Return of the Pink Panther, written by Frank Waldman and Blake Edwards, directed by the latter - 9.4 out of 10

Return of the Pink Panther, written by Frank Waldman and Blake Edwards, directed by the latter

9.4 out of 10

This is surely one of the best comedies ever, figuring in some of the documentaries on the History of cinema, with some of the most sublime scenes – “do you have a license, what about the monkey, it is my business to know” and more divine acts wherein the glorious Peter Sellers uses his unmistakable, hilarious French accent and immense personality, perfect talent to make this and almost any other film he has been in a huge pleasure to watch, from the absolute magnum opus Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb http://realini.blogspot.com/2020/01/dr-strangelove-or-how-i-learned-to-stop.html to A Shot in the Dark - http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/04/a-shot-in-dark-directed-by-blake.html  -  through Murder by Death http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/05/murder-by-death-by-neil-simon.html

Though this is not Lolita, directed by Stanley Kubrick, the genius who has worked with Peter Sellers on Dr. Strangelove  http://realini.blogspot.com/2017/03/lolita-screenplay-written-by-vladimir.html - a chef d’oeuvre based on another masterpiece, written by Vladimir Nabokov, The Return of the Pink Panther is a pleasure to watch, not as much for the thrill of the action, crime side of the feature, as for the comedy that has Peter Sellers aka the infamous Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Surete, fall clothed into a swimming pool, as he observes too closely and inadequately for our age the body of a swimmer, being hit by a dancer, as he walks inobservant this time, on the dance floor, fall all over himself in all manner of circumstances and make a fool of himself but still win the day and the hearts of the audiences…

To begin with, a famous jewel, the Pink Panther, has been stolen, in spite of the precautions, the laser beams, the weight detection system, and the French get the call from the ruler of the country with a fictional name to allow the Inspector Clouseau to investigate the crime…for past misbehavior and stupid mistakes, the hero is now assigned to police the streets, where he walks with his baton in hand, and when a woman walks by he wants to salute, but he just kicks his eye with the police stick in doing that…he is absurd in his foolishness…

In front of a bank, an apparently blind man is singing with an accordion, in the company of a ‘munkey’ as the comedian would say – he uses ‘rum’ for room and all manner of silly, heavily accented words that add to the mirth, the joy of the spectators – and the policeman wants to act according to the law…hence the question ‘do you have a ‘lucence’ for license’ and then a silly conversation follows, in which the unauthorized musician claims it is the monkey that takes the money and they have nothing in common, she takes the cash and he just sings and then he reveals his state, when Clouseau asks ‘are you blind?’ by stating that indeed he is, when some robbers come out from the bank, rushing to a car, with the cooperation of…the agent, who is making the signs to ease their getaway…

He is so silly as to kick the security man or the manager who comes out with a pistol, trying to stop the felons in their attempt to escape, explaining to his superior, Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfuss, that he did not know what was going on, for he was in the process of doing his job, and all his mannerisms, habits, persona serves to drive the boss mad, literally, for he is in such a furious condition as to confuse the lighter he has, in the shape of a gun, with the real pistol, once nearly killing himself and another time shooting in the arm of one of the employees…

When Clouseau arrives at the crime scene, he makes all the wrong moves, slipping on the wax, using an instrument to get the glove that is the signature of the famous “Phantom”, which then falls down to grab his sensitive, private parts, then he pulls the chord that was used and then a presumably precious statue from the museum, where the precious stone had been, comes crushing down, for everything around this character is in danger, including himself…a poor parrot would be aspired in a vacuum cleaner, when disguised as a cleaning man, he tries to spy around the room of Lady Claudine Litton, wife of Sir Charles Litton aka superb Cristopher Plummer…

It is assumed that Sir Litton is the one that had got the Pink Panther, given the signature, the modus operandi and the past activity of the man, but we soon discover that it was not him, though it was someone close – to avoid spoilers, let us not reveal the identity – and the Phantom gets engaged in the game to expose the real criminal and presumably to get the jewel for himself, though that is not easy, given the interest manifested by various actors…from one of the police chiefs to a local mobster who jumps in the game

Clouseau dresses up as a phone – which he pronounces phoeune or something similar – repair man, trying to get information about the plans of the Phantom, at his villa, where he gets entangled, as always in the most ridiculous poses, he gets glued to the chair, things fall down to the floor and then he is trapped in the most unbelievable postures, while the wife of the famous thief and one of his comrades easily fool the ignorant inspector and pretend to talk from afar and plan an operation in Switzerland…

Following those tracks, the hero tries to get close lady Litton, buying her a drink in a disco bar, where he has amazingly funny clothes and moustache – but not before a stranger comes to him right near the entrance in the hotel, asking for his coat, hat and other things which he just takes away to his car, that he then drives off leaving the preposterous inspector short of all those things – and trying to insinuate himself close to her, but then chief inspector Dreyfuss would call asking him to arrest the woman in the next five minutes…