I
have always enjoyed the comic exploits of Peter Sellers in the guise of
bumbling French policeman Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Not only has
Inspector Clouseau become Sellers’ best know characterization, Clouseau
eventually blossom into a cottage industry for both Sellers and
writer/director Blake Edwards. Sellers portrayed Clouseau in a string of
successful films up until the time of his death, and it even seemed as
though Clouseau had taken on a life of his own, especially since it
appeared that Edwards was unwilling to let the character die when Sellers
did. As a fan of the "Pink Panther" movies, I readily acquired
the films when they were issued on DVD in the early days of the format. Of
course, those discs were something of a mixed bag, and certainly did not
do justice to the movie series. MGM Home Entertainment has finally
revisited the series, issuing THE PINK PANTHER, A SHOT IN THE
DARK, THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN, REVENGE OF THE PINK
PANTHER and TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER as part of THE PINK
PANTHER FILM COLLECTION ($70). A rather notable omission from this set
is THE RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER, an ITC co-produced film whose
video rights are currently tied up at another company.
The
motion picture that launched this lucrative franchise was 1963’s THE
PINK PANTHER, which certainly isn’t as slapstick laden as the later
entries in the series. Actually, THE PINK PANTHER takes an entirely
different tact than the films that would follow it; playing as a
sophisticated bedroom farce, with elements of a caper movie thrown in for
good measure. The plot of THE PINK PANTHER follows infamous jewel
thief known as The Phantom AKA international playboy Sir Charles Litton
(David Niven), who is planning to steal The Pink Panther (one of the
world's largest and most valuable diamonds) from the gorgeous Princess
Dala (Claudia Cardinale). Leading the investigation to capture The Phantom
is none other Inspector Clouseau, who is traveling with his lovely wife
Simone (Capucine), who, unbeknownst to Clouseau, is having an affair with
Sir Charles. Also thrown into the mix Sir Charles' American nephew George
Litton (Robert Wagner), who takes a shine to both the family business and
Madame Clouseau. As much as THE PINK PANTHER plays up the sexual
hijinks, the accident-prone Clouseau remains the film’s breakout
character, easily stealing away the focus of film.
Unlike
THE PINK PANTHER, A SHOT IN THE DARK was a starring vehicle
for Peter Sellers that was based upon a stage play, which was retailored
by Blake Edwards and William Peter Blatty to utilize Inspector Clouseau as
the leading character. As it comes from another source, it is why its
somewhat surprising A SHOT IN THE DARK is from the film from which
the rest of the "Pink Panther" film series would find its true
direction. A SHOT IN THE DARK ups the level of slapstick for
Sellers, plus it introduces Clouseau’s eventual nemesis, Chief Inspector
Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), as well as Clouseau's manservant and
(unfortunate) sparring partner Kato (Burt Kwouk). It should be noted that
there are times that Lom’s performance rivals that of Peter Sellers for
its moments of unbridled hilarity.
The
plot of A SHOT IN THE DARK finds Clouseau (accidentally) assigned
to a high profile murder investigation. The case seems so simple, that
even an idiot could solve it. Well, almost any idiot would be able to
solve the case, especially since all of the evidence points to a single
suspect, one that was discovered standing over the body with the smoking
pistol still in her hands. But then again, Inspector Clouseau isn’t your
average idiot. Maria Gambrelli (Elke Sommer) appears to be as guilty as
sin, yet Clouseau is convinced of her innocence- something that only
serves to convince the inspector’s superiors that Clouseau is an even
bigger idiot than they initially suspected. The cast of A SHOT IN THE
DARK also features George Sanders, Tracy Reed and Graham Stark.
