Customer Reviews

The Pink Panther Film Collection (The Pink Panther / A Shot in the Dark / Strikes Again / Revenge of / Trail of the Pink Panther)

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(41)
3 star:		(14)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Having been a fan of "The Pink Panther" series from childhood, I was ecstatic that this set was being released, as the films are otherwise out of print on DVD (although luckily I still have my trusty VHS copies in reserve). I am tempted to give the set five stars simply because it is a wonderful day to see these films back in print, but realistically I had to take it down a notch as there a couple of negative considerations, the most obvious of which, of course, is the absence of "Return of the Pink Panther" from the collection, ostensibly because of legal hang-ups. Whatever the cause, the absence of the first of the 1970s-era "Panthers" is sorely missed. The other minor negative is the relative absence of special features on the movie DVDs, although the original "Pink Panther" has a wonderful trivia track. I would have really loved commentary tracks with Blake Edwards and some of the actors. I am somewhat ambivalent on the extremely unusual packaging the set comes in. It is hard to adequately describe the case, but suffice it to say that removing half of the DVDs is annoyingly difficult, although it looks very stylish.

On the positive end, you get four great "Panther" movies and the bodged-together "Trail of the Pink Panther", plus a disk of extras. Some people have dismissed the extras disk as inconsequential, but I rather enjoyed it. I particularly liked the documentary "The Pink Panther Story" which was heavy on interviews and insight. I had no idea that Sellers hated "A Shot in the Dark", whereas I (and many others) think it is a perfect movie in every way. I knew that Sellers could be somewhat Mercurial to work with, but I had no idea, for instance, that he had certain colors that he would not tolerate around him, and in fact made the producers of one of the movies once repaint a train because he couldn't stand the color! Also on the disk is a documentary about the animated Panther, which is quite interesting, as well as several of the short subject cartoons, which seem selected at random. They did include the Oscar winning "Pink Phink", the first cartoon short of the Pink Panther, which was an excellent choice. "Psychedelic Pink" included an annoying laugh track, and "Pinkfinger" was one of the weaker of the cartoons, which I have great recollection of from childhood. Interestingly enough, there are two related subject cartoons, one each of the Ant and the Aardvark, and The Inspector (in a fairly weak episode) to round out the extra disk.

This is a great set overall, with just a couple of things bringing it down to a four rating. I recommend it to all "Panther" fans everywhere, and to anyone who loves to laugh.

This is a great collection but there is a big problem, it did not include the best film of the series, "The Return of the Pink Panther (1974)", with this film the collection would have been "Perfect"

I was very excited when I heard they were releasing a Pink Panther collection on DVD. So much so that I held off on buying any of the currently available individual DVD titles. The day the set arrived I raced home to watch... and disappointment struck.

In the first place, the set does NOT contain RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER; one of the best/funniest in the series (in my opinion). I now understand this was because of legal/copyright issues, but still a major disappointment. If you buy this set, you will need to go out and purchase Return separately to have all the Sellers' renditions of the film.

Secondly, the other (non-Sellers) films in the series are not included. I wasn't too disappointed about this because Peter Sellers is, in my opinion, what made the Pink Panther series so great, but the other films are pretty decent as well (and this is supposed to be a Pink Panther collection, not necessarily a Peter Sellers collection). Son of the Pink Panther was a box office dud, but one of my personal favorite non-Sellers' Clouseau movies. Roberto Benigni, who played Clouseau's son was just great! And the movie, in general, had the feel of one of the older Panther films. It also featured the brilliant Herbert Lom (Chief Inspector Dreyfus) and Burt Kwouk (Cato Fong); both a pleasant surprise! Curse of the Pink Panther is also not included in this set, which had a brilliant soundtrack.

Thirdly, the extra features are duds! And there's only slight mention in the commentary of Alan Arkin's film, Inspector Clouseau, and absolutely no mention of Steve Martin's upcoming rendition.

I think a nice added feature would have been to maybe include a new soundtrack featuring music not included on previously released soundtracks of the films (along with the classics). For example, none of the previous soundtracks include the spectacular song Meglio Stasera, sung by the beautiful Fran Jeffries in the first film. And some of the great music from Shot In The Dark that was never included on albums. It would have been nice to have all these.

But, we are left with only a mediocre collection of Pink Panther movies and no real advantage over buying the titles separately, except that you might save a buck or two.

I give this package 3 generous stars since it's not an ideal package and could have been MUCH better. But, it's still the Pink Panther and the DVD's are very good quality. Definitely an upgrade from the VHS copies. It comes in a very attractive, well-protected package and does include a few extra features. So, it's not bad, but certainly not perfect. Fans will be disappointed that Return of the Pink Panther is not included and none of the non-Sellers Panther movies are included either, so it's not a complete set by any means. Perhaps one day the movie studios will work out their differences and create a new (deluxe) Panther collection with ALL the movies and some better extras. For example, I know there are outtakes from the films (I've seen them on TV Bloopers shows). Those would have been a nice addition to the DVD's. For now, it's all we've got and it's not too terrible. 3 Stars. Enjoy! :)

