In the end, it leaves you to ponder what eternity is, as the voice-over chides the viewer for thinking the sea and sky can be eternity. The Pink Panther is literally a precious jewel. Peter Ustinov and Ava Gardner turned down the Sellers and Capucine roles. This is the first of many Panthers. It's a slapstick comedy, with no hard-edge or satire but lots of fluff like the masses supposedly want in their films.
Many sequels are to follow.
Astronauts are stranded on a planet where apes are the rulers. The apes study the surviving astronaut, Heston, by humiliating him with lab experiments. There is some calculated humor in the dialogue between Heston and the apes, and there is a raw beauty in the concept of the story. It tries to inveigh us for our ignorance in believing blindly in what the Bible says. This slow-moving, likable story, is scripted by Terrence Malick with a quiet sense of intelligence and a wry humor.