Trail of the Pink Panther.
1982 United Artists, distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Peter Sellers (archive footage), David Niven, Rich Little (voice only; uncredited), Herbert Lom, Richard Mulligan, Joanna Lumley, Capucine, Robert Loggia, Harvey Korman, Burt Kwouk, Julie Andrews (uncredited), Robert Wagner (uncredited)
Music: Henry Mancini
Director: Blake Edwards
Available from Amazon.
Let's begin...Peter Sellers died before production of this movie started, so his appearance in the movie was pieced together from flashbacks from previous Pink Panther films and unused footage. This installment is dedicated to his memory. David Niven also makes a cameo in the film, but at the time of filming, he was very ill, and his voice was considered too weak for filming, and he was overdubbed by an uncredited Rich Little.
As usual, the famous Pink Panther diamond is stolen yet again from Lugash, and Chief Inspector Clouseau is called to look for it despite the protests of Inspector Dreyfus (Lom). Clouseau goes to London to investigate Sir Charles Lytton (Niven & Little), but no one has bothered to tell him that Lytton lives in the South of France. En route to an airport, Clouseau accidentally blows up his car, and thinks it's simply an assassination attempt. It is soon confirmed that there's a plot to kill Clouseau, and he is told not to go to Lugash, but Dreyfus, hoping that Clouseau will finally meet his end, orders him to go there.
Clouseau disappears, prompting investigative journalist Marie Jouvet (Lumley) to uncover the mystery, setting out to discover his background by interviewing people who he has met over the years, namely his father (Mulligan). Jouvet also has a run-in with the mafia, led by Bruno Langlois (Loggia), who politely warns her to stop searching for Clouseau, but she refuses, and even files a complaint with Dreyfus, who to her chagrin, presses no charges against Langlois. Despite this, Jouvet concludes that Clouseau must be alive, and he is found at a seaside cliff (played by Joe Dunne only seen from behind) before a montage of clips from previous movies is shown.
This movie is not recommended. The only real humor comes from the previously filmed archive footage of Sellers, and the rest seems like they never should have even bothered. Even MGM didn't think too highly of the finished product after acquiring it; they didn't even bother to edit out or replace the old United Artists logo from the beginning of the film like they've done with just about every other UA movie they now own before releasing it to DVD.
Showing posts with label blake edwards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label blake edwards. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
Revenge of the Pink Panther
Revenge of the Pink Panther. 1978 United Artists, distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Dyan Cannon, Robert Webber, Burt Kwouk
Music: Henry Mancini
Director: Blake Edwards
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or part of the Pink Panther Film Collection.
This is the final appearance for Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau before his death; the next Pink Panther film, Trail of the Pink Panther, used a plethora of outtakes of Sellers from previous films. Still, that didn't stop Blake Edwards from cranking out 1983's Curse of the Pink Panther, attempting to relaunch the series with TV actor Ted Wass (Soap, Blossom) as the new main character, NYPD sergeant Clifton Sleigh, while bringing in Roger Moore to play Clouseau (after extensive plastic surgery).
Anyway...
Philippe Douvier (Webber) is a French businessman with ties to the mob, who is making a deal with a New York syndicate for a lucrative drug smuggling operation. Douvier is deemed "too old" to handle it, so he decides to prove his worth by bumping off Inspector Clouseau. The first attempt with a bomb fails, and a second attack by a Chinese martial artists is easily thwarted by the detective, who believed it was the doing of his assistant Cato (Kwouk), who is always under orders to randomly attack his master to keep him alert.
Douvier anonymously calls Clouseau, and poses as an informant to tell him about a criminal involved in the French Connection, and where he's currently operating.After an exciting car chaseCato warns the inspector that it's obviously a trap, but Clouseau concludes that it's obviously not a trap. After driving to the location, Clouseau is mugged by a transvestite criminal called Claude Russo, who steals the detective's clothes and car. Russo drives into the trap and is murdered by Douvier's men, leading people to conclude that Clouseau is dead. Meanwhile, former Commissioner Charles Dreyfus (Lom) is deemed sane, and scheduled for release so he can take over on the case. Instead, after Clouseau is taken to the same asylum, Dreyfus sees him, and faints. The inspector steals his clothes and escapes, returning home, and teaming with Cato to plan revenge, using the public belief that Clouseau was murdered to their advantage.
