Red-Barracuda Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers buried the hatchet and returned after more than a decade to make another film in the 'Pink Panther' series, with Sellers once again essaying the inept Inspector Jacques Clouseau. In this one we also see the return of the character Sir Charles Litton, with Christopher Plummer very nicely taking on the role originally filled by David Niven. The plot revolves around the theft of the extremely valuable diamond the Pink Panther by a skilled cat burglar. Clouseau is quickly requested as the man to crack the case.It seems that as the 'Pink Panther' series went on, the comedy became broader and broader, with everything else becoming more and more marginalised. This is certainly true here but it does have to be said that the balance is still good enough. I actually rather liked the crime sub-plot involving the theft and the Littons. This material gave the film a sort of James Bond type of glamour which I felt was an effective counter-point to Seller's bumbling comedy. Sellers is still good, in what amounts to a series of set-pieces which mostly seem to involve ludicrous disguises and slapstick. His performance does however, lack some of the subtle brilliance that he brought to the role in the first two films in the series and the humour overall is noticeably more hit and miss now. He is joined again by two other regulars in Herbert Lom and Burt Kwouk, as respectively Chief Inspector Dreyfuss and Clouseau's martial arts obsessed valet; while it was certainly nice to see them again here, these are pretty one-dimensional characters and their antics get slightly tiresome after a bit. On the whole though, despite a few cracks in the seams, this is definitely a good entry in this series. The balance between comedy and story is sensible and the exotic international flavour adds additional production value.

alfCycle I have been watching the Peter Sellers Pink Panther films in order recently. I didn't really enjoy the first Pink Panther that much, but I did have a lot of fun with A Shot in the Dark. This third entry, Return of the Pink Panther, was decently amusing, though not as enjoyable as A Shot in the Dark. This film has some funny gags and Peter Sellers does physical comedy with the best of them. He also turns up the outrageous french accent to deliver some hilarious lines. However, the slapstick is also turned up to more ridiculous levels, which I felt didn't work as well as it did in A Shot in the Dark. Overall, this is a decent slapstick comedy that should provide some laughs.6/10************SPOILERS************Recommended for those that enjoy cartoon intros, clumsy french policemen, outrageous accents, mispronunciations of the word "Monkey", breaking things, spilling things, ripping things, blowing up things, suctioning things, tripping over things, falling off of things, falling into things, getting stuck to things, personal stealth karate- boy personal trainers, eye twitching, defective home furnishings, racially inappropriate language......but that's just like, my opinion, man# Of Times Watched: Once

sol- Assigned to the case again when the elusive titular diamond is stolen, Inspector Clouseau gets in over head without realising it in this third 'Pink Panther' film. While the formula here is not quite as winning as in 'A Shot in the Dark', the previous sequel, 'Return' is still a lot of fun to watch with Sellers overdoing his French accent even more and Herbert Lom receiving more screen as Clouseau's easily frustrated boss, driven to the brink of madness. Several of the dialogue exchanges between Sellers and Lom are laugh-out-loud funny, and in addition to a great animated opening titles sequence, there is a fantastic end credits animated sequence in which Lom becomes involved with the animation. The film is not all good news though with an excessive amount of slapstick comedy; the slow motion fight scenes between Clouseau and Cato are particularly grating, and running at nearly two hours long, much of the physical comedy (Sellers getting stuck under a desk) seems needlessly dragged out. Christopher Plummer's casting is also a bit of a mixed blessing. He gives the role his all, but playing Niven's character from the original film, it is hard not to draw unfavourable comparisons. The rest of the cast are very good though, with British comedy legend Victor Spinetti as solid as ever and a zesty turn from Catherine Schell. This is Sellers and Lom's film all the way though, and as suspenseful as the actual jewel theft is early on, it is all the back and forth action between Sellers and Lom that renders the film very decent as far as sequels go.

kai ringler Peter Sellers is at it again,, this time in Return of the Pink Panther, and once again Chief Inspector Dreyfuss is hot on his trail trying to kill him,, while he is trying to track down the clever, and wily, Christopher Plummer,, the suspected thief of the famous Pink Panther diamond,, the laughs come very fast and if you're not ready will inundate you all at once,, for instance where Closeau bends over to sneeze and inspector Dreyfuss misses the shot the would have ended the whole entire Pink Panther series. granted now this one isn't as good as say the first two , but hey it's a sequel that's been going on for 11 years now,, and i think it's still pretty strong in my book,, so all in all i think this one is pretty good even as a stand alone movie.