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.

Return of the Pink Panther (1975)Complete with the great Mancini sax theme, the nutty smart Blake Edwards directing, the sassy cartoon panther himself, and of course Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau (taking on many absurd disguises). This is the third of the original Pink Panther movies series (omitting the oddball fourth one from 1968 that didn't have Mancini, Sellers, or Edwards), and it comes over a decade after the first two. Was the public interested? Yes--it did well. It was a great formula. Is it still a good formula in 2012?Good question. It depends on your taste. But surely the names repeated above are all cinema greats that, like Chaplin, rise above their time. But of course, Sellers, as terrific as he was, was no Charles Chaplin. At his best, the comedy is hilarious. And that makes the movie worth watching for sure. But he is sometimes a bit off in his timing, or is stuck playing a stunt that isn't worthy of him. There's also a lag in the filler material, the scenes between the great stuff. Some marginal characters (including the leading woman, who is totally a late 60s type, not a 1975 type, and she feels oddly unnecessary) don't command their parts, or their scenes. The drift begins to drift. And then you realize there isn't much of a plot. The whole recovery (sort of) of the famous Pink Panther diamond after an elaborate theft isn't really the driving force of the movie. What takes its place is a slow interplay of the characters all stumbling over each other trying to trick the perpetrator into revealing the gem. So then you are back to the stumbling as comedy, and sometimes it's great. There are so many ridiculous moments with Sellers being a bumbling fool like no one, you are sure to laugh. And that's what you're here for. "The Pink Panther" is the original, and at times also a bit sluggish, but it's the first. And "A Shot in the Dark" is the best of the three, I think. But if you like them, you'll be just fine here. If you haven't seen any, you might go in order, since the sets and music are really spot on in the first two, and a bit more transporting. There is something a little off kilter here that make it an awkward, but decent, third.

Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards reunite in this riotous comedy that is by far one of the better Pink Panther films.Sellers is on top form as Clouseau and nails every joke that Edwards sets up for them. A lot has been said about the relationship between the great actor and director but this film is a testament to how good they were together when on form.As always Herbert Lom is fantastic as Dreyfus and Burt Kwonk makes the martial art scenes a scream.Overall a fantastic entry to one of the best film comedy series of all time.

This is perhaps the best of the Pink Panther series of films ever made as Peter Sellers reprised the role of the bungling french detective of the Surette after an absence of ten years and surely was the beginning of what should have been the somewhat short-lived and fully fledged versions of these movies while the earlier two films to feature Sellers' as Clouseau, weren't all that funny. Christopher Plummer was an excellent choice as a replacement for David Niven as Charles Litton having already starred in major films like The Sound of Music although Niven reprised the role in the first posthumous "pink" movie. Blake Edwards over-directed this one and there are lots of slow motion gags throughout the film's length and is helped by some of the usually funny dialogues and disaster after disaster for the Frenchman. It is a great shame that these were cut short by the premature death of Sellers and despite his comic abilities and ideas, it became a different matter off-screen.