The Pink Panther

Plot synopsis:
Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus narrates a flashback of a soccer match between France and China. French coach Yves Gluant enters the stadium, wearing the Pink Panther diamond ring, which is seen by his team as a symbol of pride and victory. He kisses his girlfriend, pop star Xania, and whispers something to her. After France wins the game in sudden death, Gluant is killed by a poison dart, with the Pink Panther nowhere to be found.
Eager to win the Medal of Honour, Dreyfus promotes a clumsy small-town policeman and "village idiot", Jacques Clouseau, to the rank of Inspector and assigns him to the Pink Panther case. Dreyfus simultaneously assembles a secret team of top investigators to crack the case, allowing Clouseau to serve as the public face of the investigation and draw all the media attention. Dreyfus assigns Gilbert Ponton to be Clouseau's assistant, instructing him to keep him informed of Clouseau's actions. Despite his orders, Ponton quickly becomes friends with Clouseau.
Bizu, a French soccer player who had an affair with Xania and therefore is the prime suspect in Gluant's murder, is shot in the head and killed in the team's locker room. While at a casino to gain information, Clouseau encounters British Agent 006, Nigel Boswell. Boswell foils a robbery at the casino by the "Gas-Mask Bandits", using Clouseau's trench coat to hide his identity. Clouseau mistakenly receives credit for the deed and is subsequently nominated for the Medal of Honour, much to Dreyfus' dismay.
Clouseau follows Xania to New York City, suspecting that she knows more than she is telling. However, despite Ponton's insistence that she is most likely a suspect because Gluant cheated on her, Clouseau decides Xania is innocent. While in New York, Clouseau and Ponton eat hamburgers, and Clouseau discovers his love for the sandwich, which he had assumed to be nothing more than "disgusting American food". Meanwhile, because the poison that killed Gluant was derived from Chinese herbs, Dreyfus concludes that the killer is a Chinese envoy named Dr. Pang.
Ready to take charge of the case and win the Medal of Honour, Dreyfus has one of his officers switch Clouseau's bag with one full of weapons at the airport. The bag sets off the metal detector at the security checkpoint, causing the guards to be suspicious of Clouseau who is eventually arrested because of his inability to pronounce "hamburger" correctly, as he tried to smuggle some for the trip back. Upon his return to France, the press vilifies him and Dreyfus strips him of his rank of Inspector. Dreyfus now plots to publicly arrest Dr. Pang at the Presidential Ball, where Xania will also be performing.
Clouseau returns home and happens to see an article about his arrest online. He deduces from the photograph in it that the assassin will target Xania next, and he contacts Ponton. The two rush to the Élysée Palace and sneak into the Presidential Ball. While Dreyfus publicly arrests Dr. Pang for Gluant's murder, Clouseau and Ponton save Xania's life by capturing her would-be assassin Yuri, the soccer team's trainer. Jealous of Gluant, Yuri used his knowledge of Chinese herbs, mandated by a soccer statute, to kill him.
After overhearing Yuri's rants, Bizu blackmailed him, so Yuri killed Bizu using Russian military tactics to target the latter's occipital lobe. Yuri targeted Xania because she ignored him while she dated Gluant. Clouseau reveals the Pink Panther was not stolen but instead sewn into the lining of Xania's purse. He discovered this after the photograph of his arrest also showed an X-ray of the purse going through airport security. Xania confessed that she received it from Gluant as an engagement ring — he had whispered his proposal to her prior to the match against China — but she hid it because she thought it could implicate her as the killer. Clouseau concludes that Xania is the ring's rightful owner, while Yuri is taken into custody.
For successfully solving the case, Clouseau wins the Medal of Honour. While leaving the ceremony with Ponton, Clouseau gets Dreyfus's suit caught in his car door; he remains oblivious to Dreyfus's screams as he drives away. Clouseau and Ponton later visit him in the hospital. After Clouseau wishes him well, he accidentally releases the brake on Dreyfus's bed; the bed races through the hospital and throws Dreyfus into the Seine, and he shouts Clouseau's name in anger as he takes the plunge into the river.

Tags: bleak

Review:
(Or should I say, every `Clouseau movie,' since I had even seen Adam Arkin's `Inspector Clouseau'?) I discovered tonight, however, that I had never seen the original 1963 classic, `The Pink Panther.' (Or, if I had, I was far too young to appreciate it and had forgotten all but a couple of scenes.)For those not familiar with the film, this, of course, launched the Clouseau character and the Pink Panther series.
Beyond the characters of Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) and Sir Charles Litton (David Niven) and the fabulous Pink Panther diamond, though, there is little resemblance between the series-launching film and later Panther comedies.
