Party selvaggio

The combination of director James Ivory and his producing partner Ismail Merchant with sensual star Raquel Welch should have resulted in a dynamic art-house hit, but "The Wild Party" is a series of missed opportunities (you're more acutely aware of all the possibilities that went unrealized than you are gripped by what made it to the screen). Loosely based on the Fatty Arbuckle scandal, this is a well-intentioned, noble failure with James Coco playing a silent-screen star in early 1930s Hollywood who throws a bash to celebrate his comeback in talkies, but his big night goes awry. A.I.P. recut the film for its theatrical run to punch up the sex--which gave the pic something of a sullied reputation--however MGM has since restored Ivory's cut. Coco, Welch (as mistress Queenie), and Perry King (as another in his stable of studs) all do fine work, and some of the dialogue has snap. The film is certainly a curiosity, but Ivory's handling is plastic and his pacing and musical effects are colorless. *1/2 from ****