics and fans have considered it a "masterpiece in this vein" of silent comedy, though it did include minimal dialogue. Edwards married his first wife, actress Patricia Walker,