Happy 50th Birthday to “The Return of the Pink Panther”
Nearly everyone can name a comedy film they consider to be the funniest they’ve ever seen.
Here’s mine.
Fifty years ago today, The Return of the Pink Panther starring the incomparable Peter Sellers premiered on movie theater screens just over a decade after its predecessor in the series, A Shot in the Dark. I was 14 years old and, after seeing it for the first time, promptly begged every family member I could to take me to see it again, and again.
A bit of history:
The Pink Panther, co-written and directed by Blake Edwards and released in December of ’63, gave audiences their first taste of the bumbling police inspector Jaques Clouseau, although he was very much a supporting (but nonetheless funny) character in this first outing (David Niven played the debonair jewel thief Sir Charles Litton). Legend has it that Clouseau was originally to be played by Peter Ustinov, who dropped out of the project in favor of starring in Topkapi — a film Sellers had just quit.
Sellers appeared on movie screens again just weeks after The Pink Panther premiered, playing three roles in Stanley Kubrick’s classic, Dr. Strangelove. Hailed as one of the greatest of all black comedy films (and certainly the blackest), Dr. Strangelove takes the concept of total nuclear destruction and turns it into a political farce, with the help of Sellers as American President Merkin Muffley, British Colonel Mandrake, and the psychotic German Dr. Strangelove himself.
Only six months after Sellers first stepped into the role of Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther, he was back again for its follow-up, A Shot in the Dark, released in June of ‘64. But this time Clouseau was the lead character, and the comedy quotient was raised considerably. But the clash of egos between the two men was never discreet, and after A Shot in the Dark was completed, both vowed never to work with each other again. They each obviously had a change of heart a few years later; the first two Pink Panther films marked the beginning of the hugely successful if often tempestuous working relationship between the star and director. And their work produced some of the funniest comedies ever made.
In 1967, they re-teamed for The Party (released in ‘68) — a virtually plotless film and their only film together that wasn’t part of the Pink Panther series — starring Sellers as an actor from India, Hrundi V. Bakshi, who has been mistakenly invited to a lavish Hollywood bash, during which his ineptitude often reaches Clouseau-like heights. Edwards’ script was much shorter than most screenplays, deliberately allowing room for Sellers to improvise on the set.
“There is an enormous love-hate relationship that goes on,” Edwards once said of his collaboration with Sellers, “It’s a big strain at times, but the end result always seems to justify the anguish.”
Despite their sometimes-fractious professional relationship, they triumphantly joined forces again for their masterpiece, The Return of the Pink Panther.
Filmed in 1974 and released on May 21, 1975, it too often appears as a mere footnote in the history of film comedy, and even in many accounts of Edwards’ and Sellers’ respective careers. Yet it demonstrates the brilliance of the two at their apex, especially Edwards’ genius for constructing an array of sight gags in his easily identifiable style.
The film opens with a lone figure in black carrying out a brilliant nighttime theft of the well-protected Pink Panther diamond from a museum in the fictional Middle East country of Lugash. The local authorities, exercising questionable judgement, call upon Inspector Clouseau to hunt down the thief.
Clouseau’s introduction in the film comes with his encounter with a blind street beggar (John Bluthal) sitting in front of a bank, playing his accordion for donations, with his pet chimp by his side. Clouseau pursues a delightfully absurd exchange with the beggar, all while being blissfully unaware of…well, see for yourself:
Clouseau’s boss, Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), reluctantly agrees to the request to send his underling to Lugash for the investigation into the Pink Panther theft.
Lom nearly steals the film as Dreyfus, forever at the receiving end of Clouseau’s incompetence. But he also somehow manages to accidentally inflict physical injuries to himself and others even without Clouseau’s help.
Clouseau, inspecting the scene of the crime — and moments before wreaking havoc and destruction upon the museum’s display room — confidently announces his suspect is Sir Charles Litton (Christopher Plummer), who had stolen the gem before.
Alas, Litton is as surprised as anyone that the Pink Panther has gone missing, and fears he’s being set up by a nemesis or two.
[Out of consideration for those of you who, unfortunately, may have yet to see the film, I will refrain from posting further clips here and implore you to seek out in its complete form].
From that point on, Clouseau doggedly conducts his search for proof that Sir Charles is the thief, thus providing us with a series of visits to the Litton estate in a number of disguises to gain access to possible clues within. But Lady Litton (the gorgeous and charming Catherine Schell) doesn’t take long to catch on.
One memorable scene has Clouseau arriving at the mansion’s front door as a telephone repairman; he first has trouble simply ringing the doorbell, then getting tangled in its wiring. This scene had to be shot multiple times due to the cast members breaking up. The exasperated Edwards ultimately kept the take in which Schell succumbs in her efforts to keep a straight face. In later scenes with Sellers, she doesn’t even bother to hold her laughter, which adds greatly to their onscreen chemistry.