Continuity-wise
there isn’t much of a break in comic situations between the end of A
SHOT IN THE DARK and the beginning of THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES
AGAIN, even if THE RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER is missing from
this box set. As THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN opens, we find that
Clouseau is now a Chief Inspector, while his predecessor Dreyfus (whom
Clouseau initially drove mad) has been restored to sanity and is on the
verge of being released from the asylum. Unfortunately for Dreyfus, on the
day of his scheduled release, he receives a disastrous visit from
Clouseau, which only serves to drive the former Chief Inspector completely
insane once again. Now, instead of turning into a babbling idiot, Dreyfus
is transformed into a criminal mastermind with only one purpose- to bring
about the demise of Chief Inspector Clouseau by any means necessary- which
includes holding the entire world hostage with his recently acquired
doomsday machine. As expected, the governments of the world send out their
best assassins on a mission to kill Clouseau, yet the Inspector’s
disastrous dumb luck manages to save him time and again. The cast of THE
PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN also features Lesley-Anne Down, Colin
Blakely, Leonard Rossiter, André Maranne and an uncredited cameo by Omar
Sharif.
REVENGE
OF THE PINK PANTHER is a movie that certainly gave the best
indications that the series might be running out of gas, but it is
actually made rather enjoyable by Peter Sellers consistently funny
performance. The plot of REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER finds that
Inspector Clouseau believed dead at the hands of an infamous drug lord
named Philippe Douvier (Robert Webber). Of course, the news of Clouseau's
death has one beneficial result; it miraculously restores Dreyfus (Herbert
Lom) to sanity (yet again). Unfortunately for poor put upon Dreyfus, the
reports of Clouseau's death turn out to be greatly exaggerated, with the
very much alive Chief Inspector on his way to Hong Kong to apprehend
Douvier. Accompanying Clouseau on his mission to Hong Kong is Douvier's
discarded mistress Simone Legree (Dyan Cannon), who wants to be a witness
when her former lover is finally hauled off to jail. The cast of REVENGE
OF THE PINK PANTHER also features Robert Loggia, Graham Stark and
André Maranne.
Made
after Peter Sellers died, I can understand why many consider TRAIL OF
THE PINK PANTHER to be an unfunny cinematic exercise in grave robbery.
Patched together from unused footage of Peter Sellers from previous
outings, TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER attempts to weave a story around
the disappearance of Inspector Clouseau, whose plane has gone missing,
while he was in transit to investigate the latest theft of the Pink
Panther diamond. The plots then resorts to having a reporter named Marie
Jouvet (Joanna Lumley) interview Clouseau’s various friends, relatives
and professional acquaintances, who share their reminiscences of the
bumbling French inspector. The cast of TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER
also includes David Niven, Herbert Lom, Capucine, Richard Mulligan, André
Maranne, Robert Loggia, Harvey Korman, Burt Kwouk and Graham Stark.
MGM
Home Entertainment have made all of the films that comprise THE PINK
PANTHER FILM COLLECTION in newly mastered 2.35:1 wide screen
presentations, which have been enhanced for playback on 16:9 displays. All
of the transfers look terrific, easily besting the previous DVD
incarnations of the films by a healthy margin. THE PINK PANTHER was
a beautiful Technirama production whose presentation gives a good
indication what a Technicolor print might have looked like. The
Panavision/DeLuxe A SHOT IN THE DARK also looks remarkably robust.
The other films in the series overcome some of the limitations in the 70’s/80’s
film stocks producing their best appearances to date. All of the movies
have their own special look, but produce rather sharp and well-defined
images. Colors are strong and free from noise and smearing. Blacks are
generally accurate, whites stable and contrast is a bit variable between
movies because of the differences in the film stocks used to shoot them,
but all hold up quite well. The film elements for each movie are
surprisingly clean, although each has its minor issues with grain. Digital
compression artifacts are well concealed in each presentation.
