The Wedding party [NTSC]

De Palma’s early black comedy tells the tale of Charlie and Jospehine, two college students who have decided to marry. But as the wedding day approaches the differences between the groom and the bride’s social worlds cause Charlie to rethink his tying of the knot. Set in the cloistered, snobbish world of New York “aristocracy”, “The Wedding Party” is a prankish send-up of family, wealth and matrimonial rites. Before developing the Hitchcock-influenced baroque horror films that were to make his reputation, De Palma was a comedy writer, activist and performer closely allied to the counter-culture and anti-Vietnam War movement. “The Wedding Party” makes clear its origins in the radical student subculture of the 1960s, but for a film based on a script which is dangerously chaotic and improvisary, De Palma’s masterful direction results in a film which is both coherent and elegant. Jill Clayburgh stars as the dizzy spoilt rich-brat Josephine and it features an early film performance by Robert de Niro as Charlie’s best friend, Cecil. With Jennifer Salt, Charles Pfluger.