Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

FuzzyTagz If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

aramis-112-804880 Arguably the best move of both Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers, indisputably their best movie together--before Clouseau became sophomoric in the 1970s.Following hard on the heels of "The Pink Panther" (and the only Sellers/Clouseau film not bearing the "Pink Panther" imprimatur) "A Shot in the Dark" introduced several important elements in the Clouseau mythos: his superior, Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) with his slowly-burning repertoire of twitches; and his manservant Cato (Burt Kwouk, the only person on Earth Clouseau can beat in a fair fight, played on a more sinister note here). And, of course, Clouseau's mangled pronunciation, which was not too important to "PP." Oh, and don't forget Clouseau's penchant for disguise, one of this film's highlights.The story: Oh, something about murders taking place in the household of an uber-rich Frenchie, Ballon, played with remarkable aplomb by George Sanders, who is hilarious doing virtually nothing (we don't hear enough said about how, in a movie set in France, someone like Sanders can play a Frenchman, naturally, without an accent . . . but he can't understand a word Clouseau says). Frankly, the story is nothing but a clothesline to hang Clouseau's antics, and the fact that Sanders' Ballon keeps requesting that Clouseau be kept on the case is itself suspicious. In the end, the murder(s) become incredibly complex (though Clouseau can follow them!) yet virtually unimportant apart from a way to move the plot inexorably forward.Sellers plays Clouseau like a virtuoso on a violin. In "The Pink Panther" Clouseau was a disappointed, fumbling little policeman trapped in a marriage whose unhappiness he closed his eyes to. Sellers was always at his best at a role where he could interject a humorous twist, but he climbed comedy Olympus when he had a humorous role he could tinge with a character's personal sadness, which that character himself refused to admit. This characteristic is vital to Clouseau here. Take this exchange:"Maria Gambrelli: You should get out of these clothes immediately! You'll catch your death of pneumonia! Clouseau: Yes, I suppose I probably will. But it's all part of life's rich pageant."Edwards sometimes lets things get too chaotic. See, for instance, near the start of "What Did You Do in the War, Daddy" or the end of "The Great Race." Here, Edwards keeps everyone on a taut line--sometimes difficult with Sellers, if his biographers are to be believed.Edwards also had the sense to surround Sellers with masterful underplayers. Herbert Lom's Dreyfus can be no less wacky in his way than Clouseau is in his, but he has a wonderful way of using a normal voice to deliver lines like, "I've just cut off my thumb." And one can't overpraise George Sanders. Ironically one of Sellers' own role models in developing a super-suave character for his BBC Radio "Goon Show", Sanders can steal a scene just by silently watching Clouseau destroy a room in his home. It's only later you wonder "Why didn't he try to stop him?"This is not to say Sellers is too much. He ventures near, but never goes over, the top. Sellers has been called the finest physical comedian since the silent days (I think I called him that). He quietly goes about the business of destruction, wreaking even more damage when be believes his ravages can be fixed or hidden. He's even funny when he's cruel, for instance when he breaks his "pointer" and then blames it on his assistant. Yet a few things detract from "A Shot in the Dark" in the twenty-first century. For instance, from Edwards' amazingly long opening shots, the movie moves at a slower pace than comedies we're used to these days. This was years before "Airplane!" or the Farrelly Bros. In the 1960s comedies could unfurl gradually. It's not a "pie in the face" comedy (but that didn't really work in "The Great Race", did it?) Then, there's . . . Elke Sommer. She was a very popular actress in the 1960s and made lots of comedies. She was extremely pretty, and I admit as an adolescent I only tuned into this movie because commercial previews showed Sommer running around in a nudist camp (you can't see anything you wouldn't see on a beach, and probably less then than you can see on a beach today). The camera loves Sommer and she delivers comedy lines better than lots of actresses chosen for their attractiveness. But her genuine German accent is sometimes as bizarre as Sellers' pidgin French. Still, she livens every scene she's in, and that's why she's here. As with George Sanders' stillness in watching Clouseau devastate his home, we don't question the weirdness of the German maid's very existence until afterward.The original "Pink Panther" introduced two great comic icons, Inspector Clouseau and the cartoon Pink Panther himself. "A Shot in the Dark" has a cartoon credit sequence, not using the Pink Panther but a Sellers-like character who became "The Inspector" in his own cartoon series attached to "The Pink Panther"--who, with the Pink Panther, became indispensable to future cartoon-credit sequences in the sequels. I grew up watching this movie on television repeats and have a fondness for it from an early age, before Clouseau became a franchise, that has not faded now I can revisit the whole thing on uncut on widescreen by the miracle of DVD, probably looking fresher than it did in the theaters. It's slowness doesn't bother me. But then, I also enjoy watching Keaton and Lloyd slowly build their silent movie bits. I don't judge comedy by its slowness to build, but by its payoff. Here, it all works."A Shot in the Dark" is one of the best comedies ever made, ranking with, say, "The Producers." But because of modern comedy expectations it hasn't worn as well as Mel Brooks' 1967 masterpiece (for which Brooks sought Sellers at one point). And for Sellers, Clouseau was a blessing and a curse. If Sellers felt trapped by Clouseau, it was a snare of his own invention. His Clouseau (not Alan Arkin's or Steve Martin's) is the slapstick icon, and he made it that way by his own amazing, much-missed physical and vocal talents. A few years after "A Shot in the Dark" Sellers nearly ego-tripped himself out of his career by his off-screen antics on "Casino Royale." After a handful of rotten movies he was saved from film oblivion and the comedy gutter by . . . Clouseau, with Edwards' "Return of the Pink Panther." After that until his final film (well, we Sellers fans all blind ourselves to "The Fiendish Plot of Dr. Fu Manchu" and pretend it was "Being There"), Sellers remained a star until his death.An odd star. A character-actor star. But he was recognized as being at the head of his profession.Reportedly, Sellers and Edwards had a rocky relationship. Yet the rocks sparked when they worked together. And while this is their most tightly controlled mutual comedy, it's also their apotheosis. Of the big comedies of the 1960s, this one has more laughs per capita than "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World." Nevertheless, it's like a wine that should be sipped and savored rather than guzzled. The laughs come when they come . . . yet they do come, and they're worth the wait.