Each
film in THE PINK PANTHER FILM COLLECTION comes with a newly mixed
Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack. The soundtracks come as a pleasant
surprise, not because they are showy or particularly direction, but they
breathe life into the presentations, instead of rendering them with a
flat, lifeless monaural quality. Sound is spread throughout the
soundstage, with each film’s Henry Mancini score reaping the lion’s
share of the benefits. Of course, the music has some age related
limitations, as far as fidelity is concerned, but it does sound better
here than it ever did in past video incarnations. Surround usage is mild,
as are directional effects in the forward soundstage, but each is
effective, when deployed. Dialogue is always completely understandable,
although looped dialogue is a bit obvious in places. As for background
hiss and other audible anomalies, they have been cleaned up in the
mastering process. Monaural English, French and Spanish soundtracks are
also provided, as are English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
Full
motion video, music and animation serve to enhance the interactive menus,
which provide access to the standard scene selection and set up features,
as well as the supplemental materials that are featured throughout the set
and on a sixth disc. Blake Edwards provides an enjoyable commentary for THE
PINK PANTHER, although it can be sparse in places. THE PINK PANTHER
also sports a terrific pop-up trivia track filled with tons of interesting
bits. As for the other films in the set, each sports a theatrical trailer
and photo gallery on its respective disc (as does THE PINK PANTHER).
On
disc six, one will find the remainder of the supplemental programming. The
Pink Panther Story is a nearly half-hour retrospective/documentary
on the entire movie series. Behind The Feline is a
ten-minute look at the origins of the animated character that graced the
movie credits, as well as animated shorts and TV series. Cartoon
Theater offers up the following six animated Pink Panther shorts The
Pink Phink (Academy Award winner), Pink, Plunk, Plink,
Psychedlic Pink, Pinkfinger, The Great
DeGaulle Stone Operation and The Ant And The Aardvark.
One last note about the packaging- it really looks terrific, but the fold
out configuration contains two discs on each of three panels,
necessitating the removal of the top disc to get to the one on the bottom
(packaging that requires its own set of instruction probably isn’t the
best).
Peter
Sellers/Inspector Clouseau fans should be delighted by the arrival of THE
PINK PANTHER FILM COLLECTION, although the presence of THE RETURN
OF THE PINK PANTHER is sorely missed. The movies look and sound better
than ever, plus the supplements put a cherry on the sundae to tickle fans.
If you’ve been looking to add the exploits of Inspector Clouseau to your
DVD collection, you can’t go wrong with THE PINK PANTHER FILM
COLLECTION. Recommended.
I
have always enjoyed the comic exploits of Peter Sellers in the guise of
bumbling French policeman Inspector Jacques Clouseau. Not only has
Inspector Clouseau become Sellers’ best know characterization, Clouseau
eventually blossom into a cottage industry for both Sellers and
writer/director Blake Edwards. Sellers portrayed Clouseau in a string of
successful films up until the time of his death, and it even seemed as
though Clouseau had taken on a life of his own, especially since it
appeared that Edwards was unwilling to let the character die when Sellers
did. As a fan of the "Pink Panther" movies, I readily acquired
the films when they were issued on DVD in the early days of the format. Of
course, those discs were something of a mixed bag, and certainly did not
do justice to the movie series. MGM Home Entertainment has finally
revisited the series, issuing THE PINK PANTHER, A SHOT IN THE
DARK, THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN, REVENGE OF THE PINK
PANTHER and TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER as part of THE PINK
PANTHER FILM COLLECTION ($70). A rather notable omission from this set
is THE RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER, an ITC co-produced film whose
video rights are currently tied up at another company.
The
motion picture that launched this lucrative franchise was 1963’s THE
PINK PANTHER, which certainly isn’t as slapstick laden as the later
entries in the series. Actually, THE PINK PANTHER takes an entirely
different tact than the films that would follow it; playing as a
sophisticated bedroom farce, with elements of a caper movie thrown in for
good measure. The plot of THE PINK PANTHER follows infamous jewel
thief known as The Phantom AKA international playboy Sir Charles Litton
(David Niven), who is planning to steal The Pink Panther (one of the
world's largest and most valuable diamonds) from the gorgeous Princess
Dala (Claudia Cardinale). Leading the investigation to capture The Phantom
is none other Inspector Clouseau, who is traveling with his lovely wife
Simone (Capucine), who, unbeknownst to Clouseau, is having an affair with
Sir Charles. Also thrown into the mix Sir Charles' American nephew George
Litton (Robert Wagner), who takes a shine to both the family business and
Madame Clouseau. As much as THE PINK PANTHER plays up the sexual
hijinks, the accident-prone Clouseau remains the film’s breakout
character, easily stealing away the focus of film.
