The Return of the Pink Panther 4K 1975

Following the incredible success of "The Pink Panther", renowned director Blake Edwards went on to make an equally excellent sequel, "A Shot in the Dark", released in 1964, and put his collaboration with the series’ main “star” — Peter Sellers. It wasn’t until 1975 that Edwards revisited the old story of the misadventures of the hilariously clumsy Inspector Jacques Clouseau, who always finds himself in ridiculous situations, in a film with the symbolic title *The Return of the Pink Panther*.

The film’s plot revolves around yet another theft of the world-famous “Pink Panther” diamond and the return of the “great” Inspector Clouseau, who had been demoted due to the blunders that occurred in the two previous installments; however, Chief Inspector Dreyfus made a huge mistake (which he himself admits)—by reinstating Clouseau, he once again brings chaos, disorder, destruction, and a new, incredibly hilarious farce into our world, which Clouseau causes wherever he goes and directly participates in.

It’s your monkey, so it’s your money

Of course, it’s undeniable that in terms of the quality of its humor, the film falls short of its great predecessors, but this film also features a lot of well-executed funny situations—just take, for example, the moments with the bug being planted in the phone (and when Sellers’ character got stuck in the gap between the table legs and started wriggling in all directions, I just burst out laughing), the scenes with slow-motion “tiger leap”-style flights, the dialogue between the supposedly blind man and the inspector, the hotel scenes (the vacuum cleaner fight is especially brilliant), and all sorts of falls, flips, somersaults, tumbles, and blows—all of this only underscores Sellers’s magnificent talent; no wonder he is considered one of the greatest film comedians of the 20th century; forget about Steve Martin with his frankly silly farces and antics—Sellers follows the rule established by the great Joseph Addison: True humor knows how to keep a straight face while everyone around is rolling with laughter; False humor, on the other hand, is boisterous—yet it is those who pay attention to it who are serious. And this is obvious: Throughout the entire film—and indeed in many of the “Panther” films starring Sellers—we never see his character smile even once (he smiles only on extremely rare occasions) during incidents involving Clouseau’s clumsiness; he manages to maintain a “serious” demeanor, and a certain lack of understanding of the comedy in his actions—this is even more infuriating and amusing. Add to that his very decent looks and charm, and we get a true gem that never gets old, one you want to watch over and over again.

Alas, the latest films in the “series” (the 1983 and 1993 films—I’m not counting the two terrible remakes) have lost this contrast between laughter, parody, and detective work. They’re practically not worth watching.

As for the “supporting” roles, it’s worth noting the wonderful Christopher Plummer as Sir Charles Litton, the charming Catherine Shell, and the old “acquaintance” Herbert Lom, as well-known as Clouseau’s hater and fierce opponent—Inspector Dreyfus.

Henry Mancini’s musical score also deserves a special mention, as it harmonizes so well with the film’s overall atmosphere, and the comedic situations set to its music simply take on a “lively” quality. In fact, this is one of the main features of this remarkable film series.