jimbo-53-186511 When millionaire Benjamin Ballon's (George Sanders) chauffeur is murdered in his own home Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is assigned to the case. But will France's most inept detective be able to find out the identity of the killer?I watched the original Pink Panther film a couple of years ago and I hated it with a passion (I found it lazy, unfunny and dull). I watched this sequel (with some trepidation) as I remember reading some reviews where others had advised that the sequel was the better of the 2 films and I have to admit that I agree with those people...In fairness, the sequel does share some problems as the first film (there are some rather obvious and lazy sight gags that aren't particularly funny and that don't really work). However, unlike the first film I did feel that this film wasn't entirely reliant on sight gags - the script is better than the first film and the story is more engaging - it has a gentle playfulness about it which made it fairly enjoyable to watch. There were also moments in this film that genuinely had me laughing such as when Clouseau attempts to bash a door down but someone opens it resulting in him running right through the room and falling out of the window and crashing into a swimming pool below him or the numerous times his failed disguises ended up getting him unintentionally arrested. Aside from not all of the sight gags working the film does have some other weaknesses; the set-up at the start was a little long and perhaps could have been trimmed slightly. The scenes where Cato was attacking Clouseau weren't all that funny and seemed to be randomly thrown in here and there for no particular reason. It was a good idea giving Clouseau a sidekick, but as Hercule I felt that Graham Stark underplayed the role far too much (almost to the point where his contribution is barely memorable). I don't blame him for this, but feel that Blake Edwards perhaps allowed Sellers to be too dominant meaning that Stark and Sellers were never able to develop much in the way of workable chemistry.Still faults aside this is still a fairly enjoyable effort and is a huge improvement on the first film. Oh yes and the opening credits were also imaginative and fairly amusing.

Eric Stevenson I saw the original Pink Panther movie and I liked it, but didn't think it was the masterpiece like a lot of people thought it was. Well, this is considered to be even better and I certainly agree! I'm not the biggest Inspector Closeau fan, but this was a lot of fun. It helps that we escalate the slapstick and everything just keeps on going. I guess the best part is that Closeau plays it straight. Well, he at least tries to play it straight. The other characters are much more intellectual and do a better job playing it straight. It's great to see him be confronted by everyone else.Can I just say that the opening animated credits were some of the best I've ever seen? I'm surprised they didn't have, well, the Pink Panther in them. It does get a little slow in the middle, but it all pays off in the end. I realize that I'm not much of a fan of murder mysteries, but what better way than to do a parody of them? Many people do consider this the best in the whole series and of the numerous I have seen, I agree with them. It helps that Peter Sellers as Closeau is so funny. I knew the name Kato was a shout out to the Green Hornet. ***1/2

Brian T. Whitlock (GOWBTW) Here we go again! Inspector Jacques Clouseau(Peter Sellers) is on the case. This time, it's not the Pink Panther diamond. He on a murder case in a mansion. People have been going in and out of rooms there. Then suddenly, shots ring out, and everyone is a suspect. The main suspect is the chauffeur's lover (Elke Sommer)who had an affair with the decedent. Clouseau's boss (Herbert Lom) has taken him off the case so many times, that he gets him reinstated again. Despite being inept, Clouseau seems to be persistent on finding out more about the crime. Then there's the scene where Clouseau goes to a nudist colony to find a dead body, and a hilarious scene where he and the maid get out only to be arrested in the city for indecent exposure. Back in the mansion, everyone is a suspect. No one is innocent of indiscretion. But none of them is the killer. The victim is Clouseau. The killer, his own boss, Dreyfuss! That's sad that your own boss wants to get rid of your, seriously! Funny is the to describe it. Instead of finding a jewel thief, it's a mystery of finding out who done it. Everything is good in this film. 5 stars