NOTE: See my review concerning the first Pink Panther movie too on Amazon.com

MOVIES: Within this collection are some of the funniest movies ever conceived by man. Not only did these movies spawn off the Oscar winning cartoon that is known worldwide and is still being shown on Cartoon Network today, it also created a model for new generation "screwball" comedy (well in 1964) that can be seen in films today. Characters such as Harry and Marv from the first two Home Alone films follow this formula. The characters Leslie Nielson plays in almost all of his satires are all modeled after Peter Seller's Inspector Clouseau. This character is so perfectly crafted that it will have you rolling around in laughter. Peter Sellers is a legend of comedy, a brilliant comedic actor. The way this character is, is that he is the most clumsiest, reckless, and graceless person there is and he always tries to recover from everything he does by acting serious about it. The collection includes all films except for The Return of the Pink Panther, Curse of the Pink Panther, and Son of the Pink Panther. Return of the Pink Panther should be there but is owned by another distributor, Curse of the Pink Panther really has nothing to do with the series since it does not star Peter Sellers, and Son of the Pink Panther was an abysmal. These classic films are the funniest you will ever see, if you have never seen them I highly suggest this collection. The title "Pink Panther" was never intended as a cartoon but actually was referring to the diamond in which the bumbling inspector was to find because within the diamond there was a minor flaw that resembled the shape of a panther and the diamond had a pink hue so that's how it fits together. So, all in all every collection should have this sitting on the shelf for you will never see a better comedic performance in past, present, or future.

VIDEO: WOW! That's all I can say. I am shocked at how crisp these transfers are. I have recent movies that don't look as good as these do, they really cleaned up the print from the original 1964 reel, and same for the other four films. Anyway, the film is in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio as well. I have to say though the picture was impressive for a film 40 years old (referring to the first one).

AUDIO: Another wow in this department. You'll get a 5.1 surround mix that is excellent for these classic films. The audio does not sound degraded or present any loss of quality. Very good

PACKAGING / EXTRAS: The case comes in cardboard slip case. Once taken out you'll have fun with the squishy plastic/foam digipak that resembles a book. When the digipak unfolds the discs are aranged in three sepreate segments in a very creative way yet with one minor flaw. The discs overlap eachother, two per segment. And even though they look mighty cool all set in place this is where the flaw is. Discs 2, 4, and 6 are overlapped by 1, 3, and 5. So if you need to get to those even numbered discs then you need to pop out the odd numbered one on top of it. As goes for extras we get a nice collection of original Pink Panther cartoons (4 to be exact), and two others. One that has nothing to do with the Pink Panther (it's just released by the same people whi created the original toons), and then one modeled after the actual character of Inspector Clouseau. There is also a 10 minute featurette explaining the phenomenon of these cartoons. Then we have a documentary titled "The Pink Panther Story". Each film also contains their original theatrical trailers on their own discs (not on the bonus disc), and each film has a photo gallery, and The Pink Panther has a commentary track. A limited number of extras plauge the set slightly, but not enough to hurt the quality of the set overall. One of the best collections to come out of MGM in a while.

Finally us Pink Panther fans are getting what we have wanted. Its just a shame that 'The Return of the Pink Panther' was not included. All in all it is great to have it in a collectors box set with special features. For the first time 'The Trail of the Pink Panther' has been released on DVD which I am looking forward to since I saw it on TV. What would really be great and us fans should ask for it is a box set with all eight films:
"The Pink Panther" (1963)
"A Shot in the Dark" (1963)
"The Return of the Pink Panther" (1974)
"The Pink Panther Strikes Again" (1976)
"Revenge of the Pink Panther" (1978)
"The Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982)
"The Curse of the Pink Panther" (1983)
"Son of the Pink Panther" (1993)
Then we all would truly be 100% happy. But this will do. This is a must have DVD set!

We've been waiting for this box set to come out for years, and finally, someone took the trouble to clean up the beloved Pink Panther movies for this "special edition" release, and they look great.

Otherwise, however, these DVDs are a huge "beum" (bomb). The sound is subpar (in many scenes in Revenge, for example, only the center dialogue speaker has any sound, and all dialog is mixed way too quietly). But the sound is a revelation compared to the extras--these are a joke! Where are all the legendary outtakes? Where are the interviews with Herbert Lom (who is nearly as much of a star of these movies (all but the first) as Peter Sellers)? Where are interviews and movie commentaries from the other actors, all of whom could have provided scores of Sellers anecdotes? And where are all the extras included in the British edition, including an excellent documentary on Peter Sellers?

Instead we get one 20-minute documentary that focuses almost exclusively on the first Pink Panther (the "black sheep" of the family, if only because it is so unlike all the other movies), spends 5 minutes on A Shot in the Dark, and then essentially skips the films from the 70s. Was MGM forbidden from even mentioning "Return?" It appears so. And it would have been nice to see at least a few clips from "Inspector Clouseau" with Alan Arkin, if only for the sake of comparison.

The only other extras all relate to the Pink Panther cartoons, but frankly, who cares about these? (They should get their own DVD, or none at all.) I can't imagine why this dearth of extras required a separate DVD.