They are soon joined by Douvier's former secretary and secret lover Simone LeGree (Cannon), who leaves him after his wife threatens him with divorce. Dreyfus leaves the asylum and again fails to assassinate Clouseau after tracking everyone involved (including Douvier) into Hong Kong.
Recommended, but obviously not the greatest Pink Panther movie ever made
Starring: Peter Sellers, Herbert Lom, Dyan Cannon, Robert Webber, Burt Kwouk
Music: Henry Mancini
Director: Blake Edwards
Available from Amazon as a single DVD, or part of the Pink Panther Film Collection.
This is the final appearance for Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau before his death; the next Pink Panther film, Trail of the Pink Panther, used a plethora of outtakes of Sellers from previous films. Still, that didn't stop Blake Edwards from cranking out 1983's Curse of the Pink Panther, attempting to relaunch the series with TV actor Ted Wass (Soap, Blossom) as the new main character, NYPD sergeant Clifton Sleigh, while bringing in Roger Moore to play Clouseau (after extensive plastic surgery).
Anyway...
Philippe Douvier (Webber) is a French businessman with ties to the mob, who is making a deal with a New York syndicate for a lucrative drug smuggling operation. Douvier is deemed "too old" to handle it, so he decides to prove his worth by bumping off Inspector Clouseau. The first attempt with a bomb fails, and a second attack by a Chinese martial artists is easily thwarted by the detective, who believed it was the doing of his assistant Cato (Kwouk), who is always under orders to randomly attack his master to keep him alert.
Douvier anonymously calls Clouseau, and poses as an informant to tell him about a criminal involved in the French Connection, and where he's currently operating.
They are soon joined by Douvier's former secretary and secret lover Simone LeGree (Cannon), who leaves him after his wife threatens him with divorce. Dreyfus leaves the asylum and again fails to assassinate Clouseau after tracking everyone involved (including Douvier) into Hong Kong.
Recommended, but obviously not the greatest Pink Panther movie ever made
Saturday, March 7, 2009
The Return of the Pink Panther
The Return of the Pink Panther. 1975 United Artists and ITC Entertainment Group, now distributed by Focus Features and Universal Pictures.
Starring: Peter Sellers, Christopher Plummer, Catherine Schell, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwok
Music: Henry Mancini
Director: Blake Edwards
Available at Amazon.
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau returns for the first time since 1964's A Shot in the Dark. By now, his bumbling has gotten him demoted to beat cop by Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Lom), who hates Clouseau to the point of obsession. The French government overturns his decision, and Clouseau is sent to the fictional nation of Lugash to investigate another theft of the Pink Panther diamond.
After nearly wrecking the Lugash National Museum while investigating, Clouseau concludes that the thief is Sir Charles Lytton (Plummer), who recreated the most infamous heist of his criminal career. The inspector is delighted at his deduction, seeing it as his only chance to get revenge on Lytton for framing him and getting him sent to prison in the first movie. This time, Lytton is in the clear, as he is being framed for the theft, and the crime was the work of his wife, Lady Claudine (Schell), which he discovers after traveling to Lugash to investigate the theft himself. This means that Clouseau, who had been trailing Claudine, was unwittingly on the trail of the real thief.
Meanwhile, Dreyfus enters the case, as the assassin trying, and failing, to kill Clouseau. The Lyttons are confronted by Colonel Sharky (Peter Arne) of Lugash's secret police, who intends to kill them both, and Lugash's government is using the theft of the Pink Panther to purge their political opponents. Clouseau arrives to arrest the Lyttons, then Sharky after Sir Charles points out that he plans to kill them. Dreyfus opens fire on the room's occupants, but only kills Sharky, and the Lyttons escape. Clouseau is promoted to Chief Inspector, and he vows to bring Sir Charles, who has resumed his life of crime, to justice. Dreyfus is committed to a lunatic asylum, vowing to murder Clouseau as the animated Pink Panther appears to taunt him.
Recommended movie.
Starring: Peter Sellers, Christopher Plummer, Catherine Schell, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwok
Music: Henry Mancini
Director: Blake Edwards
Available at Amazon.
