After the success of A Shot in the Dark in 1964, Peter Sellers left the role of Inspector Jacques Clouseau. In his absence, United Artists tried to find the same success by having someone step into the role the same way they had been able to keep the Bond series popular by giving Roger Moore the reigns to that series. In 1968, UA released Inspector Clouseau starring Alan Arkin as the bumbling detective with Bud Yorkin directing. The film was a complete failure with both audiences and critics.
This would seemingly stop the adventures of the France’s best/worst detective until British studio, ATV wanted to make a 26 part Television series about the character. It was then decided to make a “Movie of the Week” instead about Clouseau, which eventually turned into an idea to return the character back to cinemas. Producer Blake Edwards had decided to come back to the directing chair, and brought his star with him. Finally, after more than a decade away from perhaps his most popular character, Peter Sellers came back to the role of Inspector Jacques Clouseau.
Return of The Pink Panther Starring Peter Sellers and Christopher Plummer. Directed by Blake Edwards.
Even though audiences had to wait nearly 12 years for Peter Sellers to come back to Clouseau, Blake Edwards builds anticipation even further as the Inspector does not even appear on screen for nearly seventeen minutes of the film’s running time. In the interim, once again the Pink Panther is stolen from the country of Lugash in a pretty clever heist sequence. The main suspect of the theft is once again the notorious jewel thief, the Phantom.
After undoubtedly the best and most elaborate credit sequence of the series featuring the now popular Pink Panther cartoon character, and the wonderful heist, audiences’ patience was rewarded with Peter Sellers returning in all his glory to Inspector Clouseau. From his first moments on screen, the laughs barely stop as Clouseau interrogates a blind accordion player with a chimpanzee as a bank robbery goes undetected right in front of him. He even arrests the bank manager for pulling a gun to try and stop the robbery.
From there, the antagonism between Herbert Lom’s Chief Inspector Dreyfus and Clouseau reaches a fever pitch not seen in Shot in the Dark. The two actors have such a wonderful comic timing together that you might even think that they actually hated each other. Herbert Lom is absolutely hilarious here as he has to have a battle of wits with an unarmed man, and yet is still losing somehow. For example:
Dreyfus: The beggar was the lookout man for the gang.
Clouseau: That is impossible. How can a blind man be a lookout?
Dreyfus: How can an idiot be a police officer?
Clouseau: Well, all he has to do is enlist…
Dreyfus: Shut up!
Also:
Dreyfus:… You are suspended for six months, without pay, effective immediately! Have you anything to say?
Inspector Jacques Clouseau: …Could you lend me fifty francs?
These are some of the best scenes in the film as Dreyfus slowly goes mad. The running jokes from A Shot in the Dark also return as Lom’s eye twitching gets constantly worse and worse as does his accidental mutilation. The funniest bits have him mistaking his real gun for a lighter. Director Blake Edwards does a great job here building up Dreyfus’ madness, as it is very important to the rest of the films.
Peter Sellers acts as if he never stepped away from Clouseau. His scenes are deadpan, slapstick bliss with his accent being turned up to outrageous levels. This joke appeared briefly in A Shot in the Dark, (“Meurths”?), but then runs constantly for the rest of the series. Every scene with Clouseau is idiocy at its best as small little incidents turn into Clouseau nearly destroying whole Hotels.
One of Sellers funniest scenes involves more tests from his manservant, Cato (Burt Kwouk). Much like Clouseau’s accent, these sequences get much more elaborate and ridiculous. The first fight between the two, where they completely trash Clouseau’s apartment in a slow motion karate/pratfall fest is an absolute riot. It’s incredible how even without major choreography or budget these scenes are constructed for maximum effect of hilarity.
Fortunately for Sellers and Kwok they are not alone in having to make the film an enjoyable experience. Therefore, they don’t have to spend the ENTIRE movie crashing into large cabinets and walls.
Much like the first film, this entry in the Pink Panther series relies heavily on the involvement of the Phantom, AKA: Sir Charles Lytton. In the original film, David Niven portrayed the infamous jewel thief. He was asked to return to the role this time out, but had to turn it down due to scheduling conflicts. According to IMDB.com, Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was then considered for the role but had to turn it down. Finally, Christopher Plummer was put into the role, and fits it like a glove.
