"The Pink Panther" is a risque (for its time) romantic heist farce starring David Niven and Robert Wager, as uncle and son jewel thieves. Also included is a small slapstick part was Peter Sellers (originally to be Peter Ustinov) as the French detective hot on their trail. While the romantic farce isn't bad, the exquisite slapstick timing of Peter Sellers not only kept this movie from being an innocuous but one-note affair, it also was the genesis of a comic legend. Actually two, since the cartoon Pink Panther appears in the credits.
There's no Cato or twitching Inspector Dreyfus (they come in the next Clouseau film, "A Shot in the Dark", one of the funniest movies ever made). Viewers who grew up on the later Pink Panther films that revolve around Clouseau are bound to be disappointed, but they shouldn't let their disappointment mar the movie. Peter Sellers is funny enough in every scene he's in (in fact, he does some of his best Clouseau work in this movie). But "The Pink Panther" should be approached as a film in its own right, and accept its terms as the movie defines them. This is a subtle bedroom farce based on a heist, and it has its unique, languid beauty.
There's no Cato or twitching Inspector Dreyfus (they come in the next Clouseau film, "A Shot in the Dark", one of the funniest movies ever made). Viewers who grew up on the later Pink Panther films that revolve around Clouseau are bound to be disappointed, but they shouldn't let their disappointment mar the movie. Peter Sellers is funny enough in every scene he's in (in fact, he does some of his best Clouseau work in this movie). But "The Pink Panther" should be approached as a film in its own right, and accept its terms as the movie defines them. This is a subtle bedroom farce based on a heist, and it has its unique, languid beauty.