Review of The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976) by Curtis W — 09 Nov 2004

The first film in this franchise that I was introduced to back in 1975 was Return of the Pink Panther. It was also my first time seeing Peter Sellers and was pretty memorable. So I was more than a little disappointed to discover that Return wasn't in this collection. I wonder why? Must be some kind of licensing or rights dispute. Oh well.

What the collection does have is still pretty impressive. For me, having Shot in the Dark alone is worth having the collection. I feel this is the best film in the series. Peter Sellers is in full Clouseau mode for this, right off the bat falling into the fountain as he's getting out of the car at the murder scene.

For Pink Panther, he is more subdued. He and Edwards hadn't fully conceived the Clouseau character, plus the movie was more of a star vehicle for David Niven. Claudia Cardinale and Robert Wagner add even more wattage.

After Shot in the Dark, Sellers took a 14-year break from doing the character, but was finally brought back for Return, which isn't in the box. Dammit.

This was quickly followed by The Pink Panther Strikes Again, which gets low marks because a lot of the gags are rehashed from Shot in the Dark, like the interview of the housekeeping staff. Smashing the Steinway is an added flourish.

That's a precious Steinway.

Not anymore.

Of course, a lot of the gags were repeated, but they somehow seemed fresher in Revenge of the Pink Panther. Plus Clouseau finally meets a female co-star who rides along with his pratfalls in Dyan Cannon.

Trail of the Pink Panther, which I ran out of room to rate, is an abominable waste. Made after Sellers death, it is slapped together from outtake reels. Then Clouseau simply disappears in a plane crash about halfway through and the rest of the film is simply using clips from the five earlier films as a TV reporter tries to piece together the mystery of his disappearance. Part of it works as a tribute to Sellers, but as a full-length movie it's pretty bad. :rotten: 3/10.

I guess I should count my blessings that Curse of the Pink Panther and Son of the Pink Panther weren't released on this set.

A sixth disc in the collection contains some interviews with Blake Edwards, Walter Mirisch and others, recalling the Pink Panther mystique. It's decent.

Then there's a segment on the Pink Panther cartoons, since the Pink Panther animation was used in the title sequence for all the films. Friz Freleng and Depatie were able to spin that job into a series of shorts and eventually a Saturday morning cartoon series. There are six shorts, and three of them are watchable. The other three, a Pink Panther in which he's being instructed on how to be a secret agent by an offscreen voice, a Ant and Aardvark and an Inspector cartoon, won't be viewed again. In fact, unless you get the shorts on DVD, noone will see them. They are too politically incorrect for kids TV - the Pink Panther actually smokes in all the shorts, favoring a long cigarette holder, though he sometimes goes for a pipe.