Unlike
THE PINK PANTHER, A SHOT IN THE DARK was a starring vehicle
for Peter Sellers that was based upon a stage play, which was retailored
by Blake Edwards and William Peter Blatty to utilize Inspector Clouseau as
the leading character. As it comes from another source, it is why its
somewhat surprising A SHOT IN THE DARK is from the film from which
the rest of the "Pink Panther" film series would find its true
direction. A SHOT IN THE DARK ups the level of slapstick for
Sellers, plus it introduces Clouseau’s eventual nemesis, Chief Inspector
Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), as well as Clouseau's manservant and
(unfortunate) sparring partner Kato (Burt Kwouk). It should be noted that
there are times that Lom’s performance rivals that of Peter Sellers for
its moments of unbridled hilarity.
The
plot of A SHOT IN THE DARK finds Clouseau (accidentally) assigned
to a high profile murder investigation. The case seems so simple, that
even an idiot could solve it. Well, almost any idiot would be able to
solve the case, especially since all of the evidence points to a single
suspect, one that was discovered standing over the body with the smoking
pistol still in her hands. But then again, Inspector Clouseau isn’t your
average idiot. Maria Gambrelli (Elke Sommer) appears to be as guilty as
sin, yet Clouseau is convinced of her innocence- something that only
serves to convince the inspector’s superiors that Clouseau is an even
bigger idiot than they initially suspected. The cast of A SHOT IN THE
DARK also features George Sanders, Tracy Reed and Graham Stark.
Continuity-wise
there isn’t much of a break in comic situations between the end of A
SHOT IN THE DARK and the beginning of THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES
AGAIN, even if THE RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER is missing from
this box set. As THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN opens, we find that
Clouseau is now a Chief Inspector, while his predecessor Dreyfus (whom
Clouseau initially drove mad) has been restored to sanity and is on the
verge of being released from the asylum. Unfortunately for Dreyfus, on the
day of his scheduled release, he receives a disastrous visit from
Clouseau, which only serves to drive the former Chief Inspector completely
insane once again. Now, instead of turning into a babbling idiot, Dreyfus
is transformed into a criminal mastermind with only one purpose- to bring
about the demise of Chief Inspector Clouseau by any means necessary- which
includes holding the entire world hostage with his recently acquired
doomsday machine. As expected, the governments of the world send out their
best assassins on a mission to kill Clouseau, yet the Inspector’s
disastrous dumb luck manages to save him time and again. The cast of THE
PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN also features Lesley-Anne Down, Colin
Blakely, Leonard Rossiter, André Maranne and an uncredited cameo by Omar
Sharif.
REVENGE
OF THE PINK PANTHER is a movie that certainly gave the best
indications that the series might be running out of gas, but it is
actually made rather enjoyable by Peter Sellers consistently funny
performance. The plot of REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER finds that
Inspector Clouseau believed dead at the hands of an infamous drug lord
named Philippe Douvier (Robert Webber). Of course, the news of Clouseau's
death has one beneficial result; it miraculously restores Dreyfus (Herbert
Lom) to sanity (yet again). Unfortunately for poor put upon Dreyfus, the
reports of Clouseau's death turn out to be greatly exaggerated, with the
very much alive Chief Inspector on his way to Hong Kong to apprehend
Douvier. Accompanying Clouseau on his mission to Hong Kong is Douvier's
discarded mistress Simone Legree (Dyan Cannon), who wants to be a witness
when her former lover is finally hauled off to jail. The cast of REVENGE
OF THE PINK PANTHER also features Robert Loggia, Graham Stark and
André Maranne.
Made
after Peter Sellers died, I can understand why many consider TRAIL OF
THE PINK PANTHER to be an unfunny cinematic exercise in grave robbery.
