The Pink Panther (1963)

[Clouseau]

The Pink Panther (1963)
A Madcap Frolic Of Crime and Fun

Plot Notes – this film really starts off strong, i think… the background story about the Pink Panther diamond is good, and lends a level of mystique, and most of the main characters are well-developed… unfortunately, I think the film lags a bit in the middle… if they’d shortened it by about half an hour, that would’ve been nice, but then, there are some rare gems that might’ve been left out if they’d tried to do that… thankfully, the film starts to really pick up at the end… Clouseau masquerading in a suit of armor wasn’t that great, IMO, but i absolutely loved the bit in the bedroom, where George, Sir Charles, and Clouseau are all in the suite, and Simone is trying to keep them all separated… the twist at the end of having Clouseau arrested was an interesting way to end the story, i thought… i’m glad the future films focused on Clouseau, but i wish The Phantom had taken a larger role in more of the later films…

Cast Notes:

• David Niven – as Charles “The Phantom” Lytton, Niven’s casting here was a stroke of genius… his character seems to just ooze class and sophistication in a way few on-screen personalities have ever done, which makes sense, since the film was originally intended to launch a series of Phantom-centered films… they could not have cast anyone better for this role, IMO…
  
• Peter Sellers – another example of perfect casting, Sellers took the role of Inspector Jacques Clouseau and made it his own… he may not have had too much screen time in this particular outing, but so popular was his character that the future of the entire series was altered to make him the center of attention… you can’t say much more than that to explain how perfect this performance was…
  
• Robert Wagner – the role of George Lytton looks like it must’ve been a lot of fun to play, but i never really cared much for the character… even when he appeared in later films, I always thought the role was rather insignificant, and shouldn’t have required a big-name actor to fill it…
  
• Capucine – as Clouseau’s estranged wife, Simone, i think Capucine was yet another brilliant choice for this film… you honestly wonder how in the world Inspector Clouseau was lucky enough to have married such a beautiful woman, and you feel genuine pity for him when you see how she treats him…
  
• Claudia Cardinale – to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t so impressed with her portrayal of Princess Dala… her accent works for the character, but her bland delivery of lines puts me to sleep… even her “love scene” with David Niven bores me, though she at least seems a bit more lively (oddly enough, since she’s supposed to be drunk)… this is one role that could perhaps have been much more intriguing if they’d used someone with a bit more acting experience, i think…

Animated Titles – the Pink Panther cartoon character was first created specifically for this sequence, and i think this introduction was wonderful… the character is more cat-like in this early presentation – he walks on all fours part of the time, and seems to move more like a cat than a human through the majority of the segment – but i think that’s part of the charm of this particular sequence… and the musical variations through the titles fit very well not only with the original theme but with the changing atmospheres on the screen, if that makes sense… classy and smooth – just what the Pink Panther is all about!

Music – Henry Mancini created a masterpiece with the main title song, and the rest of the score also plays extremely well… at the beginning, during all the “Meanwhile” scenes, each location has its own unique theme, and each theme fits perfectly, IMO… my only complaint with the music in this film is when the whole film seems to stop when Fran Jeffries sings Meglio Strasera (It Had Better Be Tonight)… i like the song, but i just wish the film hadn’t come to a screeching halt for it… if they’d worked it into the soundtrack somewhere instead of having it the way they did, i don’t think i’d have a complaint at all…

[Dreyfus]

Nice review. i agree with you on most things. I'm hoping to do a review for The Revenge of the Pink Panther if I get some time to watch it.

[lomfan]

The one that started it all. I often wondered how something as uniquely original as Inspector Clouseau could've been created. After I saw this film I knew: like Clouseau's later professional successes it was accomplished largely by accident. In this film, he's meant to be nothing more than the comical antagonist to the "real hero" gentleman jewel thief, Sir Charles. Can't deny Blake Edwards was on to something with the gentleman jewel thief genre. Why look at the scores of hugely successfull gentleman jewel thief films that've been made since then. There's The Return of the Pink Panther and...well, The Return of the Pink Panther. (Though I've heard rumors that the gentleman jewel thief isn't the real reason for that film's success. Kind of like this one.)

