sol- Filmed and released two years after the untimely death of Peter Sellers, this sixth film in the 'Pink Panther' series consists of previously unseen outtakes from 'The Pink Panther Strikes Again', archive footage from all five prior films and new footage with many supporting characters reprising their roles. While this might sound like a recipe for disaster, 'Trail' is as a surprisingly lucid motion picture. The plot is no great shakes as the jewel disappears again with Inspector Clouseau of course invited to investigate again, however, the story is relatively easy to follow and the filmmakers use a parallel plot of Herbert Lom again descending into madness well to provide more narrative drive than all the rather random Sellers klutziness. The outtakes are frequently funny too as Sellers confuses "message" with "massage", dances on rice and has trouble when travelling on a plane incognito (but those scenes might well be his stunt double). The second half of 'Trail' is weaker than the first half though as Clouseau goes missing-in-action and a nosy female reporter interviews those who were once close to him. The second half of the film contains at least three (maybe four) times as much archive footage and amounts to a 'greatest hits' collection and little more. That said, there is also some newly shot footage of Clouseau as a child in the mix, which has definite curiosity value. The end credits (and opening credits) are also as imaginative as usual for the series, but with or without scattered virtues, it is easy to see why many regard this as a low point in the franchise.

TheLittleSongbird I genuinely wanted to like this film. I love the Pink Panther movies, and the animated TV series, but this was really quite shameless. Not to imagine quite strange, not only in its idea which is a rather bad one admittedly but in its execution.It is supposedly a tribute to the late Peter Sellers. I admit it his presence in this film as Inspector Clousseau actually saves this movie from being any worse than it was, but he deserved much better than this. Herbert Lom is sort of fun too, and Henry Mancini's original music is marvellous. However that is the only praise I can give.Blake Edwards is talented but I found it difficult to believe he directed this, it didn't feel like his style of directing. The film looks rather dated too, while the plot is a shambles and the sight gags and script are really quite poor even for a Pink Panther film. In regard to the latter reason, the outtakes are unremarkable at best and the new footage is dismally unfunny. Also, the pace is pedestrian, despite people saying that the 1963 Pink Panther movie is the dullest entry, and I have heard people say that, I think this entry is the dullest. Other than Sellers and Lom, the other acting is rather poor. Joanna Lumley grates, Robert Loggia is wasted and David Niven's voice is dubbed terribly. I understand Niven was ill, but really they either should've used his real voice or not used him at all.All in all, a shameless mess. 3/10 Bethany Cox

disdressed12 at least half of this movie isn't really a movie in itself.it's more of a tribute to Peter Sellers,and uses scenes from previous PInk Panther movies cobbled together as as a very thin plot.as a result,there are a lot of continuity issues and things are disjointed.but somewhere along the way,there is an actual story which incorporates new footage,and in thew end,the movie ends up being not half bad.not great,but not bad.having Joanna Lumley in the cast elevates things a bit.i didn't find much too laugh at here,but at least it had some entertainment value.as long as you know what you're in for,and don't mind waiting for about 45 minutes or so before the real movie begins,then you might enjoy this.for me,The Trail of the Pink Panther is a 5/10

elshikh4 It could've been better movie and smarter greeting in the memory of (Peter Sellers). It wasn't that difficult to write a script which can make all the characters unites to find the real criminal especially with the existence of (Herbert Lom) as (Dreyfus), (Burt Kwouk) as (Cato), and (David Niven) himself, instead of this boring idiot TV report which deceived the audience by another (Peter Sellers)'s movie to discover eventually that it's just a miser scenes of him (deleted of previous movies of the series) then a program about him with some already used scenes from the series' previous movies !Maybe the shock of (Sellers)'s sudden death was stronger than everybody so they couldn't do anything. Maybe they were too loyal to seize the opportunity and occupy the movie of the great late icon after his absence. Or maybe (Blake Edwards) had something else in his mind.. in fact he wanted to push the franchise with another lead and I mean (Ted Wass) who'll appear at the next year in (Curse of the Pink Panther - 1983), so he made (Trail of the Pink Panther) as just the first volume however it was very odd and silly enough (the movie, the idea of another Clouseau, moreover THAT Clouseau !!). There isn't any bright thing in here : The pace is deadly, the performance is average which means bad in a Pink Panther's movie !, the personality of the father was pathetic; just a fabricated pretext to capture the lost presence of (Sellers), maybe the music of (Henry Macini) was the smartest element; you can sense its strong sad feeling while the elevator's simple scene which became like a small elegy honors and misses a star's uniqueness.So it could be a 20 minutes movie for the original Pink Panther as his last brief sketches, or a half movie; a forever deficient one which was too lame and proudly doesn't try to compensate its weakness with anything close to cohesive (Not to mention comic !), or it's nothing but a phantom of a dead star, lovely personality, or nice movie. In one word it's how to define demise or fizzle cinematically !