Patched together from unused footage of Peter Sellers from previous
outings, TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER attempts to weave a story around
the disappearance of Inspector Clouseau, whose plane has gone missing,
while he was in transit to investigate the latest theft of the Pink
Panther diamond. The plots then resorts to having a reporter named Marie
Jouvet (Joanna Lumley) interview Clouseau’s various friends, relatives
and professional acquaintances, who share their reminiscences of the
bumbling French inspector. The cast of TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER
also includes David Niven, Herbert Lom, Capucine, Richard Mulligan, André
Maranne, Robert Loggia, Harvey Korman, Burt Kwouk and Graham Stark.
MGM
Home Entertainment have made all of the films that comprise THE PINK
PANTHER FILM COLLECTION in newly mastered 2.35:1 wide screen
presentations, which have been enhanced for playback on 16:9 displays. All
of the transfers look terrific, easily besting the previous DVD
incarnations of the films by a healthy margin. THE PINK PANTHER was
a beautiful Technirama production whose presentation gives a good
indication what a Technicolor print might have looked like. The
Panavision/DeLuxe A SHOT IN THE DARK also looks remarkably robust.
The other films in the series overcome some of the limitations in the 70’s/80’s
film stocks producing their best appearances to date. All of the movies
have their own special look, but produce rather sharp and well-defined
images. Colors are strong and free from noise and smearing. Blacks are
generally accurate, whites stable and contrast is a bit variable between
movies because of the differences in the film stocks used to shoot them,
but all hold up quite well. The film elements for each movie are
surprisingly clean, although each has its minor issues with grain. Digital
compression artifacts are well concealed in each presentation.
Each
film in THE PINK PANTHER FILM COLLECTION comes with a newly mixed
Dolby Digital 5.1 channel soundtrack. The soundtracks come as a pleasant
surprise, not because they are showy or particularly direction, but they
breathe life into the presentations, instead of rendering them with a
flat, lifeless monaural quality. Sound is spread throughout the
soundstage, with each film’s Henry Mancini score reaping the lion’s
share of the benefits. Of course, the music has some age related
limitations, as far as fidelity is concerned, but it does sound better
here than it ever did in past video incarnations. Surround usage is mild,
as are directional effects in the forward soundstage, but each is
effective, when deployed. Dialogue is always completely understandable,
although looped dialogue is a bit obvious in places. As for background
hiss and other audible anomalies, they have been cleaned up in the
mastering process. Monaural English, French and Spanish soundtracks are
also provided, as are English, French, and Spanish subtitles.
Full
motion video, music and animation serve to enhance the interactive menus,
which provide access to the standard scene selection and set up features,
as well as the supplemental materials that are featured throughout the set
and on a sixth disc. Blake Edwards provides an enjoyable commentary for THE
PINK PANTHER, although it can be sparse in places. THE PINK PANTHER
also sports a terrific pop-up trivia track filled with tons of interesting
bits. As for the other films in the set, each sports a theatrical trailer
and photo gallery on its respective disc (as does THE PINK PANTHER).
On
disc six, one will find the remainder of the supplemental programming. The
Pink Panther Story is a nearly half-hour retrospective/documentary
on the entire movie series. Behind The Feline is a
ten-minute look at the origins of the animated character that graced the
movie credits, as well as animated shorts and TV series. Cartoon
Theater offers up the following six animated Pink Panther shorts The
Pink Phink (Academy Award winner), Pink, Plunk, Plink,
Psychedlic Pink, Pinkfinger, The Great
DeGaulle Stone Operation and The Ant And The Aardvark.
One last note about the packaging- it really looks terrific, but the fold
out configuration contains two discs on each of three panels,
necessitating the removal of the top disc to get to the one on the bottom
(packaging that requires its own set of instruction probably isn’t the
best).
Peter
Sellers/Inspector Clouseau fans should be delighted by the arrival of THE
PINK PANTHER FILM COLLECTION, although the presence of THE RETURN
OF THE PINK PANTHER is sorely missed. The movies look and sound better
than ever, plus the supplements put a cherry on the sundae to tickle fans.
If you’ve been looking to add the exploits of Inspector Clouseau to your
DVD collection, you can’t go wrong with THE PINK PANTHER FILM
COLLECTION. Recommended.
