Wonderfully offbeat film!

Masterful Movie

From my favorite movies..

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

This is my favorite Pink Panther movie i've seen. Peter Sellers as usual is hilarious in his performance as Inspector Clouseau. Christopher Plummer is also great as Sir Charles Lytton. After the Pink Panther diamond is stolen, Inspector Jacues Clouseau(Peter Sellers) is assigned to catch the thief. Because of the P glove he believes it to be Sir Charles Lytton AKA "the Phantom"(Christopher Plummer). It turns out not to be him but his wife Lady Claudine Lytton(Catherine Schell). In order not to be caught Charles Lytton goes to the fictional Lugash to apprehend the thief, while Clouseau is in Switzerland trying to find out where he is. Meanwhile, Clouseau's enraged boss Charles Dreyfuss(Herbert Lom) is also in Switzerland trying to eliminate Closeau. In the end Charles Lytton finds his wife with the diamond, Closeau finds it, and Dreyfuss tries to kill everyone! It took me quite a couple of times to finally understand the plot of this movie. Anyways all in all it's a funny movie so go check it out!

Peter Sellers returns as Inspector Clouseau after an 11 year absence, in this amusing sequel which finds the Pink Panther diamond being stolen again, and Clouseau is convinced that suspected jewel thief the Phantom is behind it, which means Sir Charles Litton(Christopher Plummer taking over from David Niven) is the prime suspect, along with his beautiful wife(played by Catherine Schell, though oddly, despite the end of the original film, doesn't seem to be Clouseau's ex-wife?) Herbert Lom again plays Dreyfeuss, and is portrayed as being on the verge of insanity. Burt Kwouk plays Cato, still trying to combat his employer Clouseau! Funny film has lots of inspired scenes, as Clouseau's disguises start to become elaborate. Leads directly into "...Strikes Again!"

Peter Sellers and Blake Edwards' careers had stalled when the idea to do a new 'Pink Panther' was mooted. The last 'Clouseau' movie had been the ill-fated Alan Arkin version from 1968. It was not any old Clouseau audiences wanted, but Sellers. Both men agreed to put aside their creative differences and restore the original.'Return' begins in Lugash where the fabulous 'Pink Panther' diamond is stolen once more. The only clue is a white glove found at the scene of the crime, embroidered with the letter 'P'. The authorities call on the man who recovered it last time - Clouseau. The passing years have not been kind to our hero - he is pounding the beat as a gendarme. During an argument with a street musician ( John Bluthal ), Clouseau fails to notice a bank robbery is in progress behind his back. Worse, he helps the robbers get away.Chief Comissioner Dreyfus ( Herbert Lom ) is only too happy for Clouseau to go back to Lugash. It would appear that Sir Charles Lytton ( Christopher Plummer ) is up to his old tricks again. Now retired from crime and living in the South of France with his wife Claudine ( Catherine Schell ), he is concerned that someone is imitating him and decides to track down the real culprit...Forget the plot. It is nothing more than an excuse on which to peg the gags, and many are first rate. There are more laughs to be found here than in the original 'Pink Panther' ( which had too much of David Niven for my liking ) and the Arkin 'Clouseau'. I think I'm right in saying this film was the beginning of Clouseau's habit of mangling the French language. Not only do English people not understand him, but other French people do not either. When he asks Victor Spinetti's hotel clerk for a room, the man thinks he is asking for a 'rheum'.In addition to Sellers returning, we also get back Herbert Lom as the harassed 'Dreyfus', whose hatred of the detective is so great he keeps trying to kill him, and Burt Kwouk as 'Cato', the Chinese manservant who is under orders to attack his boss every chance he gets. 'Return' has one of the best Clouseau vs.Cato scenes, ending with the former trying to do a flying kung-fu leap and crashing through a door into his kitchen. Christopher Plummer replaces Niven as 'Sir Charles Lytton'. When we last saw him, he was with Clouseau's wife ( Capucine ). Catherine Schell's character is not the same woman. It would not be until 1981's 'Trail Of The Pink Panther' that the former 'Mrs.Clouseau' would be seen again. Graham Stark is back also, but as seedy crook 'Pepe', who keeps getting his fingers crushed.'Return' was a big success, paving the way for further sequels. It is not included on the box set though, due to it having been made by a different company. It has since been released separately.Funniest moment? For me its the bit where Clouseau enters the hotel, and a man requests politely he hand over his hat, coat and gloves. Thinking him to be a member of staff, the Inspector does this, and then watches dumbfounded as the man casually walks out of the foyer, gets into a car, waves, and drives off!

For some reason in the Pink Panther movies, this one has a particular turn that many of the latter ones don't; it's actually serious at points. If Sellers is in the scene, it is comedy, but if he isn't, then the movie takes on an entirely different tone. This may be because it is a thief movie which the follow on Pink Panther movies are not.This makes it more enjoyable to me since it is not one attempt after another at slapstick but rather, has a feel similar to "The Thief Who Came to Dinner" or "Topkapi". Henry Mancini's music, as when used in the former, gives the tension feel to the serious scenes. But tension has not much of a place in a comedy.Afterwards, the latter movies went to pure comedy, which is okay, but I hardly ever watch them. This is the movie that I return to time after time. Which may be what the point is, if not the crucial error in the series.This movie and the first movie do concern the title in that it is the diamond "The Pink Panther" which is the focal prop at the very least. All of the movies, of course, are about Clouseau ...... but not all the movies are about the diamond. While "The Pink Panther" is the trade mark of the series, it is really only in this movie and the first movie where the title has meaning with the film.