Plummer plays a much more likable Phantom than Niven did in the original film. Here, he has been retired from his life of unlawful behavior for some time, but when the Pink Panther is brilliantly stolen, he is the main suspect. Lytton must travel to Lugash to try and clear his name by finding the actual culprit. Plummer gives the Phantom a confident, but funny demeanor and is able to give his action scenes real gusto.
The scenes in Lugash are filmed with a beautifully classy air to them by Blake Edwards. Edwards make them feel as if he’s filming his own version of Casablanca as Lytton must go from seedy bars to desert vistas. Lytton’s escapes from treachery are also an added bonus for those simply wanting to laugh for a few hours as the action scenes are pretty exciting.
Return of The Pink Panther set off a hunger from audiences, relishing the return of Sellers comedic genius in the role he had already made famous. United Artists and Blake Edwards were of course up to the task as Clouseau would return again the very next year. In 1976, The Pink Panther series would reach its peak commercially with the manically funny The Pink Panther Strikes Again.
The Pink Panther Strikes Again Starring Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom. Directed by Blake Edwards.
Herbert Lom may be the biggest unsung hero of the Panther franchise. His over the top hatred of Clouseau is side-splittingly funny, and finally with The Pink Panther Strikes Again he is finally given a chance to shine, and he completely makes the most of it. Though the plot for this film is the most ridiculous of the entire series, Lom and Peter Sellers gave audiences enough laughs to make the film the most successful of the entire series.
The film actually begins rather modestly, Lom’s Dreyfus, who was committed to an asylum at the end of the previous film, is getting paroled. A funny altercation with Dreyfus and Clouseau, who is actually there to speak on his behalf, ends up with Dreyfus trying to kill Clouseau and getting committed all over again. This marks the end of all modestly comic scenes in the movie.
From the opening titles, which are still pretty elaborate, but not as nice as the previous film, The Pink Panther Strikes Again turns into a live action cartoon. Beginning with the series most ridiculous fight between Cato and the Inspector, the film and really the series know no bounds. This fight between the two is a human demolition derby with the combatants wrecking Clouseau’s apartment with little disregard for safety or property. Part of the reason the scene works so well is that it’s shot by Edwards as if it were a legitimate fight scene with plenty of handheld camera work and loads of slow motion. The difference is that in Enter the Dragon if the fight slows down it shows how deadly and graceful Bruce Lee was. Here the effect is used to show Clouseau as a nincompoop.
From there the film becomes a spoof on the 007 formula. Dreyfus escapes from his asylum to form a network of cutthroats and criminals, all with the express purpose of killing Clouseau. Dreyfus also kidnaps a famous scientist who is able to construct a laser to make huge objects disappear into thin air. After the United Nations building vanishes, Dreyfus holds the entire world hostage, demanding Clouseau be killed.
What The Pink Panther Strikes Again loses in classiness it makes up for with complete loony abandon. Peter Sellers’ Clouseau is just goofy enough to still be charming while making a complete mockery of detective work. After the early Cato fight, the Inspector is put into one sequence after another that will leave you gasping for air.
The best of these has Clouseau interrogating the house staff of the scientist that is kidnapped by Dreyfus. The scene has Clouseau falling down a flight of stairs, accusing the staff of murder (no murder actually takes place), nearly killing a man with a mace, destroying a priceless piano, setting himself on fire and shooting a member of Scotland Yard with a shotgun. All this takes place with Sellers hardly ever missing a beat and acting as if nothing is happening. This scene is pure hysterical delight.
Audiences that year apparently felt the same as The Pink Panther Strikes Again became the highest grossing films of the series, and one of the most successful Comedies of the era. Peter Sellers would return one more time to the part of Clouseau, in Revenge of the Pink Panther, but the film doesn’t have the magic of Sellers’ previous efforts.
What is left though is a Comedy series that is nearly unparalleled in its quality over the five films. Most franchises of this nature lose steam by the first sequel to its original. The Pink Panther was able to hold a quality so high throughout its first four (I’m not counting the Alan Arkin Picture) outings that audiences seemingly couldn’t get enough of them. For those who love Slapstick but want to avoid the crudeness that the genre usually holds, these films may be a breath of fresh air.
Picture Credits: britishcinemagreats.com, inspectorclouseau.com, Amazon.com, impawards.com
