Pink Panther

The Pink Panther Film Collection (The Pink Panther / A Shot in the Dark / Strikes Again / Revenge of / Trail of)

Peter Sellers strikes again in five classic comedy films plus a bonus DVD! Includes: DISK 1 The Pink Panther DISK 2 A Shot In The Dark DISK 3 The Pink Panther Strikes Again DISK 4 Revenge Of The Pink Panther DISK 5 Trail Of The Pink PantherBonus DiscBehind the Scenes Documentary - "The Pink Panther Story"Pink Panther Cartoon Theatre: - Includes New Documentary and Six Original Cartoons"Behind the Feline: The Cartoon Phenomenon" Documentary"The Pink Phink" - "Pink Plunk Plink""Psychedelic Pink" - "Pinkfinger""The Ant and the Aardvark""The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation"System Requirements: Running Time 520 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 027616902887 Manufacturer No: 1006065

Cue the Henry Mancini music and watch out for Cato--the gist of the Pink Panther series has been gathered in a six-disc boxed set. At the center of it is Peter Sellers's incarnation of inspector Jacques Clouseau, a hopelessly bumbling detective with a genius for resting his hands in the wrong place (on the surface of a spinning globe, for instance) and mangling the English language.

Writer-director Blake Edwards cast Peter Ustinov as Clouseau in The Pink Panther, but Ustinov dropped out just before shooting began. Edwards (who recounts this story in a spotty commentary track included here) and Sellers bonded over their affection for Laurel and Hardy, and immediately transformed the character of Clouseau into a walking sight gag. The first film has a delicious swinging sixties vibe, while jewel thief David Niven, Claudia Cardinale, and Capucine occupy as much screen time as Sellers. Sellers really hits his stride in A Shot in the Dark, an elegantly funny tale of Clouseau sleuthing out a murder investigation. This one introduced Herbert Lom, as the increasingly frazzled Inspector Dreyfus, and Burt Kwouk, as Clouseau's houseboy-nemesis Cato. Sellers and Edwards, whose relationship was stormy, put Clouseau aside for over 10 years, until a trilogy of mid-1970s comedies restored the character to commercial (and dare we say cultural) primacy.

Unfortunately, the very funny comeback picture, Return of the Pink Panther, is absent from this set due to rights issues with the studios involved. The Pink Panther Strikes Again has Dreyfus going bananas and targeting Clouseau; Revenge of the Pink Panther puts Clouseau in a hilarious series of disguises, climaxing in a wonderfully mounted sequence in Hong Kong. (Throughout the series, the calm, classical staging of gags by Blake Edwards reminds you of what a lost art this has become.) Trail of the Pink Panther looks better now than it did when originally released in 1982, shortly after Sellers's death; it's a batch of unused Sellers routines from previous pictures, strung together with a loose plot. In other words, it's a "deleted scenes" extra, and quite funny at times.

Subsequent efforts Curse of the Pink Panther and Son of the Pink Panther are neither included nor mentioned. A half-hour documentary gives pleasant memories from Edwards, but feels incomplete. The cartoon Panther gets his own 11-minute mini-doc, plus six cartoon shorts including the Oscar-winning "The Pink Phink." --Robert Horton

Return of the Pink Panther

Peter Sellers's third go-around as the prideful but bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau is funny enough, but this 1975 Blake Edwards revival of the Sellers-Clouseau connection is a little weak in comparison to predecessors The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark (both made in 1964). Costar Christopher Plummer actually gets some of the most interesting screen time as a retired cat burglar whom Clouseau accuses of getting back into the business. (If it sounds like there might be a To Catch a Thief vibe mixed in here, you're right.) Herbert Lom is hilarious as Clouseau's psychologically eroding boss, and Clouseau's ritualistic collisions with valet Cato (Burt Kwouk) are great examples of Edwards's delicious comic timing. --Tom Keogh

Inspector clouseau is put on the case when the pink panther diamond is stolen with the phantoms trademark glove the only clue. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 01/10/2006 Starring: Peter Sellers Peter Arne Run time: 113 minutes Rating: G Director: Blake Edwards

