Customer Reviews

The Trail of the Pink Panther (Widescreen Edition) [VHS]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I'm not sure if anybody will ever determine the real motives behind Trail of the Pink Panther (is it a cash cow or a tribute to Peter Sellers?) but there's definitely no denying that this is a weird, daft mess of a movie.

As is well-known, Blake Edwards managed to fake the appearance of his late star by taking a batch of Sellers/Clouseau footage that was left on the cutting room floor and matching these together with new scenes. This is obviously a bad idea and it shows; the first 45 mintues is a jumbled hash but I did like some of the indivdual Clouseau bits during this time. If you don't mind the mess, the first half should be enjoyable. However at some point, Edwards ran out of useful deleted material so he has Clouseau "vanish" and the rest of the movie acts as a Sellers tribute. Marie Jouvet, a reporter trying to figure out where Clouseau might be, interviews characters from earlier movies and these interviews bits are used to spolight Clouseau scenes from these movies. The tribute half is not that interesting to be honest and leads nowhere. Joanna Lumley isn't a very good leading actress and this doesn't help matters. In a real bizzare twist, David Niven, playing Sir Charles Litton again, was terminally ill when he did his scenes and couldn't speak well. His voice is dubbed but the voiceover sounds nothing like Niven at all.

I wouldn't recommend Trail unless you're a die-hard Sellers fan. If that's you, just watch the first half for the Clouseau bits and then shut off the tape when Clouseau vanishes.

Darkhorse86

Way back before DVD's made deleted scenes and outtakes must-see experiences for many, Blake Edwards patched together a "new" Panther film from scenes left over from previous films. These scenes would have been great extras on DVDs for other Panther movies. Some of them are quite funny in an outtake kind of way. However, there's no way that this patchwork constitutes a real movie. And the half-hearted attempt at making this a "tribute" to Sellers in the credits comes across as exceptionally false when one considers that Edwards continued to make two dreadful Panther films without Sellers.

Some people have entertained this as a tribute to Peter Sellers, and I don't want to judge the motives of Blake Edwards and crew, but for the record I am highly suspect when it is asserted that this wasn't a quick money grab.

The first part of the film is a rehash of some scenes from earlier "Panther" movies and outtakes cleverly edited to try to resemble a story. The truth be told, there are some individually hilarious clips in the first half, which is why I gave the film two stars.

Hands down the best scene in the movie involves a nightmare that Herbert Lom has regarding a birthday present from Clouseau, and his attempts to swim in it. In fact, the only truly great moments in the film all star Lom, the most gifted of any of the "Panther" co-stars. I was also amused that the name of Hercule's (Seller's friend and regular of the series, Graham Stark) boat was "The Moth", of course pronounced "Muuuth" as homage to Sellers.

The second half (after Clouseau's plane disappears...) is devoted to annoyingly self-important reporter Marie Jouvet, played by the pretty but untalented Joanna Lumley, looking for clues about Clouseau's disappearance. She takes the opportunity to interview Dreyfus and Cato, and as well as Sir Charles and Lady Litton (David Niven and the late Capucine, who, the back story reveals are now married), and most embarrassingly of all Clouseau's "father" and nanny. The scene with Clouseau, Senior and "Nanna" is utterly painful to watch and is nothing but a bad caricature of Sellers. The childhood flashbacks which follow are even more wretched, particularly the dismal "Good, Bad, and the Ugly" parody of Clint Eastwood with a cap gun. Finally, to add insult to injury, the friendly reporter tangles with the mafia in a pointless plot cul-de-sac and fights with Cato, in what may have been the worst single idea in an otherwise artistically bankrupt movie.

This film is now available as part of the "Pink Panther" DVD set, so I would watch it if only for Dreyfus in the Jell-O, but I wouldn't seek it out.

Trail of the Pink Panther is a very misunderstood movie.It has been slashed by both critics and viewers as one of the worst comedies of all time, being nothing but a collection of previously unseen footage of old Panther movies, and regular characters talking about Inspector Clouseau,from Commissioner Dreyfuss,the faithful Cato,to even the ex Mrs Clouseau!Surely if this film is watched on its own, without being a fan of the Panther series then it will not only be a disappointing but empty,weak and plotless. But first and foremost this film is an ode to one of the greatest giants of comedy, Peter Sellers, done after his untimely death, even though it might look like the film makers were also cashing in on the Clouseau name, to try to milk every dollar of this franchise after its hero's demise.But nonetheless, there is no doubt that it is a tribute as well..a thank you note on celluloid, you can feel it when Herbet Lom or Burt Kwouk remember Clouseau in the film, it is also a personal remembrance from them to Sellers. Trail of Pink Panther should be seen more as maybe an extra bonus material/deleted scenes or special features(using DVD language), and it will be looked at and judged differently.Watching all the Panther series and all the joy that Sellers and Edwards have provided us over the years is similar to a delicious complete meal with dessert, but then the temptation to have a small piece of chocolate afterwards will not go amiss. Trail of Pink Panther is exactly like this piece of chocolate, you've had your fill but there remains a very small place still for it.
If you have not seen any or some of Panther series, then by all means do not watch Trail of Pink Panther, but if you are a fan of Sellers and Clouseau then this film should complete your collection, a personal tribute from you to that genuis of an actor.

