Pink Panther
Peter Sellers
The best thing about watching the special edition Pink Panther DVD- series is that one gets to witness the total gradual evolution of Hollywood’s one of the most famous comic characters ever. Over these five films made over a span of almost two decades (1964 -1982) Peter Seller’s fumbling, bumbling French detective Inspector Clouseau evolves from just being a tragic-comic supporting character in the opening film The Pink Panther and becomes the central comic character of this hugely successful comedy- series. In fact, the movie- series starts with a tale about theft of a rare diamond, which held against the light reveals a leaping pink panther (hence the name!) and then, goes on to become a series of crazy Clouseau- adventures.
Not surprisingly Inspector Clouseau starts to enchant well and truly from the second film- (A Shot In The Dark) - onwards. His inept inadequacies in crime detection and his imbecile idiocies in day-to-day life now really start to tickle you. His ludicrous French accent (calling a ‘bump’ a ‘beump’ and saying a ‘rheum’ for a ‘room’), his series of outrageous disguises, his ‘surprise’ martial- art fights with his Oriental assistant Cato, his constant run-ins with his jealous and nutty superior Chief Inspector Dreyfus (portrayed by brilliantly wacky Herbert Lom) and his miraculous escapes from a myriad assassination attempts - everything is so comic. No wonder then that A Shot In The Dark won 48th place in American Film Institute’s 100 all- time funniest films.
British actor Peter Sellers (with a bowler’s hat and a moustache!) was just perfect as clumsy Frenchman Clouseau. His dignified serious approach despite his silly antics made it even more hilarious. Using constantly improvised verbal and physical comedy-gags, he just made audiences howl with laughter and created an unforgettable screen persona. One can definitely sense his influence on latter-day comedians like Rowan Atkinsen (Mr.Bean) and Mike Myers (Spy Who Shagged Me) and also trace his inspirations from earlier comic greats like Laurel and Hardy and Chaplin.
Blake Edwards- who directed and co-wrote these films; Henry Mancini- who composed their funny musical scores and Friz Felung and David DePatie- who created the clever animated title- sequences- all played as important roles as Sellers in making this comedy- series a memorable one.
Blake Edwards- who directed and co-wrote these films; Henry Mancini- who composed their funny musical scores and Friz Felung and David DePatie- who created the clever animated title- sequences- all played as important roles as Sellers in making this comedy- series a memorable one.
This special DVD- series presents five films- The Pink Panther, A Shot In The Dark, The Pink Panther Strikes Again, The Revenge Of The Pink Panther and Trail Of The Pink Panther. The sixth DVD features interesting documentaries about Peter Sellers and the Pink Pather film-making.
Kesariya Balam
