Daft and Dated

FILM ONLY REVIEW

Inspector Clouseau is given a case investigating a jewel thief, the Phantom, and his investigations take him from Paris to Switzerland where a Princess is on holiday and has her jewel, the pink panther with her. The Princess was given this gem from her father but now her country are demanding that it gets returned to the people.

Clouseau starts his investigations but has no luck, unbeknown to him his wife is working with Sir Charles, a thief who is after the gem for himself. There are having a secret affair and she is aiding his criminal ways with the help of her husbands knowledge as a police investigator. Clouseau is going to have his work cut out trying to find the phantom, can the bumbling investigator discover the truth before the Phantom gets chance to steel the Pink Panther from the Princess or will the Phantom strike again?

I really had no desire to watch this film as I have seen the re make and was not overly keen on that, I found that despite the age of this film is was much better than I imagined and I did enjoy it at times. The storyline was good and although unbelievable it was enjoyable to watch. The acting was one of the best parts of the film and if it had not been for the star cast then don’t think this film would have been the hit it was.

The lead role of Clouseau was played by Peter Sellers and he was excellently cast in this role. He came across as a decent and honest man who genuinely did not understand the destruction he was leaving all over the place, he believed he was a high powered police investigator who people respected and admired but the truth was he was being made a fool of by the people most closest to him and he was unable to complete the most simple of tasks without damaging or breaking something. He played the part with perfect comic timing and it always looked natural and never forced. I found the way he played with his on screen wife was good and felt so sorry for him when all the feelings and love were one sided, but this at times did add to the humour. The other big role in the film was that or Sir Charles Lytton, he was played by David Niven. He took to the role very well and made his character quite likeable despite his evil ways. He showed himself as a bit of a playboy and ladies man but I was always able to see a vulnerable side to him and thought he just needed the love of a good woman to be able to settle down. He too had good comic timing and did actually make me laugh at times.

We had a few good support role and they were acted by Robert Wagner, Capucine and Colin Gordon, they all played very different role and bought a little diversity to the storyline.

The film was set mainly on a ski resort in Switzerland and as a result we did get a few good scenery shots, the sets and props were all fitting for the film but very dated now. They added to the humour and feel for the film and I did actually enjoy the sage of them and seeing the old fashions and technology of the time. Some of the special effects which e had did let the film down but on the other hand some of the very bad ones were quite funny to watch so added to the humour. We have to take into account the age of this film so I suppose they would have looked very good when this was first released in 1963. We could clearly see that the stunts and few fight scenes had been staged and for me this was a little disappointing and spoilt those scenes. The music was suitable for the film and fitted into the story very well. There were no stand out tracks, with the exception of the opening theme music but I remember thinking at the time that t all helped add to the humour and slight drama of the storyline.

The film is a comedy and for me this was quite mixed. The majority of the gags were visual ones but I just could not shake off the feeling that they were portraying Clouseau as being too daft, if he was that accident prone then there would be no way he would have achieved the title of police inspector. I did enjoy the laughs the other characters gave us as they were not overly played but I think there are only so many times one man can fall over an object or walk into a door.

This is a film only review so there are no bonus features to speak about. The film can be bought on DVD for just a few pounds online. The running time of the film is 115 minutes and personally I found this just a little too long. The rate is a PG and I do agree with this.

I am going to give this film 3 stars, the storyline was good and so too was the acting but for me some of the humour was over played and it is looking very dated now. I would recommend watching it but I would not pay for the DVD.