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Last night we decided to watch the first of them, simply titled ‘The Pink Panther’, which was the first of the series, produced in 1963. I’m not sure I’d ever seen this before, the film that introduced the legendary jewel known colloquially as ‘The Pink Panther’, because of a slight pink flaw. It’s owned by a princess; there’s a brief cameo at the beginning when we see her, as a small girl, being given it by her father.
I remember watching the animated children’s show ‘Pink Panther’ when I was about nine or ten. I had no idea that this was a spin-off of a detective series, nor that the pink panther was anything other than the bright pink feline character who starred in the cartoons. Apparently it was invented for the opening sequence of this film - and it’s extremely well done; we were all the more impressed, knowing the credits were done by hand rather than using computer graphics.
The story is a bit confusing at first; there are several clandestine meetings, around the world, where (I gathered) valuable jewels had been stolen. But the action really begins in a hotel in Italy where the princess (with her pink panther jewel) is staying, as are several potential guests. It was hard to keep track of who was whom as they all had similar accents and clothes, all very 1960s, but it didn’t much matter.
But Sir Charles (David Niven) stands out early on, a suave womaniser who is set on seducing the princess. He has a nephew, too, called George (Robert Wagner) who has been educated in the United States and has just graduated. It’s quickly apparent that his personality is similar to his uncle’s, albeit without the elegance or suavity.
The most important person, however, is Inspector Clouseau, brilliantly played by Peter Sellers. He’s investigating a series of robberies by a mythical ‘phantom’, and is convinced that the pink panther jewel will be stolen at some point over this weekend. Clouseau is a wonderful creation; he’s quite intuitive but very naive, and extremely clumsy. There are some cleverly choreographed scenes where he trips or breaks things, and where he’s entirely hoodwinked by his wife Simone (Capucine) who apparently entertains several lovers.
There’s lots of silliness in the film, including a fancy dress/masked party where Clouseau and some of his colleagues wear the most bizarre outfits. Two people dressed as gorillas manage an excellent sequence, and there are car chases, ski chases, and a kidnapped dog. John le Mesurier makes a cameo role towards the end as a barrister, and Claudia Cardinale is a dignified, tee-total princess
The script is clever, the music works well, the actors are believable (in a 1960s dramatic kind of way) and the story begins to make sense in the latter part of the film. There’s a lot of smoking, of course, and a surprising number of innuendoes and suggestiveness even though nothing explicit is shown, nor any nudity. Language is mild and there’s minimal violence (most of it comedic). The rating is PG which makes sense, although I can’t imagine many young children being at all interested in this film.
‘The Pink Panther’ is nearly two hours long, but I didn’t notice the time - although the pace is mostly quite relaxed, it didn’t feel at all dull. I liked the fact that there weren’t continually scene changes but a little more time to get to know some of the cast, unlike today’s fast-action films.
I understand that there's an updated 'Pink Panther' movie with Steve Martin in the role of Clouseau. I'm sure it's well done, but it's not the one we saw, and (according to some reviewers) not as good as the classic.
I would definitely recommend the original 'Pink Panther' film if you don’t mind silliness and a bit of mild slapstick (very well choreographed) and would like a light evening’s undemanding viewing.
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