The Pink Panther Story

"The Pink Panther Story" is one of the most interesting short documentaries about movie making that I have ever seen. It's about a series of movies and how the first film came about. It's about the producers, and the two principal people behind the series. There is no narrator for this documentary. It just opens with an interviewee talking, and then segues to other interviewees and/or film clips, throughout its nearly 29 minutes (28:40).

The principal people behind it all were Blake Edwards, Peter Sellers and the Mirisch Brothers. This short film has a nice brief background of Edwards and Sellers, and how they came together for the first film and then the series. It includes their rapport and their later animosity. And it has a nice background of the Mirisch Brothers (Harold, Marvin and Walter), and their working relationship with Blake Edwards who directed the films.

Besides Edwards, the others interviewed are Walter Mirisch, author Ed Sikov, film editor Ralph Winters, script supervisor Betty Abbott Griffin, musical author Jon Burlingame, and Joe Dunne who was the stunt coordinator and double for Sellers in some of the heavy physical exertion scenes. An early part of this short is Blake Edwards giving his background in brief, before "The Pink Panther." A later segment is Walter Mirisch and others discussing the background of Peter Sellers before the series. Sellers died in 1980 of a heart attack, at age 54. Both Edwards and Sellers came from families with ancestors in films and the theater before that.

One very interesting thing was the casting and who the actors were originally planned for the film. Blake Edwards said he tried to get Audrey Hepburn to play the princess, but couldn't get her. So, Claudia Cardinale was their next choice. David Niven was the obvious choice as the lead, Sir Charles Lytton. But then, to play Clouseau's wife, they were able to get Ava Gardner, and to play Clouseau, Peter Ustinov.

In the opening of this documentary, Edwards says, "There were good times and bad times. The good times were as good as it could ever get -- more fun, more joy, in the good times. And, the bad times might just as well have been like going to the doctor and having him tell you, well, I'm sorry, but you're terminal."

Walter Mirisch says, "We decided to shoot it in Rome, and everything went along swimmingly until... four or six weeks prior to filming." That's when Ava Gardner withdrew from the cast. "Blake then suggested that we replace her with Capucine." And, one wonders what the Pink Panther would have been like without Peter Sellers, who came on board at the last minute. Edwards says he was in Europe and all ready to start shooting, when Ustinov backed out "at the very last minute."

Mirisch says, "We were then faced with a huge problem of replacing Peter Ustinov in the picture, and,... that really was our very first crisis." Edwards says "the most we could do was sue him." And Mirisch says they did sue Ustinov, but soon dropped the suit. He says, "When the picture came out and it was a huge success, I remember our lawyers saying to me, can you prove any damages? We weren't damaged, we were helped."

After they settled on Sellers for the role of Clouseau, Edwards says he met him at the airport, "and from the plane ride to the hotel in Rome, he and I discovered each other, so to speak. What we enjoyed in terms of comedy, which meant the world of Laurel and Hardy." Joe Dunne, who coordinated the stunts and doubled for Sellers, says "Peter Sellers was the greatest fan of Stan Laurel, I've known." And, author Ed Sikov sys, "Sellers was a great admirer of Stan Laurel," and when Laurel was an old man, Peter went to visit him when he was in Los Angeles.

All of the interviewees talked about the creativity of Edwards and Sellers working together, in spite of some personal squabbles at times, and a later falling out. Betty Griffin says, "Peter would do something, and then Blake would say, well now, if you add this to it, and it was like step-ladder, it just kept going and going and going." Edwards says, "We'd take what was on the page, and ad lib and work around it. Peter said, could we make the character more physically comedic." Mirisch says, "Blake was very smart and realized what was happening. And, instead of fighting it, he encouraged it." Griffin says, "We had a problem with the crew breaking up (with laughter) ."

Mirisch says, "Peter was a great improvisational actor." Ralph Winters, who edited the films, says, "Peter Sellers was a brilliant actor. And everything he did was very funny." Mirisch adds, "We're talking about comic invention that borders on genius."

And, who could forget the theme and background music of the films, composed and directed by Henry Mancini? Edwards and Mancini had worked together before, and Edwards says that Mancini knew him and what he would want for music. Winters says that Mancini "casts musicians like a director does the actors." Jon Burlingame says, "In this case he knew that he wanted Plas Johnson, a great tenor saxophonist, (to) play that theme." That was the warm sound and swinging style that Mancini wanted.

Mirisch says, "When the picture started out, David Niven had the leading role. When it finished, Peter Sellers did. And the script was barely changed." Author Sikov says of Peter Sellers, "If anything, he's more fondly remembered now ....years after he died... then at the time he died." And, Mirisch sums up the success of the Pink Panther and its series. "The great genius of Peter, and Mancini's music, and the cartoon character and Blake inspired by what he's doing, produced this extraordinary film which still continues to entertain audiences throughout the world."