PINK PANTHER FILM COLLECTION, THE: DVD

SYNOPSIS:
The original film, which centred around an attempt by an international jewel thief, known as The Phantom (David Niven), to steal the priceless Pink Panther diamond from under the nose of the accident prone Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) spawned four sequels, in which murder (A Shot In The Dark), larceny (Return Of The Pink Panther), lunacy (The Pink Panther Strikes Again), and drug-smuggling (Revenge Of The Pink Panther) inspired comedic mayhem. Common to the cause were Herbert Lom as the Clouseau-hating Chief Inspector Dreyfus and Burt Kwouk as the houseboy who tries to teach martial arts to Clouseau via surprise attack. The last two films (Trail & Curse Of The Pink Panther) were acts of piracy, cobbled together from scraps and out-takes years after Sellers' death.

Review by Keith Lofthouse:
It all began with a plunge into panic and threats to sue when the original Inspector Clouseau (Peter Ustinov) withdrew as the cameras were ready to roll on the first Pink Panther. Blake Edwards knew nothing of Peter Sellers, except for the one film he had seen him in, I'm All Right Jack, in which he played Cockney union shop steward Fred Kite. Edwards was apprehensive. Geographically, Kite was a mere swim across the Channel for Sellers, but the character still seemed light years away from the clumsy clot Clouseau. Anyway, it was too late for Edwards to tarry. He would see if this Sellers fellow was up to the challenge...Clouseau was not a vital nut in the wheel and if need be, his part could always be diminished. Edwards still had Mancini's music, marvellous animations and debonair David Niven starring as the playboy pilferer, so all would not be lost... except that no-one could have foreseen what would happen.

With miracles of timing and a mashing of the language, the tale of a thief was literally stolen from the thief by a defective detective! It was Sellers who suggested that the comedy be broadened into something more physical than verbal. It was Sellers who gets the first laugh, casually resting his hand on a large globe in his office, which spins him to the floor. It was Edwards who was wary of Sellers taking charge, but it was Sellers who had the last laugh, joining Chaplin and Keating in the hallowed Halls Of Remembrance for creating one of the screen's most lovably loopy characters. There was no muddling of the French accent in the original Pink..."bump" did not become "bermp," and "room" was not a "rerm" until Sellers picked up the distortions on a weekend trip to Paris and applied them to A Shot In The Dark.

Opinions are divided as to which is the funniest in this handsomely packaged set of five Pink Panther films and Special Features disc. But how do you judge whether Clouseau waving a finger of caution at a fellow, and getting it stuck up the man's nose, is funnier than the idiot stepping out of his car and landing in an ornamental fish pond, or the numbskull returning a flaming cigarette lighter to his pocket and setting himself on fire? Only The Pink Panther (1963) and A Shot In The Dark (1964) made the New York Times list of the Best 1000 Films Ever Made, but Strikes Again (1976) is at least their equal, for it is fresher and reflects changing (and sexier) times. It was also the most ambitious. "Give me ten men like Clouseau and I could destroy the world," rants the mad Dreyfus, who then tries! By 1976 the Bond films had become embedded in self-parody, and Strikes Again is a spoof, complete with Doomsday device and 26 assassins taking pot-shots at Clouseau who keeps stumbling and bumbling out of the line of fire.

God knows why Return Of The Pink Panther (1974) isn't part of this collection, for Revenge (1978) is stale bread and Trail (1982), which came two years after Sellers' death, has a patchwork plot involving Joanna Lumley as a French TV reporter probing to find the "essential" Clouseau after the Inspector's plane disappears. Like the deficient labelling on each disc (it's hard to tell which is which), it's a curious blunder to bundle Trail with the "legitimate" material, given that Sellers' third wife Lynne Frederick sued for violation of her late husband's estate after its release and won $1.7 million from United Artists, plus costs. If Trail is a cut and paste waste, Revenge makes the mistake of building Burt Kwouk's role out of proportion. The houseboy who tries to teach Clouseau the art of self-defence by clobbering his boss in a series of surprise attacks, was a routine that had run its course and even Dreyfus, who was so hopelessly demented that he was savaging Clouseau's leg by the end of Dark, could not get any more insane.

In the Pink Panther Story, the flagship documentary on a disc full of extras, Edwards admits that he and Sellers had an uneasy relationship; that they had a falling out after Dark, which Sellers disliked and thought should not be released. Joe Dunne, a screen stunt man who travelled the world doubling for the weak-hearted star recalls how Sellers "hated certain colours" and would demand that sets be repainted to satisfy his whims. Sellers was like the flawed diamond that brought him immense fame, fabulous riches and showcased his genius to the world....a world forever thankful that he had no paranoia about pink.

Published April 15, 2004