"A Shot in the Dark", the follow-up, was funnier but it was "The Pink Panther" that introduced Inspector Clouseau to the world and while much of the humour is visual and of the slapstick variety, this is the altogether more sophisticated film, a veritable throw-back to the romantic comedies of the thirties but in gorgeous colour and on the widescreen. The Pink Panther itself, and this is aimed at anyone who has been living on Mars or some such place for the last 50 years or so, is a diamond belonging to an Indian princess, (a seriously miscast Claudia Cardinale; she's the wrong colour for a start), and David Niven is the diamond thief who wants to woo her away from it. Peter Sellers, of course, is the accident prone Clouseau, on Niven's trail without knowing exactly on whose trail he's on, and Capucine, displaying real comic potential, is Seller's wife and Niven's mistress. A surprisingly good and affable Robert Wagner is also involved as Niven's nephew out to woo Capucine. Director Blake Edwards handles it all, if not quite with a Lubitsch touch, then with enough comic prowess to earn him his kudos and his reputation as a major stylist. The overly familiar theme is by Henry Mancini and the credit sequence alone is almost worth the price of admission.
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