Anyways, the title sequence is superb. The main thing I want to point out about is that in this film, the PP is a hapless, put-upon loser, which is how most of the subsequent PP cartoons portray him. In the later PP title sequences, he's a sly trickster, constantly putting one over on the Inspector.

The film itself is enjoyable enough, more of an ensemble comedy than the later films. The drunk scene with Sir Charles and Princess Darla is pretty boring, as is the song scene. They are more than balanced out by the sequence of Simone trying to hide both Sir Charles and George from Clouseau and the madcap heist/chase scene at the masquerade ball. Both of these scenes are hilarious and well choreographed, hinting at the later brilliance to come.

But ensemble or not, this movie belongs to Sellers. He steals every scene he's in, everytime he comes on he does something hilarious. While he would change and develop his performance over time throughout the series, even here it's evident that Sellers has found the perfect role. Of all the many characters Sellers mastered, Clouseau is the only one you'd really want to see in more than one film (though in the case of Dr. Strangelove, that'd be impossible ).

Which makes the ending, where Clouseau is framed and the real crooks get off scott-free, all the more excreable. It's been years since I've seen this picture and I'm still stunned at the colossal miscalculation of where our sympathies would lie. I mean, why were we supposed to root for those arrogant snots anyway? Even disreagarding the later series (which admittedly probably added to my distaste for this ending) there's still the 2 facts that Clouseau is 1) the only honest main character in the dern thing and 2) more importantly, is about 10000 times funnier than anybody else in the movie. Why wouldn't we be rooting for him?! Because David Niven has top billing?! Because film cuckolds are normally treated with contempt by filmakers?! Because Clouseau has an exaggerated French accent while everyone else speaks in normal English regardless of their characters' nationality?!

And then there's the scene towards the end where Princess Darla reveals to Simone that she's the one that stole the Pink Panther (revealing for the first time that she's a crook, too). The scene is supposed to show that their shared love for Sir Charles is so great that they can unite without rancor or jealousy to save him. For me, it destroyed any potential respect I may have had for Charles's skills as the Phantom, as Simone reveals that she married Clouseau for the sole purpose of spying on him to aid the Phantom's thefts. Which means that the real secret to Charles' success wasn't that he was all that clever or even that Clouseau was all that stupid. It's that Charles "pimped his ho" onto Clouseau (I can think of no better way of putting it) so that she could marry Clouseau and stab her husband in the back repeatedly both sexually and career wise.

The best way to watch this fim is on VHS. After the brilliant opening credits, laugh at the Clouseau scenes, fast forward through everything else. Be sure to watch in their entirety the sequences where Simone hides Charles and George from her husband, and the heist/chase scene, both gut-busters. But for God's sake, turn it off after the heist/chase is over, 'cause it all goes downhill from there.

[Clouseau]

i agree with a lot of what you say here, lomfan, but not 100%...

for instance, i do like the ending of the film... not because it's believable or because i feel sympathetic for the real crooks or anything like that, but simply because it was a funny twist... besides the fact of Clouseau's conviction, what's even funnier, to me, is his apparent acceptance of it once he's being driven away to prison... almost as if he thought, "well, if i'm gonna be locked up for something i didn't do, i should at least make the best of it!"

and i like Sir Charles... having Simone help him, to me, doesn't mean that he's not good at what he does... it's just another example of him being smarter than the detective on his tail... i do agree, though that when Simone teams up with Princess Dala, that part of the story doesn't click as well as the rest does... still, as i said, the end result is funny, and that, IMO, redeems the momentary lapse...

the only parts of the film i've ever fast-forwarded through are the song-and-dance and (sometimes) part of the drunken love scene between Sir Charles and Princess Dala... other than that, it's all pretty well worth my time...

as a side note, although Return is one of my favorite Panthers, i'm more a fan of David Niven's Phantom than of Christopher Plummer's... the only person i can think of who might have done a better job than David Niven in the role might've been Cary Grant (see his performance in "To Catch a Thief"), but i'm not complaining about Niven in the least... excellent actor, and i think he embodies the gentlemanly side of Sir Charles perfectly...