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau returns for the first time since 1964's A Shot in the Dark. By now, his bumbling has gotten him demoted to beat cop by Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Lom), who hates Clouseau to the point of obsession. The French government overturns his decision, and Clouseau is sent to the fictional nation of Lugash to investigate another theft of the Pink Panther diamond.
After nearly wrecking the Lugash National Museum while investigating, Clouseau concludes that the thief is Sir Charles Lytton (Plummer), who recreated the most infamous heist of his criminal career. The inspector is delighted at his deduction, seeing it as his only chance to get revenge on Lytton for framing him and getting him sent to prison in the first movie. This time, Lytton is in the clear, as he is being framed for the theft, and the crime was the work of his wife, Lady Claudine (Schell), which he discovers after traveling to Lugash to investigate the theft himself. This means that Clouseau, who had been trailing Claudine, was unwittingly on the trail of the real thief.
Meanwhile, Dreyfus enters the case, as the assassin trying, and failing, to kill Clouseau. The Lyttons are confronted by Colonel Sharky (Peter Arne) of Lugash's secret police, who intends to kill them both, and Lugash's government is using the theft of the Pink Panther to purge their political opponents. Clouseau arrives to arrest the Lyttons, then Sharky after Sir Charles points out that he plans to kill them. Dreyfus opens fire on the room's occupants, but only kills Sharky, and the Lyttons escape. Clouseau is promoted to Chief Inspector, and he vows to bring Sir Charles, who has resumed his life of crime, to justice. Dreyfus is committed to a lunatic asylum, vowing to murder Clouseau as the animated Pink Panther appears to taunt him.
Recommended movie.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
The Party
The Party. 1968 The Mirisch Corporation & United Artists, distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Marge Champion, Fay McKenzie, Gavin MacLeod, Herbert Ellis, Vin Scully (voice only)
Music: Don Black, Henry Mancini
Director: Blake Edwards
Available at Amazon. Also part of the Peter Sellers MGM Movie Legends Collection.
This is the only non-Pink Panther collaboration involving Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards. Edwards utilized a minimal script, which allowed Sellers and company greater room for improvisation.
Hrundi V. Bakshi (Sellers) is a well-meaning but hapless actor from India who has come to Hollywood to take a role in a movie similar to Gunga Din, only to sabotage the project after blowing up the whole set for the movie. The movie's director (Ellis) fires Bakshi immediately and tries to blacklist him in a call to the head of the studio. Instead, Bakshi's name is accidentally placed on the guest list for the boss's party.
Arriving at the party, Bakshi loses a shoe in the stream that flows through the house, and spends a lot of time retrieving it. He also tries to engage in banter with the other guests, but they only look on with puzzled looks on their faces. Not everyone can't figure him out, as Michèle (Longet) actually makes an effort to socialize with the fish-out-of-water actor. The party goes on, and people get drunker, while Hrundi leaves a trail of accidental destruction and chaos wherever he goes.
Finally, some hippies show up with a baby elephant covered in slogans, and Bakshi requests that the elephant be cleaned off involving the pool water. An unscheduled foam party ensues from the effort to wash the elephant with soap just as the police arrive. Hrundi asks Michèle if she would like him to drive her home, and she accepts.
This is another funny Peter Sellers movie. Recommended.
Starring: Peter Sellers, Claudine Longet, Marge Champion, Fay McKenzie, Gavin MacLeod, Herbert Ellis, Vin Scully (voice only)
Music: Don Black, Henry Mancini
Director: Blake Edwards
Available at Amazon. Also part of the Peter Sellers MGM Movie Legends Collection.
This is the only non-Pink Panther collaboration involving Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards. Edwards utilized a minimal script, which allowed Sellers and company greater room for improvisation.
Hrundi V. Bakshi (Sellers) is a well-meaning but hapless actor from India who has come to Hollywood to take a role in a movie similar to Gunga Din, only to sabotage the project after blowing up the whole set for the movie. The movie's director (Ellis) fires Bakshi immediately and tries to blacklist him in a call to the head of the studio. Instead, Bakshi's name is accidentally placed on the guest list for the boss's party.
Arriving at the party, Bakshi loses a shoe in the stream that flows through the house, and spends a lot of time retrieving it. He also tries to engage in banter with the other guests, but they only look on with puzzled looks on their faces. Not everyone can't figure him out, as Michèle (Longet) actually makes an effort to socialize with the fish-out-of-water actor. The party goes on, and people get drunker, while Hrundi leaves a trail of accidental destruction and chaos wherever he goes.
