Aldanoli

Like most of the other folks who have reviewed this 1968 entry into the Clouseau canon, I agree that this film is a disappointing follow-up to Peter Sellers' two triumphs, both from 1964 -- the original "The Pink Panther" and the best entry in the series, "A Shot in the Dark." The latter was not only gaspingly funny, but it also introduced many of the characters who made the series so memorable, including Herbert Lom's twitchy, tic-ridden Chief Inspector Dreyfus and Burt Kwouk's manservant, Kato.

(Actually, it bears mentioning that the original "Pink Panther" was also a subpar entry in what became the series. It was supposed to be a vehicle for David Niven (who still had far more screen time than Sellers) and also had long, interminable sequences with Robert Wagner. It was only when Blake Edwards realized how Sellers enlivened the film that he expanded Clouseau's role -- allegedly much to Niven's annoyance.) But all of those characters, as well as the unforgettable Sellers himself, are absent here. The producers allegedly tried to entice Sellers and Blake Edwards (co-writer and the director of the first two entries), but they preferred to make "The Party," with Sellers adopting what is now a cringe-inducing Indian accent and a load of dark makeup. There are a few funny sequences in that film, too, but one can only imagine what Sellers (and Edwards) might have done with this film instead.

New director Bud Yorkin (who would go on to a fruitful partnership with Norman Lear) and Alan Arkin, who was also a competent actor when playing comedy, make a game try of it. But neither Arkin nor one else could so effortlessly play Clouseau as well as Sellers.

Despite those shortcomings, there are some funny set-pieces here. Arkin is given some amusing lines ("There is a time to laugh and a time not to laugh, and this is not one of them") and Addison Steele (who looks vaguely like a young Elton John here) plays an interesting villain.

Thus, at one point Clouseau is chasing Steele's character as he drives an amphibious car. Steele zips down a boat ramp and turns his vehicle into a watercraft. Clouseau follows right along in a conventional car . . . And of course, sinks like a stone. In another sequence, Clouseau tries to send a microphone into the room occupied by the villains by arrow (don't ask) only to overshoot the target and tap into a television set that happens to be playing a movie with a fictional group of bad guys planning a heist. Naturally, Clouseau thinks he's tapped into a goldmine of information about the crooks he's shadowing -- while missing their real caper.

Sadly, Sellers was absent from the role for more than a decade before his triumphant return in 1975 in "Return of the Pink Panther." It's a pity that he didn't try his hand at this film in between -- he could have done a lot with his own shtick no matter what the script held, and with Edwards at the helm, it undoubtedly would have been superior. Instead, we missed out on a decade without Clouseau played by Sellers, and then after 3 sequels he suffered an untimely death in 1980.

After Sellers' death, of course, Edwards realized too late what a golden goose he had had, and kept trying to exploit it for far too long, churning out embarrassing films cobbled together with outtakes of Sellers and doubles -- unsuccessfully trying to recreate the magic that made the role so entertaining. Whatever one can say about "Inspector Clouseau," therefore, it was at least an honest failure -- and superior to any of those later films that Edwards pasted together.