Famous for his later hits as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther and as the voice of many characters in the BBC radio comedy The Goon Show, witnessing the beginnings of Peter Sellers in his early shorts feels slightly like rooting through someone’s baby photos without their knowledge. “Lovely to see him looking younger and more filled out!” comments one spectator, whilst others whisper comparisons to his better known work. The atmosphere is of an eccentric family reunion, with albums being passed between strangers.

There is a tangible fragility to this earlier work, a quick succession of short pieces storming across the screen like nervous outbursts. The quieter confidence of the older actor here shatters into something much more volatile and jittery. This brute, immature energy, however, is exactly what renders these shorts so compelling. They arrive not as finished products but hasty etchings, ideas and try-outs. This is an unexpectedly intimate portrait of Peter Sellers in his workshop, a look behind-the-scenes almost.

The back-to-back composition of the shorts in a feature length showing is a challenge, picking away at a modern audience’s need for narrative arc and character development. Although Sellers plays the lovable goon Hector Dimwittie in all three episodes, the viewer must still reset after each – to level the board and start again. This throw-away spectacle, however, captures the spirit of the short perfectly. It revels in the frivolous two-dimensionality of the set and encourages the imagining of a more plastic world in which surfaces are springy, characters rebound and the humdrum becomes all about play. The juxtaposition of the establishing shots of London rush-hour with the artificially lit flats of the studio frames Sellers’ 2D slapstick. The cartoonish “insert” within the real world is created – yet one far more aware and cunning than the people hurrying about the streets. It’s impossible not to recognize in the voice of the straight-faced narrator the foundations of the hit series Little Britain, or to see Miranda Hart in Seller’s furtive side-glances at the camera.

Whilst some of the gags fall inevitably flat on modern ears, many of the shorts’ caricatures feel uncannily current. The blind self-importance of the suited businessman portrayed in the first short DEARTH OF A SALESMAN is still hilariously on-point. Going from door to door selling thin air and strained smiles, the character now manages to conjure up fresh images of Viagra junk-mail and management consultancy. The third short, COLD COMFORT, brilliantly depicts the common hypochondriac, pursuing all manner of radical therapies and ointments to rid him of his runny nose.

PETER SELLERS: THE EARLY SHORTS is an explosive and jittery portrait of the comedian’s earlier experimentations…

Raising by far the most laughs, however, is the second short. INSOMNIA IS GOOD FOR YOU sees Hector Dimwittie work himself into such a frenzy over the thought of a Monday meeting that he doesn’t sleep for 48 hours. The editing is here at its most ingenious, cutting together escalating imaginings of the same situation that really grasp the character of the everyday neurotic. Sellers makes best use of his narrator here too, the voice-over listing the various nocturnal positions of the insomniac as Dimwittie demonstrates in a way which recalls the recent cult of the self-help guide.

PETER SELLERS: THE EARLY SHORTS is an explosive and jittery portrait of the comedian’s earlier experimentations. The cheery drone of the voice-over, whether consciously or not, playfully recasts the series as a chaotic self-help guide. This could be just the medicine for festival goers needing to re-jig their viewing experience. These shorts don’t preach diminished attention spans and cheaper resolves, but instead different ways of directing your attention. They pursue sustained enjoyment within the superficial and the two-dimensional, prompting us to recognize ourselves at the very centre of it all.

PETER SELLERS: THE EARLY SHORTS screens at 11.00am on August 30th, as part of The Cambridge Film Festival.