Finally, some hippies show up with a baby elephant covered in slogans, and Bakshi requests that the elephant be cleaned off involving the pool water. An unscheduled foam party ensues from the effort to wash the elephant with soap just as the police arrive. Hrundi asks Michèle if she would like him to drive her home, and she accepts.
This is another funny Peter Sellers movie. Recommended.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
A Shot in the Dark
A Shot in the Dark. 1964 United Artists & The Mirisch Company, distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, George Sanders, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk
Music: Henry Mancini
Director: Blake Edwards
Currently available only as part of the Pink Panther Film Collection, or the considerably more expensive Pink Panther Ultimate Collection.
Peter Sellers returns as the bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau, and it looks like his French accent has become even more outrageous. Herbert Lom makes his first Pink Panther film appearance as Clouseau's boss, Commissioner Dreyfus, and Burt Kwouk debuts as the Inspector's servant Cato (not Kato). The movie wasn't intended to include Clouseau, but it was an adaption of a French stage play L'Idiote. Blake Edwards and William Peter Blatty decided the story would be a good vehicle for Inspector Clouseau, so they rewrote the script around him and the new premise. A Shot in the Dark came out only a few months after The Pink Panther.
The good Inspector is called to the home of a Paris millionaire named Benjamin Ballon (Sanders) to investigate a murder. His first act is to stumble into the fountain after getting out of the car. Inside the mansion, all evidence of the murder points to the maid Maria Gambrelli (Sommer), but Clouseau is struck by the woman's beauty and refuses to admit she's guilty. The real culprits commit more murders to keep the truth hidden from Commissioner Dreyfus, since every time there's a murder, Maria is arrested, only to be set free by Clouseau. The Inspector also finds himself arrested by the police four times in quick succession for being in the wrong place at the right time.
Clouseau continues to botch the case, which drives Dreyfus mad, and he accidentally cuts his thumb off, and later, stabs himself with a letter opener. Meanwhile, an anonymous figure tries to kill the Inspector, but fails, killing a doorman, two cafe customers, and a dancer. In the end, all of the suspects (Ballon, his wife, the butler Maurice, and the surviving servants) are blown up while attempting to escape in Clouseau's car. The anonymous figure turns out to be Commissioner Dreyfus, driven over the edge, and in his attempt to eliminate Clouseau, accidentally killed the real murderers.
Highly, highly recommended. This would be the last Pink Panther film for Sellers for a while; he and Edwards stopped getting along during the film's production, and they said they would never work together again. "Never work together again" only meant four years, as they reunited for the production of The Party.
Starring: Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, George Sanders, Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk
Music: Henry Mancini
Director: Blake Edwards
Currently available only as part of the Pink Panther Film Collection, or the considerably more expensive Pink Panther Ultimate Collection.
Peter Sellers returns as the bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau, and it looks like his French accent has become even more outrageous. Herbert Lom makes his first Pink Panther film appearance as Clouseau's boss, Commissioner Dreyfus, and Burt Kwouk debuts as the Inspector's servant Cato (not Kato). The movie wasn't intended to include Clouseau, but it was an adaption of a French stage play L'Idiote. Blake Edwards and William Peter Blatty decided the story would be a good vehicle for Inspector Clouseau, so they rewrote the script around him and the new premise. A Shot in the Dark came out only a few months after The Pink Panther.
The good Inspector is called to the home of a Paris millionaire named Benjamin Ballon (Sanders) to investigate a murder. His first act is to stumble into the fountain after getting out of the car. Inside the mansion, all evidence of the murder points to the maid Maria Gambrelli (Sommer), but Clouseau is struck by the woman's beauty and refuses to admit she's guilty. The real culprits commit more murders to keep the truth hidden from Commissioner Dreyfus, since every time there's a murder, Maria is arrested, only to be set free by Clouseau. The Inspector also finds himself arrested by the police four times in quick succession for being in the wrong place at the right time.
