RETURN OF THE FINK PANTHER

RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER (1975)
dir: Blake Edwards

THE RETURN OF THE FINK PANTHER
Sick #108, February 1976
a: Jerry Grandenetti

The fourth in the long-running Inspector Clouseau series and Blake Edwards' return to comedy.

In the Arab city of Lugash, the world's most valuable diamond, the Pink Panther, is in a museum, and the tour guide is showing the security it's kept under. A thief manages to seize it and leaves his calling card, a glove with the letter P. The Shah of Lugash wants the French police on the case.

In France, we see the incompetent Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) failing to stop a bank robbery because he's spending time harassing a beggar who's actually the lookout man for the robbery. He's fired from his position by his supervisor Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) who hates him with a passion but Clouseau is reinstated when they need him for the Pink Panther case. The film has gags with Dreyfus having a gun shaped like a cigarette lighter and getting it confused with a real gun.

Clouseau is sent to Switzerland to find suspected diamond thief Charles Litton a/k/a “The Phantom” (Christopher Plummer) and tails his wife Claudine (Catherine Schell) to find his whereabouts.

Claudine seduces Inspector Clouseau to get rid of him and slips him a mickey and Charles shows up. Charles was never the diamond thief in the first place, it had been Claudine all along and did it to add excitement to their marriage.

There are scenes throughout, though not here, where Clouseau's manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk) ambushes him, attacking him with martial arts to keep him on his toes. It's a recurring slapstick bit they do in all the Pink Panther movies where they fight, break through other peoples' homes, and smash things.

Dreyfus hates Clouseau so much he's been trying to assassinate him all this time and keeps on missing, and sent to an asylum. This is all wrapped up in an explanation at the end where they also let us know Clouseau has been promoted to Dreyfus' position as they all eat at a Japanese restaurant. A waitress turns out to really be Cato in disguise.