Supporting players include Graham Stark, who appeared in the earlier Pink Panther films as Clouseau’s assistant, but here plays the sniveling small-time crook Pepi, and, of course, Burt Kwouk as Clouseau’s servant Cato, who has taken to hiding and brutally attacking Clouseau (and, in the process, nearly destroying in their apartment) as per orders from his boss, to help Clouseau stay sharp. Cato’s enthusiasm is admirable, in its own way.
Running gags abound, and one technique Edwards employs in Return of the Pink Panther is a chain-reaction gag, inspired by legendary comedy director Leo McCarey: “Do a joke, top it, and then top the topper” (used in many Laurel & Hardy classics). The merging of Sellers’ genius as a performer with Edwards’ script (co-written by Frank Waldman) created a nearly flawless slapstick comedy here. Some of the gags we see coming, while others surprise us — one of which is, to my mind, the single most brilliant gag ever put on film (but giving it away wouldn’t be fair. You’ll know it when you see it).
Edwards also uses “call back” gags in this and a number of his other films — that is, he would film a gag that’s good for a big laugh, move on to other business in the plot, then, when the audience least expects it (or remembers it), he will suddenly repeat it for an even bigger laugh than before.
The comedy set pieces come at a steady pace, taking us to a number of locales including Morocco, France, Germany, and Switzerland. After successfully luring Clouseau to Gstaad to distract him from his pursuit of Sir Charles (who has flown to Lugash to clear his name), Clouseau follows her to her hotel, and attempts to sweet-talk her in the guise of playboy Guy Gadois.
We also see him in disguise again as he fumbles with a what is apparently a nuclear-powered vacuum cleaner while searching her hotel room, where he and a bellboy (Mike Grady) get trapped in the bathroom’s steam sauna (with the steam at full blast) as they hide from her unexpected return.
Dreyfus, meanwhile, has finally snapped, and in his insanity has decided to track down Clouseau in Gstaad and kill him personally!
Again, without giving too much away (even though the film has been around for fifty years), it’s safe to say that Clouseau’s life is spared, the real thief is revealed, and all ends fairly well — except for the madman Dreyfus and one or two villains.
Variety’s review noted, “All hands seem to be having a ball, especially Schell, whose unabashed amusement at Clouseau’s seduction attempts often matches an audience’s hilarity.”
Newsweek said, “The comic heart of the movie lies in the absolute aplomb and imperturbable self-confidence with which Sellers, as Clouseau, confronts the catastrophes of his own making.”
And Vincent Canby of The New York Times observed: “The screenplay is funny but even better are the sight gags that are a kind of inventory of everything Clouseau has been unable to master in his long, irrelevant career.”
Edwards and Sellers followed up with The Pink Panther Strikes Again in 1978, in which Dreyfus escapes from the mental asylum following a relapse triggered by a friendly visit from Clouseau. Dreyfus then hires the world’s top assassins to join forces and converge on Octoberfest in Munich to put an end to Clouseau once and for all.
Vincent Canby’s review declared: “Ineptitude again triumphs — gloriously. Bungling is rewarded, and Clouseau goes blithely on demonstrating that what he doesn’t know, which is everything, can’t possibly do him permanent damage…Both Mr. Sellers and Mr. Edwards delight in old gags, and part of the joy of The Pink Panther Strikes Again is watching the way they spin out what is essentially a single routine, such as one fellow’s trying, unsuccessfully, to help another fellow out of a like. And how long has it been since you’ve seen a crazy dentist routine involving laughing gas and the wrong tooth? For me, too long.”
Their final work together, Revenge of the Pink Panther in 1978, has Clouseau, now chief of the Surete, on the trail of an international crime ring. After an assassination attempt, he is mistakenly believed to be dead, and his subsequent appearances back at headquarters startle his associates. The poor Dreyfus, packing to leave the mental institution just as he confronts Clouseau — or his ghost — experiences the first of several fainting spells upon confronting his nemesis face to face. The action later moves to Hong Kong, culminating in a wild chase through its streets.
With the release of Revenge of the Pink Panther, the series reached its end — at least where the collaboration between Edwards and Sellers was concerned. After that, Sellers made only a handful of films, including his remarkable, Oscar-nominated performance in Being There, before his death in July of 1980 at the age of 54.
Edwards’ post Pink Panther successes included the hits 10, Victor/Victoria (starring his wife Julie Andrews), and Micki and Maude. He died in 2010.
Judging comedy has always been a subjective matter. Two people could sit side-by-side watching the same film that has one breaking out in uncontrollable laughter, while the other sits unamused. Such is one of the mysteries of human nature. But you would have to be one tough customer to find The Return of the Pink Panther anything other than a comedy masterpiece of slapstick, writing, direction, editing, and the efforts of the individuals who combined their unmatched talents — despite episodes of personal conflict — to produce among the funniest series of films ever, and with this particular jewel resting at the top.
Until next time…
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