Product Description

Inspector Clouseau of the Paris police, attempts to catch a jewel thief, unaware that his wife is having an affair with the thief.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: NR
Release Date: 31-JAN-2006
Media Type: DVD

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #5543 in DVD
• Brand: SELLERS,PETER
• Released on: 2006-01-31
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Italian
• Subtitled in: French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French, Spanish
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 115 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
The history of film comedy would have been much altered if Peter Ustinov had stayed in the role of Jacques Clouseau, the bumbling French police inspector in The Pink Panther. But Ustinov dropped out, the role went to Peter Sellers, and a classic character was born: suspicious, blundering, with a pompous little mustache and a sometimes impenetrable accent, Clouseau was always one step behind everybody else in the room. The Pink Panther introduced Clouseau hot on the trail of a famous jewel thief (David Niven), who may be planning to make off with an expensive gem known as the Pink Panther. Set in a European ski resort, this bubbly comedy is a wonderful dose of '60s style, from the famous Henry Mancini theme music to the presence of two of Europe's top sex symbols of the era, Claudia Cardinale and Capucine. The film also introduced the popular cartoon Pink Panther, slinking around to Mancini's music in an animated credits sequence. The film's success brought a follow-up, A Shot in the Dark, also released in 1964; after 11 years, Sellers and top comedy director Blake Edwards (10) returned with three more sequels. --Robert Horton

Customer Reviews

Boring
I just didn't find this funny at all. Niven was in movies that were much funnier. Just wasn't what I expected. In fact, beat me up if you like, but I much prefer Steve Martin's version.

Inspector Clouseau's Pale Shadow
This movie is cute and funny, especially in the scenes that feature Peter Sellers. The grave weakness of this movie, the first in this series, is that the emphasis is on the dashing and debonair jewel thief played by David Niven. There's nothing wrong with that, except the character was already a "stock" character and there's really nothing interesting about them either. Niven's acting was great and the leading ladies are lovely. Also, I had forgotten the great musical number in the middle.

But no one can spill milk or break a violin like Sellers. Inspector Clouseau lights the screen whenever he is on.

The Pink Panther (original)
This is the original one that set the stage for the sequels. I was mildly disappointed after seeing this for the first time in many years. It's so different from the sequels. It's a great caper film, more subdued than what the series would later become. There are hi-jinx galore, some of it bordering on slapstick. DVD quality is great & there are bonus features; the main one being a trivia track that informs the viewer of many things that go on or went in the movie, a la what AMC used to do on cable.