Very poorly done, MGM. These movies deserve much, much better. Hopefully the distributor that owns "Return" will reissue that movie with a two-disc special edition that includes the kind of extras this box set should have included.

I'll stick to buying seperately the 5 classic Panther films done by Peter Sellers while he was ALIVE:

1. The Pink Panther (1964)
2. A Shot In The Dark (1964)
3. Return Of The Pink Panther (1975)
4. The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
5. Revenge Of The Pink Panther (1978)

Don't want to see Al Arkin, Rob Bennini, Geoff Rush, Steve Martin or anyone else trying to PRETEND to be Sellers. Nobody else will EVER cut it, period.

Thanks but no thanks? Qui!

On the movie timeline our younger generation (ages 10-12)have missed out on some of the best movies due to being born too late and the increase of film technology which nowdays can do anything on the screen. The young expect this even more with digital.That is why older films must be restored, maintained and available. To keep it simple and still get your emotions unleashed. So it was refreshing to have my 11 yo son experience the "Return of the Pink Panther" as his first "pink" film. He never laughed so hard and never seen such concepts, even from all the kid movies he had previously watched. From the surprising/hiding Kato to the heavy accented words ("That's what I said.")and all the stumbling around Sellers did. We discovered the dvd ...in a big bin of older movies.(This group set will be an anticipated addition at my house.)In fact my son can't wait to see all of them. We even tried to rent them at Blockbusters but of course older movies are never carried to make room for newer ones. There are movies out there which will instill clean simple comedy for the younger generation.

"I kneau that!"

Can't get enough Clouseau! My brother and I have been working his dialogue (and accent) into everyday conversations for years and it NEVER gets old.

Glad to have these out on DVD, wish the extras were better. Of note is TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER, which is the both the best and the worst of them all. The best parts of TRAIL OF are the Sellers bits that were edited out of the other releases. Everything non-Sellers in the movie is the worst. Also, there are a few notable scenes where a painfully obvious double is used for Sellers, both physically and speaking-wise. The actor portraying Clouseau in the walking the dog scene where he trips over the leash isn't even remotely built like Sellers, and his weak karate chop reaction is just embarassing. There's also the bad and totally obviously poor mimicking of Clouseau-ese in such lines as "To the airport my good man, and ride like the wind!" followed by "I knew that, I knew that." Pathetic.

Classic Sellers moments from TRAIL OF include the "Andre Bordeau, Mustard Salesman from Dijon" disguise ploy and the extended/alternate version of Clouseau's spilled groceries gag from STRIKES AGAIN where he gets his nuts whacked by the elevator's folding metal door ("AAAAAHH!") and sings while shufflin' around in the spilled rice "I'm daaaaahnn-cing in the raaiennnn, vhat a vonderful feeeee-leing, I'm haaaaapy in the raaiennnn..." Also notable is the driving to the airport "peaup out lighter" scene and, perhaps best of all, the closing credits which is a full montage of many of his best moments from all the Pink Panther films.

Steve Martin's updated version of Clouseau is reportedly pretty terrible, but Geoffrey Rush is getting rave reviews in his take on Clouseau (the pics of him in makeup are brilliant) in LIFE AND DEATH OF PETER SELLERS. Guess which one I can't wait to see?

"Fortunately for me there was sufficient air left in my heaump to keep me afleaut until the rescque."

"The Pink Panther" is arguably the greatest comedy/detective series in the history of cinema. Buttressed by the uncanny comedic performance of the irreplaceable Peter Sellers, the series follows a misguided, thoroughly confused bubble-head of a detective, Inspector Clueseau, on his many globe trotting adventures to solve a series of crimes; beginning in the first film with a hot diamond, a wealthy princess and a femme fatale - who just happens to be Clueseau's wife! Each of the subsequent films rely more heavily on Seller's ability to carry the whole show and for the first four installments he does just that - brilliantly!
TRANSFER: This five disc is what Seller's fans have been waiting for. Each film has been remastered for 16:9 widescreen televisions. The first two films: "The Pink Panther" and "A Shot In The Dark" look glorious. Colors are rich, vibrant and bold. Contrast and black levels are right on. There is a hint of pixelization and some minor shimmering but nothing compared to the previously issued discs. The audio for these films has been cleaned up and remastered to 5.1 surround. Mancini's music is the benefactor. The remaining three films in the series are a mixed bag of quality. While "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" is relatively free of age related artifacts (but rather heavy on the side of digital imperfections), "Revenge..." and "Trail of..." are the opposite. In both cases the picture elements have retained a considerable amount of their vintage luster with a rich color scheme and well balanced blacks and contrast levels. The audio on these films too is 5.1.
EXTRAS: A really intense "Behind the scenes" on the first film and a gallery of vintage cartoon shorts featuring the fuzzy feline in all his slapstick glory. Aside: The awkward packaging is really NOT user friendly. Discs may pop out unexpectedly or refuse to pop back into place afterward. Also, there is NO listing of chapters to follow without accessing the menu option on each disc! Small concerns, but concerns nevertheless.
BOTTOM LINE: The comedy is vintage. The transfer are stunning. Sellers is anything if not a consumate talent! Meow...I mean, yes!