The Trail of the Pink Panther is, yes, a bit of a jumbled mess. However, the one substantial redeeming quality about the film (which gives it a rating of "3") is the oppurtunity for the viewer to catch a glimpse of what "The Pink Panther Strikes Again" produced six years prior, might have really looked like before the film editors or possibly Blake Edwards himself, got to it. 80% of the scenes with Peter Sellers in this movie were originally intended for "Strikes", or so I've been told, and if the audience member does a little "cut and paste" footwork, s/he can determine the exact location in "Strikes" where MOST (but not all) of the Sellers sequences in "Trail" occur. Some of them are hilarious - the long scene with Harvey Korman for example ("...and I want THAT nose") - or the bit about the "mess-aaage". Others are long and tedious to sit through.

I suppose that if someone were really interested and possessed two video taping machines, one could make a copy of the REAL "Strikes Again" by lifting scenes from "Trail" and placing them where they were meant to belong in "Strikes"!!! Someone recently informed me that the original plot for "The PP Strikes Again" included the theft of the diamond, which would account for the other Sellers scenes in this one which make reference to the famous Diamond.

The second half is rather boring, but there are some humorous comments made by the aging characters.

The end sequence during the closing credits is the best collection of Clouseau scenes probably ever assembled in one place.

When Peter Sellers died in 1980, "The Pink Panther" series died with him. Unfortunately, director Blake Edwards thought otherwise and, in a ghoulish enterprise, tried to fashion a new "Panther" movie with Sellers' outtakes. It doesn't work. The outtakes are OK, but they would have succeeded better in a Sellers anthology or documentary. By the halfway mark, Edwards runs out of Sellers material and the film's contrived narrative comes to an abrupt halt. "Trail of the Pink Panther" is ultimate proof that you cannot resurrect a corpse from the cutting-room floor. It's interesting to note that Sellers' widow sued MGM/UA for this artistic desecration of her husband's comic legacy - and won.

Make no mistake, I am a Peter Sellers fan and I enjoy his Clouseau character in particular, but this entry was a real letdown. It did have some amusing moments but overall, I simply didn't appreciate The Trail of the Pink Panther. One of the silliest things about this movie is that there is no plot; the Pink Panther is stolen, Clouseau is sent to find it and goes missing. After that both him and the diamond are forgotten and all we see after that is a bunch of interviews with people who knew Clouseau. Aside from that, the old footage is, for the most part, not particularly funny. The only outtakes I laughed aloud at were a few from The Pink Panther Strikes Again. Blake Edwards should have waved the white flag after this movie but instead he goes on to make 2 more Panthers. It's too bad that Peter Sellers last appearance in the Pink Panther series was such a poor film. Stick with the original five films only. Forget this episode, as well as the next 2 movies and the Inspector Clouseau movie. They aren't worth your time.

Critics hated this movie and called it a cheap moneymaking ploy. They also said it was offensive to Peter Sellers fans. Well, I'm a Peter Sellers fan and I consider this a superb and timely tribute to a master comedian. I don't find it even remotely offensive nor do I think it's a cheap moneymaking ploy. Director Blake Edwards says goodbye to his favorite star with some interesting out-takes and recollections of Clouseau from Pink Panther stars in character. Some of the later scenes could have been better, and Joanna Lumleys' terrible French accent could be considered a cause of offense! Nevertheless, this deserves to be in any Peter Sellers video collection. The last of the really funny Pink panther movies.

The problem with many long-running series is that after a few entries everything seems like old material. In "Trail of the Pink Panther", it literally is.

Director Blake Edwards attempts to make one more Peter Sellers Inspector Clouseau movie, despite the fact that Peter Sellers died before the movie began filming. To accomplish his goal, Edwards weaves deleted scenes from previous Pink Panther films with newly filmed "plot" scenes to try to create a coherent story about Clouseau picking up the trail of the Pink Panther diamond one more time.

Halfway through the movie, Clouseau is conveniently declared missing, and a nosy reporter investigates Clouseau's life. She tracks down characters from the series and gets them to tell their stories about Clouseau, providing a clothesline to hang highlight clips from previous films on.

It's easy for anyone who's seen the other films to tell where the archive footage, even the deleted scenes, come from. All of this adds together to create an uneasy feeling of déjà vu for the viewer.

There are some original scenes in which the reporter interviews Clouseau's father, leading into some interesting (and funny) flashbacks to Clouseau's childhood. Even this, however, fails to take away from the feeling of watching the kind of "clip show" common in long-running TV shows. And when a TV show does a "clip show" episode, it's either a finale or the show's jumped the shark. (Think of the final episode of "Seinfeld." This entire movie is the Pink Panther equivalent.)

While the movie could be a good overview or introduction to the series, it's simply not as enjoyable as watching the individual movies themselves and seeing the jokes in their proper context. Even the new or previously unreleased material pales in comparison to that of the earlier movies. And while a "Best of" disc is something of an enjoyable novelty, it's understandable that this movie flopped. I can't fathom why anyone would pay money to see it in theaters.

Not to say that this movie doesn't have its place. For Pink Panther completists, this movie is like a bonus DVD. But like most DVD bonus features, this movie isn't one that will be watched often. For anyone other than completists, this movie is definitely skippable.

this is a compilation of all the pink panther movies as a reporter goes around asking clouseau's friends/enemies things about him. all the footage of peter sellers is from previous movies. it is basically a tribute to peter sellers movie, if your expecting a "new" peter sellers movie you will be very disapointed. overall it wasnt horrible movie, thus i gave it 2 stars, but it is not a movie you would want to watch over and over like all the rest of peter seller's movies.

hope this helps.