The Pink Panther (1963)

"Take your filthy hands off my asp!", 25 February 2006

Reading through the various reviews on the internet, including those on IMDb, it's obvious that many consider the original The Pink Panther either among the best of the series or among the worst of the series. I'm one of those who considers it the very best. What does it have that the others lack? The quick answer is style. The movie is filled with the best style the 60s has to offer. The Pink Panther is full of sophisticated people in luxurious locations partaking in lavish parties and holidays. These are the jet-setters with money to burn who understood the importance of carrying themselves properly and looking smart.

Other areas where The Pink Panther excels in comparison with the sequels are plot, acting, and the handling of Inspector Clouseau.

- Plot – Unlike the sequels that follow, The Pink Panther has a fairly interesting heist plot at its core. The movie doesn't rely totally on slapstick. Take the first sequel, A Shot in the Dark, as an example. The plot in that movie is so thin as to be transparent. And, the further along you go in the series, the thinner the plots become.

- Acting – The Pink Panther has four leads that add their own wonderful elements to the film. Peter Sellers isn't asked to carry the film on his own. And, surprisingly, even though the movie features Sellers, David Niven, and Claudia Cardinale (names that should be familiar to many movie fans), it's the more unknown Capucine who gives my favorite performance. She's brilliant in the role of Clouseau's wife.

- Handling of Clouseau – If you can't tell from what I've already written, I'm not the biggest fan in the world of the sequels to The Pink Panther that focus almost entirely on Clouseau. Sellers is good as Clouseau, but I can only take him in moderation. In The Pink Panther, Clouseau is not the primary focus. The decision to allow Sellers to play a more subdued Clouseau was a good one.

7/10