(Review originally written at 3 May 2008)

I believe Blake Edwards intentions with this movie were noble. I'm sure it was meant as a tribute to Peter Sellers, who passed away in 1980, for playing Chief Insp. Jacques Clouseau so greatly in the previous more successful Pink Panther movies. It does this by using archive footage of Sellers in his role as Clouseau and by incorporating 'interviews' with people Clouseau encountered in the previous movies. This also means the return of David Niven, Robert Loggia, Harvey Korman, Graham Stark, Capucine, Burt Kwouk, André Maranne and of course Herbert Lom. Some of them only had appeared in the earliest of the Pink Panther movies and I felt that they appeared in this movie because they felt they owed it to Peter Sellers. I mean they really didn't needed to appear in this movie unless they really wanted to. After all David Niven was already seriously ill at the time and also died shortly after shooting.

Therefor this movie can perhaps be better seen as a special you would normally see on a DVD, that is paying tribute to a past away actor. However there were obviously no DVD's yet in 1982 and a TV special would perhaps had been too expensive and simplistic as a tribute. I'm sure Blake Edwards wanted to make something special for his good old friend and at the same time also use this movie as a set up for the next sequel "Curse of the Pink Panther", which was also shot at the same time as this movie and is therefor also featuring most of the same actors.

However big mistake that Blade Edwards made was that he tried to incorporate a story into this movie. This story however seen gets abandoned again early on into the movie, as if they ran out of good usable Peter Sellers archive footage.

Watching this old cut archive footage also often makes it obvious why it got cut from the original movies. Often the sequences go on for too long and are stretched out far too much, as if Sellers and his fellow actors and director were merely trying out some stuff to see what would work and what wouldn't and how far they could go with things. The comedy in those sequences also often doesn't work out as intended, which explains why they never made the final cut. It's also confusing to see some sequences that were obviously meant original for mainly "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" and "Revenge of the Pink Panther" incorporated into this movie as part of the story but however these different sequences obviously don't really connect with each other also because most of those sequences are basically the same, though less good, ones that got eventually used in those earlier mentioned movies.

But also the originally shot comical sequences for this movie don't really work out. Peter Sellers is simply missed too much in this movie. Blake Edwards tried but his attempts simply weren't good enough. He tried to make it work by putting also new characters into the movie, such as Clouseau's father.

A failed experimental attempt by Blake Edwards.

4/10

(Review originally written at 3 May 2008)

This was the last Pink Panther movie starring Peter Sellers as the clumsy Chief Insp. Jacques Clouseau, before his early death in 1980.

It's also one of the best Pink Panther movies, that still features the distinctive Blake Edwards/Peter Sellers slapstick like comedy approach. It's a genuinely funny movie with more than a couple of great moments, such as the opening sequence with the beumb, Clouseau dressed as a salty Swedish sea dog, Clouseau dressed as a mafia boss, Cato with his thick glasses in Hong Kong, oh and so many more moments. It's the last of the Pink Panther movies that entertains during its entire running time and only makes hits and no misses with its comedy.

It's perhaps a bit of an overwritten movie though, in which Clouseau is presumed to be death and he incognito starts to investigate who tried to kill him. Pink Panther movies were never really about its story but simply about the antics of Clouseau. The less- or the more silly the story, also the better the movie is. This movie has perhaps a bit too many characters in it and the storytelling is not always consistent and its last 20 minutes feel rushed. But oh well, it's comedy more than compensates for this all.

It's a movie that features all of the necessary required Pink Panther elements, such as Clouseau and Cato fighting, Dreyfus who is trying to kill Clouseau, Clouseau falling in love, Clouseau wearing outrageously stupid disguises and many returning characters from previous Pink Panther movies, such as André Maranne as Sgt. François Chevalier and of course Herbert Lom as Chief Insp. Charles Dreyfus. It's also the first Pink Panther movie to feature Professor Auguste Balls, the man who provides Clouseau with his 'brilliant' disguises. Professor Balls already appeared in the previous movie "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" but his scenes were eventually cut from the movie.

It was also nice to see that Cato's role got extended in this movie. He gets to show some crazy stuff in the second halve of the movie, proofing that Burt Kwouk himself was also one fine comedy actor, who has however understandably so never got rite of his Pink Panther label.

It's a movie that shows that director Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers were still at the top of their game with their Pink Panther movies. I'm sure that if Sellers had not died in 1980 many more successful Pink Panther movies would had been made. The movie "Romance of the Pink Panther" was already being written and developed by Peter Sellers (without any involvement of Blake Edwards by the way), which makes it all the more sad and a waste that Peter Sellers past away so early at the age of 54. "Romance of the Pink Panther" never got made and instead Blake Edwards continued the Pink Panther series with different actors in the main lead and use of archive footage of old cut Sellers footage from previous Pink Panther movies.

The last great Pink Panther movie out of the long running series of Pink Panther movies, which recently got a rebooting again with Steve Martin's rendition of Clouseau in the 2006 film, of which a sequel is already currently in development.

8/10

(Review originally written at 3 May 2008)

This is just one of those movies that, no matter how many times I've watched it, is an hilarious comedy that genuinely makes me laugh.

What I often love about Blake Edwards' comedies is his almost cartoon like approach of it. This is like a life action road runner/Wile E. Coyote movie. Along with "The Great Race" this is perhaps his most cartoon like comedy. The slapstick and timing of it in this movie is amazing and it of course also obviously work out due to the comical brilliance of Peter Sellers.

Out of all the Pink Panther movies this is the one with the most laughs and classic comical moments in it. Great moments such as the slow motion fight between Clouseau & Cato (it's the best Clouseau vs. Cato fights out of the whole series), in which Dreyfus also somehow gets involved, the Oktoberfest sequence, the questioning of the staff, Clouseau trying to enter the château, Clouseau disguised as a dentist and I'm sure I'm forgetting many more great sequences. It are all moments that just bound to make you laugh, even if you really don't want to.

For the comedy and the story itself is actually quite lame and predictable. You can often see things coming from miles away but this seriously doesn't make it any less funny to watch. Perhaps its even somehow part of the reason why it works out so incredibly hilarious. It's obvious that Blade Edwards and Peter Sellers both were lovers and inspired by the slapstick comedies of the '20's and early '30's. This movie features the same type of comical approach but not in an old fashioned way. The Clouseau character is still 'modern' and the approach original, even if it all has done somewhere else before.

Of course most credit goes to Peter Sellers. He was a brilliant comedian who never tried to be funny but simply just was funny. The way he handles all of the comedy within this movie is just brilliant. It are not just the antics but also the accent and other small subtle things that made him great and turned Chief Insp. Jacques Clouseau into an absolute classic comedy character. Even if you've never seen a Pink Panther movie you still know who Jacques Clouseau is.

But also the other actors deserve credit. Especially Herbert Lom, who just as Sellers doesn't try to be funny and instead plays a mean hateful character, who at the same time is of course totally hilarious. He is especially great in the scenes with Sellers, the two of them had some great interaction and chemistry together.

If you've never seen a Pink Panther movie and you have to see just one, be sure to watch this one. It's the absolute best and most hilarious one!

9/10