Amazon.com Essentials:
Blake Edwards's Inspector Clouseau films really took their
complete shape with this second movie in the series, which features
star Peter Sellers really tweaking that French accent and key
supporting players Herbert Lom, Burt Kwouk, and André Maranne
(all getting on board for the first time). The story finds Sellers
refusing to believe in the guilt of a beautiful woman (Elke Sommer)
accused of murder, and there are a number of hilarious sequences,
including one in which Clouseau goes "undercover" at a nudist
colony. Arguably the best of the films, A Shot in the Dark
definitely finds Edwards honing a seamless blend of slapstick,
brilliant timing, verbal wit, a great cast, and Sellers's brilliance
into a unique experience. --Tom Keogh
Amazon.com Essentials:
If you could choose only one Pink Panther movie, your best bet
would
be A Shot in the Dark--ironic, since it's the only entry in the
series that doesn't mention the Pink Panther or even feature the cartoon
cat
in its opening credits. The title and basic plot are taken from the play by
Harry Kurnitz, which in turn was adapted from the French stage comedy
L'Idiote, but those plays were completely reconceived by director
Blake Edwards, who cowrote the screenplay with William Peter Blatty
(yes, the writer of The Exorcist!) and turned the film into a
showcase for Peter Sellers and a nonstop parade of slapstick gags and
pratfalls. This time Inspector Clouseau is accidentally assigned to track a
gorgeous, high-profile murder suspect (Elke Sommer), who is connected to
several Parisian murders by circumstantial evidence. Believing her to be
innocent when all clues indicate otherwise, Clouseau captures his suspect
and releases her several times, to the dismay of Chief Inspector Dreyfus
(Herbert Lom), but the plot here is arguably beside the point. As a
bumbling
variation of Hercule Poirot, Sellers steals the show, refining Clouseau's
persona--including his outrageous karate duels with his tenacious valet,
Cato (Bert Kwouk)--and nonchalantly waltzing through a plot involving
numerous disguises and at least a dozen murders. Some scenes are so funny
that you could swear the actors are about to crack up laughing, so you
laugh
even harder when supporting players such as Graham Stark (as Clouseau's
tolerant assistant, Hercule) hold a perfectly deadpan expression. Of all
the
Pink Panther movies, this is the one that fires on all pistons, with
Edwards and Sellers in peak form, servicing a traditional farce that
brought
out the best in their inspired collaboration. --Jeff Shannon
