The Pink Panther (1963)

Directed by Blake Edwards. Starring David Niven, Capucine, Peter Sellers, Robert Wagner, Claudia Cardinale, Colin Gordon, Brenda de Banzie, John Le Mesurier.

Top-shelf caper pic successfully intertwines a sophisticated brand of farce with gut-busting slapstick and pratfalls, demonstrating how obtuse Sellers’ Sûreté detective is—he’s obsessed with catching notorious jewel thief, “the Phantom” (Niven), but is blissfully unaware that the very same man is carrying on an affair with his wife (Capucine) right under his nose! The plot stalls at a few junctures, as it’s more a series of frivolous set pieces than a fluid narrative, but the cast is up to the task, and several of the compartmentalized scenarios are marvels of refined friskiness and crack timing. Henry Mancini’s slinky jazz score quickly became iconic, the perfect accompaniment to the introduction of the “titular” animated cat who went on to appear in dozens of shorts and a handful of television shows; also introduced the world to the fantastic comic creation that is Inspector Clouseau, and Sellers steals the show at just about every turn (though some may be surprised by the fact that, although he is an oafish klutz, to be sure, he’s almost competent at times, and his accent isn’t nearly as outrageous as it would become later on). Clouseau would return in a slew of sequels, starting with A Shot in the Dark. Cardinale’s voice was dubbed by Gale Garnett.

86/100