Review of Curse of the Pink Panther (1983) by Libby T — 20 Mar 2008

When Curse came out in 1983, it was not a surprise to anyone. The previous film, Trail of the Pink Panther, had an open ending, and an announcement in the end credits that they would all return in 'Curse of the Pink Panther'. But, whereas 'Trail' had been a choked attempt at making a movie using clips of the brilliant Peter Sellers, 'Curse' were to relaunch the franchise with a new actor as a, not the, bumbling inspector. Ted Wass did play bumbling and inept, but he was American, unknown and he wasn't Peter Sellers (His acting career wasn't much of anything after this either).

The point, as it is, of this movie is to find Clouseau, a computer chooses the best detective in the World to do so, but it's sabotaged and choses the worst instead.

The inspector is found, played by Roger More. Plastic surgery, it's a wonderful thing, isn't it?

The value of this movie is in some of the better known recurring characters, Herbert Lom as Inspector Dreyfus, Burt Kwouk as Cato as well as Robert Wagner and David Niven in his very last film (Niven was so frail, his voice was dubbed by Rich Little).

This was the second time everyone realised only Sellers could play Clouseau (the first time was in 1968 when Alan Arkin played the part in 'Inspector Clouseau'). Everyone realised it again in 1993 with 'Son of the Pink Panther (An imensly irritating Roberto Benigni), and finally, atleast the critics realised it in 2006 (Steve Martin's turn in 'The Pink Panther' did well at the boxoffice however and a Pink Panther 2 has a 2008 release planned).

Allthough mostly a shambles, it does have a few good laughs, Blake Edwards is the man behind the reigns and for those who want to complete their collection, this is far from a complete waste.