Having seen this as a kid in a double bill with "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" (back to back in chronological order), this one tends to escape me as to my original feelings towards it. I'm sure I laughed at much of it, but 42 years later, it is the "Strikes Again" entry in the series that I have watched over and over and find something to laugh at every time. I know I've seen this at least once on TV since that original viewing, so having re-visited it was like watching it for the first time. Of course, I remember the basic plot line: the valuable pink panther diamond is stolen once again and much to the frustration of Chief Inspector Dreyfus (the hysterical Herbert Lom), Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers back in the role after a brief replacement by Alan Arkin) is assigned the case to find the crook. In his very first scene, Clouseau is distracted by a robbery happening by a blind accordion player and his pet chimp, and thus brings on the frustration of Dreyfus who can't understand why his superiors won't allow him to fire the klutzy Clouseau. Certain that the original diamond thief Sir Charles Litton (Christopher Plummer) is at it again, Clouseau sets out to follow his every move, making idiotic slip-ups at every turn to the amusement of Litton's sex kitten wife (Catherine Schell). Every report of Clouseau's inept attempts to trap Litton continue to drive Dreyfus further down the road of insanity, especially after he accidentally shoots off his own nose after an encounter with Clouseau. Soon, Clouseau not only has to worry about the dangers in his search for the diamond thief, but the murderous attempts on his life by his own boss, as well as random attacks by his "good yellow friend" Kato.
Yes, the Asian/yellow reference is there for all to either laugh at or be offended by, as pre-p.c. society still had a long way to go in its education on offending other races through old fashioned stereotypes. If you can get past the offense on that, you can laugh at the silliness of it all, as well as predict every move that Clouseau will make and how everything will turn out for him. For example, his fight with a non-stop ringing doorbell ends up with him destroying it, as does his attempts to bug a phone and his attempts to find the missing diamond in Schell's hotel suite. A parrot, an overly powered vacuum cleaner, a lightbulb that pops in and out of its socket and causes Clouseau to become a source of electricity, two trucks that end up as flotation devices in a country club pool and even Dreyfus's cigarette lighter gun show how prop heavy the gags of this film are. It's typical Blake Edwards farce, as he seemed to believe in repeating the same gag over and over in each film, just like Mel Brooks would do with certain lines he kept using in each of his films.
Unfortunately, Sellers and Plummer do not share any scenes here, and Schell is simply there to provide some physical beauty for Sellers to ogle. You just know what's going to happen when Sellers sits on the side of a pool watching all the bathing beauties walk by, but even when it does happen, you can't help but laugh. I don't think this is an extremely funny film by any means, and at some points, I think it becomes a little slow and ends up being about 15 minutes overlong. But Sellers' comic genius is evident, and Lom is an outstanding straight man, getting loonier and loonier as each incident drives him to the breaking point. He never really got his due for his fine work in the "Pink Panther" series, having been trained more as a dramatic character actor who lucked out in getting cast as Dreyfus. Lom reminds me of an older version of Sir Anthony Hopkins who could do pretty much everything. Without Lom, Clouseau wouldn't have his achilles heel, just like without Margaret Dumont, Groucho wouldn't have had his either.
Yes, the Asian/yellow reference is there for all to either laugh at or be offended by, as pre-p.c. society still had a long way to go in its education on offending other races through old fashioned stereotypes. If you can get past the offense on that, you can laugh at the silliness of it all, as well as predict every move that Clouseau will make and how everything will turn out for him. For example, his fight with a non-stop ringing doorbell ends up with him destroying it, as does his attempts to bug a phone and his attempts to find the missing diamond in Schell's hotel suite. A parrot, an overly powered vacuum cleaner, a lightbulb that pops in and out of its socket and causes Clouseau to become a source of electricity, two trucks that end up as flotation devices in a country club pool and even Dreyfus's cigarette lighter gun show how prop heavy the gags of this film are. It's typical Blake Edwards farce, as he seemed to believe in repeating the same gag over and over in each film, just like Mel Brooks would do with certain lines he kept using in each of his films.
Unfortunately, Sellers and Plummer do not share any scenes here, and Schell is simply there to provide some physical beauty for Sellers to ogle. You just know what's going to happen when Sellers sits on the side of a pool watching all the bathing beauties walk by, but even when it does happen, you can't help but laugh. I don't think this is an extremely funny film by any means, and at some points, I think it becomes a little slow and ends up being about 15 minutes overlong. But Sellers' comic genius is evident, and Lom is an outstanding straight man, getting loonier and loonier as each incident drives him to the breaking point. He never really got his due for his fine work in the "Pink Panther" series, having been trained more as a dramatic character actor who lucked out in getting cast as Dreyfus. Lom reminds me of an older version of Sir Anthony Hopkins who could do pretty much everything. Without Lom, Clouseau wouldn't have his achilles heel, just like without Margaret Dumont, Groucho wouldn't have had his either.