Clouseau continues to botch the case, which drives Dreyfus mad, and he accidentally cuts his thumb off, and later, stabs himself with a letter opener. Meanwhile, an anonymous figure tries to kill the Inspector, but fails, killing a doorman, two cafe customers, and a dancer. In the end, all of the suspects (Ballon, his wife, the butler Maurice, and the surviving servants) are blown up while attempting to escape in Clouseau's car. The anonymous figure turns out to be Commissioner Dreyfus, driven over the edge, and in his attempt to eliminate Clouseau, accidentally killed the real murderers.
Highly, highly recommended. This would be the last Pink Panther film for Sellers for a while; he and Edwards stopped getting along during the film's production, and they said they would never work together again. "Never work together again" only meant four years, as they reunited for the production of The Party.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The Pink Panther
The Pink Panther. 1963 United Artists & The Mirisch Company, distributed to DVD by MGM.
Starring: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine, Claudia Cardinale
Music: Henry Mancini
Director: Blake Edwards
Currently only available as part of the Pink Panther Film Collection, or the substantially more expensive Pink Panther Ultimate Collection from Amazon.
Not to be confused with the equally famous cartoon character, the Pink Panther is the largest diamond in the world, with an unusual flaw: if somebody stares into the stone long enough, one can see what appears to be the image of a leaping panther, which coincidentally only comes alive for the title sequences and end credits. As a child, Princess Dala receives the pink gem as a gift from her father, the Shah of Lugash. When Dala (Cardinale) grows up, rebels seize control of Lugash, and demands possession of the jewel, but the exiled princess (on holiday at a skiing resort in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy) refuses to surrender it.
Also at the resort is Sir Charles Lytton (Niven), who has a secret identity as a jewel thief known as "The Phantom", and he has his eyes on the Pink Panther. His American playboy nephew George (Wagner) follows him to the resort, hoping to steal the diamond himself, and pin the blame on The Phantom, unaware that he's his uncle. The Phantom is also being trailed by French police inspector Jacque Clouseau (Sellers). Clouseau's wife Simone (Capucine) is secretly assisting the Phantom in his thefts. Clouseau is so incompetent that when several attempted heists of the Pink Panther go down as a party, he looks everywhere but the right place. Simone has her hands full in trying to dodge her husband, help Sir Charles' plans, and avoiding George, who is enamoured of her.
Clouseau somehow manages to arrest Lytton and his associates, but they ensure that the inspector snatches defeat from the jaws of victory at the worst possible moment, and he goes to prison, framed for the theft of the Pink Panther. Not to worry, he'll be back in time for 1964's A Shot in the Dark.
Highly recommended. Too bad I didn't see The Ant and the Aardvark make an appearance...
Starring: David Niven, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Capucine, Claudia Cardinale
Music: Henry Mancini
Director: Blake Edwards
Currently only available as part of the Pink Panther Film Collection, or the substantially more expensive Pink Panther Ultimate Collection from Amazon.
Not to be confused with the equally famous cartoon character, the Pink Panther is the largest diamond in the world, with an unusual flaw: if somebody stares into the stone long enough, one can see what appears to be the image of a leaping panther, which coincidentally only comes alive for the title sequences and end credits. As a child, Princess Dala receives the pink gem as a gift from her father, the Shah of Lugash. When Dala (Cardinale) grows up, rebels seize control of Lugash, and demands possession of the jewel, but the exiled princess (on holiday at a skiing resort in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy) refuses to surrender it.
Also at the resort is Sir Charles Lytton (Niven), who has a secret identity as a jewel thief known as "The Phantom", and he has his eyes on the Pink Panther. His American playboy nephew George (Wagner) follows him to the resort, hoping to steal the diamond himself, and pin the blame on The Phantom, unaware that he's his uncle. The Phantom is also being trailed by French police inspector Jacque Clouseau (Sellers). Clouseau's wife Simone (Capucine) is secretly assisting the Phantom in his thefts. Clouseau is so incompetent that when several attempted heists of the Pink Panther go down as a party, he looks everywhere but the right place. Simone has her hands full in trying to dodge her husband, help Sir Charles' plans, and avoiding George, who is enamoured of her.
Clouseau somehow manages to arrest Lytton and his associates, but they ensure that the inspector snatches defeat from the jaws of victory at the worst possible moment, and he goes to prison, framed for the theft of the Pink Panther. Not to worry, he'll be back in time for 1964's A Shot in the Dark.
Highly recommended. Too bad I didn't see The Ant and the Aardvark make an appearance...
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