This is not necessarily bad, although fans of the fast-paced slapstick of the later entries will likely be a bit disappointed.Of course this was the precursor, and Sellers and director Blake Edwards were just beginning to explore the character and world of Clouseau, that most incompetent and clumsy of detectives, who nevertheless gets his man.The original Panther is a romantic comedy, with Sellers as merely part of a very good ensemble cast.
In the champagne scene with Litten and the Tiger rug, Cardinale is enticing enough to make a male viewer completely forget Sellers and his bumbling detective work!While Edwards and Sellers changed directions a bit in later films, the original Pink Panther is worth renting for more than just its historic value.
Nearly every review I have read condemning _The Pink Panther_ to second or third rate status in the "pantheon" of Clouseau movies comes from someone who either didn't know it existed or who was raised on the totally slapstick offerings that came later.
Sellers has more scenes than anyone except David Niven._The Pink Panther_ deserves to be considered on its own merits and not compared to movies of another genre that strove to capitalize on the popularity of the original..
The one that started it all and set `Clouseau' on the path to becoming Chief Inspector, `The Pink Panther,' directed by Blake Edwards, stars David Niven and Peter Sellers.
Watching Niven and Sellers together calls to mind the pairing of Michael Caine and Steve Martin some years later in `Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.'	The supporting cast includes Robert Wagner (George Litton), Capucine (Simone), Brenda De Banzie (Angela), Colin Gordon (Tucker) Fran Jeffries (Greek `Cousin') and the lovely Claudia Cardinale as Princess Dala.
It is said correctly that the first two Pink Panther movies, this and "A Shot in the Dark," are more sophisticated and for adults, compared with the later series of films that began ten years later, which are more blatant slapstick and somewhat juvenile.
Still, I rate the original "Pink Panther" film very highly because of its own brand of entertainment and humor, and I put it above most of its successors ("Returns" and "Strikes Again" are at least as good, but I think most people would agree that with the end ones things go downhill).Clouseau is one of the five main characters in the film, but he is only the fourth most prominent.
It might be said that David Niven as the many-times-over thief Sir Charles Litton is the most prominent, followed by Claudia Cardinale as Central Asian Princess Dala, owner of the Pink Panther diamond that is the bait to be stolen, but I would argue that Clouseau's wife Simone (played by Capucine) is as at least equal to Sir Charles, if not more prominent.
Actually two, since the cartoon Pink Panther appears in the credits.There's no Cato or twitching Inspector Dreyfus (they come in the next Clouseau film, "A Shot in the Dark", one of the funniest movies ever made).
Peter Sellers is funny enough in every scene he's in (in fact, he does some of his best Clouseau work in this movie).
Peter Sellers' Inspector Clouseau is wonderful as always, but is neither the central character -- the jewel thief "The Phantom," played by David Niven, is the real protagonist -- or the source of the most laughs; Robert Wagner, the Phantom's nephew who shows up unexpected on the eve of a jewel binge, provides the movie with a force of sheer subversion.
That's not to say the greatest moments aren't Clouseau's; particularly during the bedroom scenes with Capucine, Sellers is in top form.An interesting note is the similarity of THE PINK PANTHER in many ways to Alfred Hitchcock's TO CATCH A THIEF, made in 1955.
The sets, the scenery, the costumes, the photography - everything looks elegant and expensive.2)  For those of us who actually like the cultural atmosphere of the early sixties at least as much as that of the late sixties, this is a goldmine, ranking right up there with the early Bond films.3)  For insecure actors fixated on billing (i.e., where their names go on the credits): just remember that Peter Sellers got third billing on this film, and yet he's the one everyone thinks of when they think of "The Pink Panther."  And not just because of the sequels - this was the movie that made him an American movie star.
There are moments of witty dialogue, but not much to speak of, and while some scenes are mildly funny, even these scenes drag on so long that the comedy becomes stale and tedious.David Niven and Robert Wagner are both annoying more than anything else, and same with the actress who plays Sellers' wife.
This Pink Panther is starred by the great Peter Sellers as the inept and bungler Inspector of the French Surete but being the real starring David Niven as a glamorous thief nicknamed The Phantom .
This first installment is a passable and acceptable comedy , in which bumbling and conceited French police inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) tries to catch The Phantom (David Niven) , a daring jewel thief whose identity and features are unknown - and is acting right under his nose.
The Phantom attempts to steal a valuable jewel (The Pink Panther diamond is named not only for its color, but also for a tiny pink flaw shaped like a panther) whose owner results to be a gorgeous princess (Claudia Cardinale).¨The Pink Panther ¨ release was the first part of series of Inspector Clouseau from French Surete and being the last entry ¨Trail of the Pink Panther¨ by the late Peter Sellers though he would follow playing but with outtakes in other films .
However, Peter Sellers' portrayal of Inspector Clouseau was so loved by the crew , it became his character this film and the sequels focused on .
