Pink Panther
Of all the memorable characters in the history of movie comedy, few are as revered as one Inspector Jacques Clouseau as played by Peter Sellers in The Pink Panther films that were directed by Blake Edwards. These films featured Sellers at his improvisational best, mixing physical humor with garbled dialogue in a mock French accent to near perfection that combined with Sellers’ own insane, over the top style of performing, keeps audiences laughing hysterically to this day. Ironically, while many fans of the character are very familiar with the sequels starting with 1964’s A Shot In The Dark through all of the other entries made in the 1970s, many of these same fans are actually not too keen on the ORIGINAL Panther film made in 1963 and there are various valid reasons as to why. For one, it does NOT feature the essential supporting characters of Chief Inspector Dreyfus and Clouseau’s servant Cato, both of whom (especially Dreyfus) were able to successfully match Clouseau in bringing laughs to the table. For another, Sellers was not even the actual star of the first film, as that honor was bestowed upon David Niven, an extremely classy actor of the old fashioned movie star variety, cast here as Sir Charles Litton, a wealthy gentleman playboy who masquerades as the notorious jewel thief known only as The Phantom, ripping off precious valuables while romancing the ladies relentlessly (including many of his own victims) possibly because he is bored with his jetsetting lifestyle and enjoys doing such things in order to shake up the same elite establishment that he himself is so much an accepted part of (and was a clear inspiration for later charming rogues of this sort such as Thomas Crown and others) and the role actually fits Niven’s debonair persona to a tee. The problem is that a severe shakeup in casting (which saw Peter Ustinov drop out as Clouseau and Ava Gardner depart after being cast as Clouseau’s wife) led to Sellers (who was still little known at that time to audiences) being cast in the role of the bumbling French detective hot on The Phantom’s trail, along with an unique agreement for its time between director Edwards and Sellers that the actor be given free reign to come up with his own comedic bits of business on the condition that they make the final cut should they turn out to be funny. The reaction to the final product was dramatic as Sellers exploded onto the scene as a hot new international movie star while the contributions of Niven and the other actors were virtually ignored, putting a damper on Niven’s hopes that the Sir Charles / Phantom character could be the start of an ongoing franchise for him while instead it was Clouseau who was promoted to being the lead character in the moneymaking series which would continue in grand style. It’s easy to tell just why the audiences embraced Clouseau, as despite his bumbling idiocy, it’s obvious that he is all alone in this cinematic world as he is the only major character here whom never seems to show any deceit, deception, dishonesty or ever compromise his own values, as even his own wife (Capucine) turns out to be one of Niven’s accomplices (and lovers) who clues Sir Charles into any and all details of her husband’s investigation of the case, all while also conducting directly illegal acts including setting up the fencing of the contraband that The Phantom steals (leading to Clouseau vowing to track down this “mystery woman” who in actuality is his own wife). This gives Clouseau the appearance of being a figure who is more to be pitied rather than rooted for, one who is constantly being deceived and misled by those who are clearly “smarter than him” and thus just too cool for their own good (whereas the later films’ inclusion of Dreyfus and Cato showed there to be other characters in the series who were on the same level of comic lunacy as Clouseau himself). The vipers can’t even keep from picking on themselves as Niven is soon joined by his American nephew (Robert Wagner) all while he works his latest mark, a beautiful Princess (Claudia Cardinale) with an unusually strong attraction to Sir Charles (who is more than twice her age) and the impression given is that these people lying and screwing each other over (along with Clouseau) is a trait that is somewhat accepted and even welcomed. The problem here is that with all of the developments surrounding Niven, Wagner, Capucine and Cardinale, the fact still remains that Sellers is left offscreen for extended periods of time and the film suffers greatly for that with a slackened pace and endless scenes of Niven romancing Cardinale while Wagner pursues Capucine, who seems reluctant given that she’s both screwing his uncle Niven and is married to Clouseau at the same time. The viewer realizes (as did audiences at the time and Blake Edwards) that none of these characters really matter all that much nor are they either important or interesting and that the only really great redeeming value in the acting here was Sellers as Clouseau, leading to Edwards as director giving us a LOT more of him in the years to come. Even Niven would realize and accept this fact, as when years later he was asked if he’d like to have the iconic Henry Mancini Panther theme played as his walkout music at The Oscars, he declined by famously stating “That really wasn’t my film.” (despite him having been the top billed star in it and having the most screentime). It can be said that the production values here are lavish and impressive to watch as much of the film was shot in Switzerland with a good number of skiing scenes and beautiful scenery. The film also picks up some in the late going with a costume party being thrown by Cardinale’s Princess, giving Clouseau ample opportunity to bumble about in a suit of armor (all while still on duty) and to have some comic confusion due to the fact that several characters all show up wearing the same corny looking gorilla costume, along with the twist / clever idea that the American Wagner has come out to Europe to be a famous jewel thief just like The Phantom whom he idolizes while being completely unaware that his own Uncle Charles is actually the real deal. It all leads up to a goofy car chase and a “surprise” ending where Sellers is actually seen breaking character in the film’s final moment. But the fact remains that most fans of the series (who have seen it) look down upon this film for having a completely different flow than the later entries do, mostly because of Sellers’ limited screentime and the fact that he was not yet quite allowed to be a destructive comic force of nature as he would be later on, instead doing most of his damage here by either breaking or tripping over various objects even as Sellers’ precise comic timing makes it look just so natural. But without Sellers stealing the show given almost every opportunity, all the film amounts to being is just your typical bedroom farce / caper comedy with Cardinale’s Princess (said to be a virgin) possibly having serious daddy issues with her incessant puppy dog eyed attraction to the much, much older and distinguished Niven. The film does continue from time to time to make some lists of the most popular comedy films (although not nearly as often as A Shot In The Dark) but really it’s only the cinematography and Mancini’s immortal music score that carries things whenever Clouseau is not around (ironically both Niven and Capucine would be recast in the third film in the series which starred Sellers, only to briefly return in the final two entries after Sellers had already passed away and Niven himself was at death’s door) and the general comedic anarchy that Clouseau would embody was certainly missing here at the getgo. The idea of the first film in a popular franchise failing to live up to the entertainment value of its sequels is a rare but not unprecedented occurance, perhaps stemming from its presentation of the franchise’s beloved central character seemingly portrayed as being a victim from beginning to end. Couple that with the fact that the sequels featured some absolutely crazed comedy setpieces (an example being the brawls between Clouseau and Cato) and one realizes just how much this toned down first entry turned out to be something completely different than what was originally intended as the ongoing adventures of a gentleman thief were instead displaced by the bumbling misadventures of the greatest comic law enforcement figure in movie history…
7/10