Runtime: 115 minutes
Directed by: Blake Edwards
Starring: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Capucine, Claudia Cardinale, Robert Wagner
From: United Artists
Would you believe it was just last night that I had seen a Pink Panther movie in full? Sure, as a kid I saw the cartoons and also in my youth, on TV one night one of the sequel films was watched in part. Which one specifically, heck if I know which one it was except that it wasn’t one of the unfortunate attempts in the 80’s to keep the series going-but it took until yesterday evening courtesy of HDNet Movies for me to see the first film in what was an unexpected franchise.
Even if you haven’t seen the films, there’s a good chance you are familiar with the Inspector Clouseau character. He’s the perpetually absent-minded and bumbling detective who is an unknowing agent of chaos wherever he goes. Somehow, he stumbles & bumbles his way into solving various cases. This OG film is different from the rest: Clouseau is a supporting character in the story, a foil for the lead David Niven. It was only during filming that Blake Edwards realized the focus should be more on the detective as Peter Sellers was so entertaining. There is no Dreyfus, Cato or Francois. Yet that is irrelevant as it was still a nice intro to the character and in the future I’ll watch more than one of the sequels. In fact, when I mentioned my viewing of this on a messageboard, positive response means that the follow-ups will be witnessed sooner rather than later.
The story is simple yet effective: Niven is an aristocrat who is in actuality a gentleman thief known as The Phantom, while Clouseau is tasked to search for The Phantom before he steals the titular item-a giant diamond-from Claudia Cardinale. Unbeknownst to him, several other people tied to Niven would also like The Pink Panther. After delightful animated opening credits, several plot threads are introduced all in a row; they would later converge in the lovely snowscape that was Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy.
It was a treat getting to see the characters played by Sellers, Niven, Cardinale, Capucine and Robert Wagner all interacting w/ each other. There are at least two great, lengthy setpieces involving madcap, manic laughs as preposterous events happen. The entire quintet worked so well together; it’s not just Sellers dominating the picture whether or not he’s in a scene. From the cartoons I knew the legendary Pink Panther theme from Henry Mancini; the discovery was made that the score in full was pretty marvelous.
Considering what I mentioned in the beginning about my brief exposure to this franchise, it shouldn’t have taken to my middle-aged years to have pulled the trigger. At least this mistake has been fixed.
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