The movie stars David Niven, but the man who stole it completely was Peter Sellers with his indelible character of that bumbling train wreck of a Surete detective Inspector Clouseau.Niven is the famous Sir Charles Lytton, playboy to the world, but really a legendary jewel thief known as the Phantom.
Peter Sellers made four succeeding Pink Panther movies and in the second one he got a good comic foil in the person of his frazzled supervisor Herbert Lom. But that comes later.The Pink Panther is an average caper film that has two distinguishing things.
One of the most enduring and familiar film scores in movie history by Henry Mancini and it's the start of a string of films like the Road picture series centered around Peter Sellers's most enduring character creation..
And still Blake Edwards' "The Pink Panther" failed to deliver enough satisfactory laughs in its decidedly clumsy storyline to make watching it at all worthwhile, in the long run.In spite of its big-name cast of international stars - 1964's "The Pink Panther" certainly fell mighty short of my expectations on all counts.It was especially actor Peter Sellers, as Inspector Clouseau, who completely let me down with his annoyingly predictable shtick as the ultimate bungler who (regardless of the odds against him) always got his man.Filled-to-overflowing with endless, 1960s, jet-setter crap - "The Pink Panther's" action took place in and around a posh, European, ski resort where a very tired game of cat & mouse gets underway between the clumsy CLouseau and the cunning criminal known as "The Phantom".Not only does it shock me (right to my socks) to find out that this simpleminded movie was, indeed, a big, smash-hit in its day - But that it spawned 3 very successful sequels (which I have absolutely no interest to see), as well..
And finally, the ending is fairly weak.Overall, "The Pink Panther" isn't a bad movie and certainly no worse than similar films of the era.
Not until "Victor, Victoria" does Blake Edwards even come close to this levea again.If you love classic films: If you love the sophisticated "caper movie":  If you want to know how to be funny without being foolish: then watch "The Pink Panther," but remember, this one's for when you grown up..
The later ones for their genius slapstick, comic set pieces and one-liners and the first two, The Pink Panther and A Shot In The Dark, for their more subtle comedy and character development.
These early two films are both romantic comedies and work brilliantly as such (by the way, has anyone ever seen the 1968 film, Inspector Clouseau, starring Alan Arkin?).The real point about The Pink Panther is that the Inspector Clouseau character was supposed to be another in the line of Peter Sellers cameos in US films of the time.
First scene mentions the actual jewel then we are introduced to some horrible boring characters in David Niven's Sir Charles, his nephew, the detective Jack Clouseau (played well by Peter Sellers - the only good thing about this movie), and Jack Clouseau's wife...who is quite possibly the most horrible adulterous character in the movie with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
Peter Sellers makes his debut as bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau, but he gets lost in a supporting role in an antic caper comedy that tries to be sophisticated and slapstick all at once, with minimal success.Something's off from the very beginning, where we see the familiar image of the Pink Panther toying with the opening credits, only instead of suavely making trouble for others, the cartoon cat becomes the butt of it.
Instead of Clouseau bumbling his way to win the day, he falls short at every turn.A friendlier, more mild-mannered character than he would become in later films, which makes the sadistic streak toward him here harder to take, Clouseau is largely a bystander in a story that focuses on the travails of jewel thief Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven), his ne'er-do-well nephew (Robert Wagner), the thief's lover (and Clouseau's wife, played by Capucine), and a princess who stands to lose her priceless diamond the Pink Panther to Sir Charles, not to mention her heart.You kind of want to give "The Pink Panther" every benefit of the doubt when the princess is played by the lovely Claudia Cardinale.
Only a few months later, Clouseau was back on screen in the classic "A Shot In The Dark," and the Pink Panther series began in earnest.Capucine is the weakest link, with her vinegary, put-upon face and unlikable role, yet she stars in the film's one brilliant sequence, where her character is wooed alternately by Lytton and his nephew sneaking into her hotel room, and then she has to protect both from discovery by a suspicious Clouseau.
First off do not get me wrong I greatly enjoyed this film, it was beautifully written (mostly) and directed and of course Peter Sellers is absolutely fantastic as Inspector Clouseau as are the rest of the cast in their respective roles.
The only thing funny in this movie is Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau.
The Pink Panther (1963)There are so many little hilarious slips and slights of hand by Peter Sellers, it's hard not to love this movie.
This is first movie about Inspector Jacques Clouseau and the first of Pink Panther series.
It is quite different from all other Pink Panther movies because in this one Blake Edwards doesn't turn all his attention to Peter Sellers character.
The Pink Panther was meant to be an ensemble comedy and closely resembles a French "bedroom farce." Note that there are five main characters and all of them are introduced in separate sequences at the film's start.
Although there is nothing wrong with this premise, & like these types of films like most people, it is not a Pink Panther film in the traditional sense.This version is based around David Niven's character, who is trying to steal the diamond from its owner, an Indian princess, with various other characters filling in the plot, one of whom is Peter Sellers as Clouseu.