The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 1: Pranks in the Pink

This prized collection of theifirst 27 theatrical shorts featuring the Pink Panther includes the brilliant Oscar®-winning* The Pink Phink as well as the only two cartoons (Sink Pink Pink Ice) in which the mischievous feline speaks!System Requirements:Running Time: 170 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 027616926357 Manufacturer No: 1008624

The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 2: Adventures in the Pink

Scratch the itch with these 27 beloved animated shorts which find your favorite cool cat clawing his way out of trouble as he joins the army builds a motorcycle flies a jet and even herds cattle out west!System Requirements:Running Time: 168 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: NR UPC: 027616926364 Manufacturer No: 1008625

The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection

The Pink Panther is paws down the world's grooviest cartoon star. In 1964 this pink-inked feline slinked onto the opening credits of Blake Edwards' caper film by the same name and threatened to steal the entire show. Sleek sophisticated and witty the animation produced by Friz Freleng and David H. DePatie was a stylish departure from its contemporaries and an instant hit. A subsequent short film The Pink Phink would go on to win* an Oscar® and spawn a celebrated series of six-minute cartoons featuring the sly cat. Now for the first time 124 cartoons produced by Freleng and DePatie between 1964 and 1980 are collected here in a swingin' 5-disc set. With over 14 hours of "pink comedy" you can't help but lick your whiskers!*1964: Animated Short Subject The Pink PhinkSystem Requirements:Run Time: 782Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: TELEVISION/CLASSICS UPC: 027616924674 Manufacturer No: 1008437

One of the unforeseen (and hugely profitable) benefits of the first Pink Panther movie was the popularity of the cartoon cat from that film's classic credits sequence. Added on a hunch by director Blake Edwards and concocted by the DePatie-Freleng animation team, the slinky pink feline immediately spawned his own series of cartoons, first for theatrical release and later for television. The saga is gathered in The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, five discs of 124 cartoons, plus extras. This would have to be considered the ultimate such collection, and more than the average fan could handle in a few sittings (or a few dozen). But they're all here.

When United Artists commissioned David DePatie and Friz Freleng (whose new company was born from the eclipse of the old Warner Bros. cartoon unit) to make freestanding Pink Panther cartoons, their first effort struck gold. Literally: The Pink Phink won the Oscar for best animated short subject, and is still a prime example of circa-1964 line drawing and visual humor. Most of the early shorts display a sure sense of timing and a cheeky feel for the era; they were directed by Freleng and Hawley Pratt (Pratt's design for the Pink Panther had been selected by Blake Edwards from dozens of offerings at the time of the first feature). In two of the first handful, Sink Pink and Pink Ice, the Pink Panther himself speaks stray lines of dialogue, a mistake that would not be repeated later. One unwelcome aural intrusion: some of the cartoons here have a laugh track from the TV series, even on the Oscar-nominated Pink Blueprint.

Animation voiceover veterans of the era chimed in with narration or voices for other characters; for instance, the indefatigable Paul Frees does the narration on Phinkfinger, a funny spoof of 007-style spy movies. But most of the cartoons are wordless, which is one reason they remained popular internationally for so many years. The main reason is the slinky character of the Panther, a mischievous hipster who could be either the instrument of chaos or the victim, depending on the cartoon. The plots tend toward the cartoon verities: the necessity of catching a mouse or silencing an alarm clock, for instance. A documentary, Behind the Feline, gives a fine account of the history of the character; it is also bundled on a previous boxed set, The Pink Panther Film Collection. Useful new extras include a portrait of Friz Freleng by his daughters, an illuminating interview with animator-director Art Leonardi, and a delightful vignette with Leonardi instructing us on how to quickly draw the Pink Panther. The opening-title sequences from five Pink Panther movies are included. Throughout the cartoons and the extras, you will be reminded of one incalculable boost to the series: Henry Mancini's lithe, foxy theme music, which surely had much to do with the character's enduring fame. Mancini gets an onscreen shout-out in Pink, Plunk, Plink, in which the Panther tries to inject his theme into an orchestral performance of Beethoven's Fifth. --Robert Horton

The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 5: The Ant and the Aardvark

The Pink Panther: The Ant & The Aardvark Classic Cartoon Collection features all 17 episodes of the original cartoon series. For the first time on DVD, parents can relive the hilarity as these two characters go head to head.

The Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 6 - Inspector Cartoons

Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 03/04/2008 Run time: 119 minutes Rating: Nr

The Pink Panther

Inspector Clouseau of the Paris police, attempts to catch a jewel thief, unaware that his wife is having an affair with the thief.
Genre: Feature Film-Comedy
Rating: NR
Release Date: 31-JAN-2006
Media Type: DVD

The history of film comedy would have been much altered if Peter Ustinov had stayed in the role of Jacques Clouseau, the bumbling French police inspector in The Pink Panther. But Ustinov dropped out, the role went to Peter Sellers, and a classic character was born: suspicious, blundering, with a pompous little mustache and a sometimes impenetrable accent, Clouseau was always one step behind everybody else in the room. The Pink Panther introduced Clouseau hot on the trail of a famous jewel thief (David Niven), who may be planning to make off with an expensive gem known as the Pink Panther. Set in a European ski resort, this bubbly comedy is a wonderful dose of '60s style, from the famous Henry Mancini theme music to the presence of two of Europe's top sex symbols of the era, Claudia Cardinale and Capucine. The film also introduced the popular cartoon Pink Panther, slinking around to Mancini's music in an animated credits sequence. The film's success brought a follow-up, A Shot in the Dark, also released in 1964; after 11 years, Sellers and top comedy director Blake Edwards (10) returned with three more sequels. --Robert Horton

The Pink Panther Strikes Again

The fourth Pink Panther film with Peter Sellers and directed by Blake Edwards is easily the most over-the-top but it's still pretty entertaining. The story finds Clouseau's former boss (Herbert Lom) totally insane after years of enduring the bumbling detective and sequestered in a castle with a death-ray gun. Clouseau has to stop him from using the weapon on the world and his efforts to do so make for some choice Edwards-style slapstick. The quotient of destruction (a Clouseau staple) is higher than average but there is also real wit--particularly in a final scene where Lom re-creates his most famous role as the monster from the 1962 Phantom of the Opera. --Tom KeoghSystem Requirements:Running Time: 111 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 027616905932 Manufacturer No: 1006392

The fourth Pink Panther film with Peter Sellers and directed by Blake Edwards is easily the most over-the-top, but it's still pretty entertaining. The story finds Clouseau's former boss (Herbert Lom) totally insane after years of enduring the bumbling detective, and sequestered in a castle with a death-ray gun. Clouseau has to stop him from using the weapon on the world, and his efforts to do so make for some choice, Edwards-style slapstick. The quotient of destruction (a Clouseau staple) is higher than average, but there is also real wit--particularly in a final scene where Lom re-creates his most famous role as the monster from the 1962 Phantom of the Opera. --Tom Keogh

Revenge of the Pink Panther

Clouseau breaks up the french connection drug ring. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 01/31/2006 Starring: Peter Sellers Dyan Cannon Run time: 99 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Blake Edwards

The sixth Pink Panther comedy was the last to star Peter Sellers (the following film in the series incorporated previously unseen footage), and it was also the last in the series to show any signs of genuine inspiration. It's a weak entry in the Panther pantheon, involving a rather mundane plot about a "French Connection" drug deal that leads Inspector Clouseau--presumed murdered and now sleuthing incognito--to Hong Kong for a brash, slapstick finale that almost compensates for the routine gags that precede it. Sellers and director Blake Edwards are coasting along smoothly here, and some of the gags pay off in well-earned laughs--particularly with a clever nod to Dr. Strangelove when Clouseau dons a Toulouse-Lautrec costume. Another highlight finds Clouseau disguised as an old sea captain, complete with a leaky inflatable parrot (it looks more like a purple puffin) resting limply on his shoulder. But a later attempt to spoof Mafia kingpins is hardly up to snuff for a talent as original as Sellers, and Dyan Cannon lacks the comedic sensibility to make the most of her role as a druglord's vengeful ex-mistress. Some of the physical gags are amazingly elaborate, and it's still a riot to hear Sellers perfecting (or is that murdering?) his hilarious French accent, but while it's adequately enjoyable this movie makes you long for the glory days of the Pink Panther franchise. --Jeff Shannon