Archive the Pink Panther Strikes Again
Pink Panther Team Unflappable In Fourth High-Spirited Caper
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December 16, 1976
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Though "The Pinkish Panther Strikes Again" is the fourth Inspector Clouseau one-act to come up from the collaboration of Peter Sellers, the star, and Blake Edwards, the manager-producer and co-author, there are no signs that anyone'south spirits are flagging or that sanity is in whatsoever manner imminent.Ineptitude once again triumphs—gloriously. Bungling is rewarded, and Clouseau goes blithely on demonstrating that what he doesn't know, which is everything, can't possibly do him permanent damage.To be near Clouseau is to be at the edge of the hurricane's eye, to chance annihilation, which is pretty much what actually happens to Clouseau'south former superior in the French Sûreté, the once-sane Main Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), in "The Pink Panther Strikes Once again," which opened at Broadway and neighborhood theaters yesterday.The new film, written by Mr. Edwards and Frank Waldman, picks upwardly Clouseau and Dreyfus several years after we left them in "The Return of the Pink Panther," with Dreyfus, apparently cured subsequently a nervous breakdown brought on by Clouseau, preparing to exit his psychiatric clinic near Paris. Ane go-well-visit by Clouseau, though, and Dreyfus is pushed over the brink forever, turning into a mad, Goldfinger-like supercrook whose souvenir for ultimate failure is as sure a law of metaphysics equally Clouseau's for success.They were made for each other, Clouseau and Dreyfus, and I can't believe that a little matter similar Dreyfus's having been rendered forever invisible at the finish of the new film will preclude Mr. Edwards from reuniting the two sometime in the future.I'm not certain why Mr. Sellers and Mr. Lom are such a hilarious team, though it may be because each is a fine comic player with a special talent for portraying the sort of all-consuming, epic self-absorption that makes slapstick farce initially acceptable—instead of alarming—and finally then funny.There is, as well, something most winningly seedy near Mr. Sellers' Clouseau, a boyfriend who, when he attempts to tear off his clothes in the heat of passion, gets tangled up in his tie, and who, when he masquerades—for reasons never gone into—as Quasimodo, overinflates his hump with helium.Both Mr. Sellers and Mr. Edwards delight in old gags, and role of the joy of "The Pinkish Panther Strikes Again" is watching the way they spin out what is essentially a single routine, such every bit i fellow's trying, unsuccessfully, to assistance another fellow out of a lake. And how long has it been since you've seen a crazy dentist routine involving laughing gas and the wrong tooth? For me, too long.I'm as well partial to the Sellers-Clouseau French accent that is always discovering new words, such as "bimp" (as in "You lot have a nasty bimp on your head"), "rust" (equally in "You can rust assured") and "rheuem" (as in "I would like to have a rheuem for the dark")."The Pink Panther Strikes Again," which is more or less about Clouseau'due south seach for archfiend Dreyfus, moves all over the map, from Paris to London and Bavaria—where Dreyfus lives in a neo-Dracula castle — and back again, with a couple of detours to Washington, and a White House inhabited past a President who stumbles on rugs' edges.It's not, I doubtable, a movie to attend looking for reason. It has barren patches, but I couldn't care less. The picture show is complimentary-class comedy that goes where its gags lead it. That'due south not to say that it's formless, only that its structure has less to exercise with narrative than with the comic exuberance of the collaborators, which, after iv films, is undiminished."The Pink Panther Strikes Again," which has been rated PG ("Parental Guidance Suggested"), contains a couple of bedroom scenes that have less to do with sex than with the confusion that tin can be caused by unexpected visitors.
THE Pink PANTHER STRIKES Once again, directed and produced by Blake Edwards; written by Frank Waldman and Mr. Edwards; music by Henry Mancini; director of photography, Harry Waxman; animation and titles by Richard Williams; editor, Alan Jones; distributed by United Artists. Running time: 103 minutes. At the Forum Theater, Broadway at 47th Street, and other theaters. This film has been rated PG.Inspector Clouseau . . . . . Peter SellersDreyfus . . . . . Herbert LomAlec Drummond . . . . . Colin BlakelyQuinlin . . . . . Leonard RossiterOlga . . . . . Lesley-Anne DownCato . . . . . Burt KwoukFrancois . . . . . Andre MaranneDeputy Commissioner . . . . . Marne MaitlandDr. Fassbender . . . . . Richard VernonJarvis . . . . . Michael RobbinsMargo Fassbender . . . . . Briony McRobertsPresident . . . . . Dick CrockettSecretary of State . . . . . Byron Kane
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