Blake Edwards' famous "Pink Panther" series gets off to a bumbling start with Peter Sellers' universally-known Inspector Clouseau chasing down a jewel thief trying to get his (or her) hands on the "Pink Panther" diamond.Not many laughs, pretty poor comedy, I give it "2" of 5.
Besides i feel his form of humour and the kind of roles that he has played have far outlived his times.The score save for the legendary pink panther theme and one song was quite ordinary and again something that will not go down with modern audiences.The only 2 scenes that really shine are the one in the bedroom with 3 men and cupucine in the room, and the ending car chase with the confused man, these scenes were were hilarious and especially the first one had me laughing my guts out.Not a movie i would recommend for most viewers, a few reasons why one would watch this film are curiosity, research or nostalgia.
This is the original Pink Panther movie with actor Peter Sellers starring as the bumbling Inspector Clousseau, who is out to catch The Phantom, a jewel thief whose identity is unknown and is attempting to steal the Lugashi jewel called the Pink Panther.I thought that this was going to be a great laugh-out-loud comedy with Sellers being the main star.
It's more of a heads-up to those who (like me) expected this to be one of the classic "Pink Panther" films that we've all come to know & love.Clouseau barely has 5 scenes in the film.
I'm a HUGE Pink Panther fan and all the other movies in the series (with an exception to the Sellers-less films) are downright hilarious and fun to watch.
Blake Edwards' THE PINK PANTHER, which launches Peter Sellers' beloved character Inspector Jacques Clouseau onto the celluloid, is originally deemed a star vehicle for David Niven's Sir Charles Lytton, whose secret identity is a roué jewelry thief, aka, "The Phantom".
Indeed, the script insouciantly glosses over its criminal technicalities in favoring of a goofy comedy upstaged by Mr. Sellers' comic tics, Inspector Clouseau is a bungling caricature, unwittingly two-timed by his wife Simone (Capucine), and conscientious to catch The Phantom before he lay claims to the titular diamond in possession of an Indian princess Dala (Cardinale, whisked to Hollywood in a race-insensitive role trading on her gorgeousness and she is quite a delight in capturing a whiff of tipsy feline bewitchment).
While this Blake Edwards comedy introduced the immortal Peter Sellers character of Inspector Clouseau to the world, it is worth noting that he is only a supporting character in the proceedings here as the focus of 'The Pink Panther' is would-be jewel thieves David Niven and Robert Wagner.
The original 1963 Pink Panther, a potentially stand-alone caper comedy uniting slapstick, classy drollness, melancholia and social censure, coalesces, albeit not flawlessly, many constituents for a great evening at the movies: vivacious music, striking settings, ambitious comic set pieces, debonair men and gorgeous women, and odd-man-out Clouseau, played to precision by the inimitable Peter Sellers.
Since the later movies were acknowledged so personally with Clouseau, it's simple to overlook that he was just one in an ensemble at first, sharing screen time with David Niven, Capucine, Robert Wagner, and Claudia Cardinale.
Sellers steals the movie (which in fact makes its climax rather awkward), but the plot focuses on a jewel thief named Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven) who is after the Pink Panther diamond from a princess (Claudia Cardinale).
"The Pink Panther" is the first of Blake Edwards' films featuring bumbling French detective Jacques Clouseau, played by Peter Sellers.
Meanwhile, the Pink Panther, a priceless diamond belonging to a princess, is in imminent danger of being stolen.David Niven, as Sir Charles Lytton/The Phantom, was originally meant to be the star of the film but, through no fault of his own, he ended up being upstaged by Peter Sellers.
I enjoyed Peter Sellers as inspector Clouseau in the later films so I watched this movie to see how that character came into existence.
It's an uneven film with wonderful moments and a great cast which also includes Robert Wagner as Sir Charles' nephew and Brenda de Banzie.Clouseau ends up as the star of the Pink Panther series because apparently, the film A Shot in the Dark derailed, and Edwards was brought in to direct and made it an Inspector Clouseau film.
Little did anyone know when Sellers signed on to a costarring role in this jewel caper film starring Niven, that it would spawn a long-term series of films featuring his character, Inspector Jacques Clouseau.
Peter Sellers was at his best in this, making comedy not with the over-the-top antics of the later Panther capers but with the smaller, character-driven moments.
That and I got confuse because David Niven at times looks like Peter Sellers in this movie, making me guess which one was which.
Thank the heavens that Blake Edwards, long-time producer and director of the Clouseau series, realized the real success behind "The Pink Panther" and ran with it (although he ran a little too far near the end, foolishly making Clouseau movies even after Sellers' death in 1980).
Blake Edwards The Pink Panther turned out to be the first in a series of movies that focused on the inept police detective Jacques Clouseau.
Peter Sellers introduces one of the more memorable comic screen characters in history as Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther.