Inspector Clouseau (1968 film)
Encyclopedia
Inspector Clouseau is a 1968 United Artists
feature film, the third in the Pink Panther film series. It was directed by Bud Yorkin
, written by Frank Waldman and Tom Waldman and stars Alan Arkin
as Inspector Jacques Clouseau. It was filmed by Mirisch Films
at MGM-British Studios
Borehamwood
and Europe.
When the series resumed with 1975's The Return of the Pink Panther
, costume design and elements of Arkin's performance were retained when Peter Sellers
took back the role. Frank Waldman and Tom Waldman also make their debut writing the series. Frank Waldman would co-write The Return of the Pink Panther
, The Pink Panther Strikes Again
, Revenge of the Pink Panther
, and Trail of the Pink Panther
. Tom Waldman would co-write Trail with Frank.
Inspector Clouseau does not feature Sellers, was not directed by Blake Edwards
, and did not have a score by Henry Mancini
. All three were involved at that time with the film The Party
. The Mirisch Company
wanted to proceed with this film, so when Sellers and Edwards declined to participate, Mirisch decided to proceed without them. The film languished in obscurity and although it has been released to home video on VHS and DVD, was not included in 2004's Pink Panther Collection but was later added to the Ultimate collection released in 2008.
wave strikes across Europe. Suspecting a mole within Scotland Yard
, the Prime Minister
brings Clouseau in to solve the case. Clouseau foils two assassination attempts but is subsequently kidnapped. The gang uses him to make masks of his face which they later use to commit a series of daring bank robberies
across Switzerland. Eventually, Clouseau foils the plot and unmasks the traitor within the Yard.
was interested in a third Clouseau film, but Sellers repeatedly refused the role. Following Alan Arkin's success in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
Mirisch asked Arkin if he would do the Clouseau role who replied in the affirmative. Blake Edwards turned down the director's chores so Mirisch found Bud Yorkin
. Just prior to shooting Sellers contacted Mirisch stating that only he could play the role and would, if he himself approved the script. Mirisch turned him down.
The film was produced by Louis Rachmil as one of Mirisch Films
United Kingdom's film company qualifying for Eady Levy
funds. Location scenes for Inspector Clouseau were shot in Europe.
The animated
opening credits were done by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
, using their character design of The Inspector
from the series of short cartoons under that title. (De-Patie Freleng also animated the Pink Panther cartoon shorts, as well as the opening credit sequences for most of the Edwards-Sellers Clouseau films.)
was director Bud Yorkin's partner in Tandem Productions
in the early '60s, and would collaborate with Yorkin for many years on television shows as All in the Family
and Sanford and Son
.
United Artists
United Artists Corporation is an American film studio. The original studio of that name was founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charles Chaplin, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks....
feature film, the third in the Pink Panther film series. It was directed by Bud Yorkin
Bud Yorkin
Bud Yorkin is an American film and television producer, director, writer and actor.Yorkin was born Alan David Yorkin in Washington, Pennsylvania. He earned a degree in engineering from Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsbugh, Pennsylvania...
, written by Frank Waldman and Tom Waldman and stars Alan Arkin
Alan Arkin
Alan Wolf Arkin is an American actor, director, musician and singer. He is known for starring in such films as Wait Until Dark, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Marley & Me, and...
as Inspector Jacques Clouseau. It was filmed by Mirisch Films
Mirisch Films
Mirisch Films was a British motion picture and television production company subsidiary of Mirisch Productions. Originally founded in 1962, it was best-known for producing The Pink Panther series of films , and various DePatie-Freleng animated cartoons, before shutting down in 1982.- Films and...
at MGM-British Studios
MGM-British Studios
MGM-British was a subsidiary of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer initially established at Denham Film Studios in 1936. The films produced there were A Yank at Oxford , The Citadel , Goodbye, Mr...
Borehamwood
Borehamwood
-Film industry:Since the 1920s, the town has been home to several film studios and many shots of its streets are included in final cuts of 20th century British films. This earned it the nickname of the "British Hollywood"...
and Europe.
When the series resumed with 1975's The Return of the Pink Panther
The Return of the Pink Panther
The Return of the Pink Panther is the fourth film in the Pink Panther series, released in 1975. The film stars Peter Sellers in the role of Inspector Clouseau in his third Panther appearance, after the original The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark.Herbert Lom also reprises his role as Chief...
, costume design and elements of Arkin's performance were retained when Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...
took back the role. Frank Waldman and Tom Waldman also make their debut writing the series. Frank Waldman would co-write The Return of the Pink Panther
The Return of the Pink Panther
The Return of the Pink Panther is the fourth film in the Pink Panther series, released in 1975. The film stars Peter Sellers in the role of Inspector Clouseau in his third Panther appearance, after the original The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark.Herbert Lom also reprises his role as Chief...
, The Pink Panther Strikes Again
The Pink Panther Strikes Again
The Pink Panther Strikes Again is the fifth film in the Pink Panther series and picks up where The Return of the Pink Panther leaves off...
, Revenge of the Pink Panther
Revenge of the Pink Panther
Revenge of the Pink Panther is the sixth film in the Pink Panther film series. Released in 1978, Revenge of was the last entry featuring series star Peter Sellers, who died in 1980...
, and Trail of the Pink Panther
Trail of the Pink Panther
Trail of the Pink Panther is a 1982 comedy film starring Peter Sellers. It was the seventh film in the Pink Panther series, and the last in which Peter Sellers starred as Inspector Jacques Clouseau, although Sellers died before production began and the film thus contains no original material...
. Tom Waldman would co-write Trail with Frank.
Inspector Clouseau does not feature Sellers, was not directed by Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards
Blake Edwards was an American film director, screenwriter and producer.Edwards' career began in the 1940s as an actor, but he soon turned to writing radio scripts at Columbia Pictures...
, and did not have a score by Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini
Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...
. All three were involved at that time with the film The Party
The Party (film)
The Party is a 1968 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards, starring Peter Sellers and Claudine Longet. The film has a very loose structure, and essentially serves as a series of set pieces for Sellers's improvisational comedy talents...
. The Mirisch Company
Mirisch Company
The Mirisch Company was a film production company owned by Walter Mirisch and his brothers, Marvin and Harold Mirisch. The company was also known at various times as Mirisch Production Company, Mirisch Pictures, Inc., and The Mirisch Corporation.Walter Mirisch began producing at Monogram Pictures...
wanted to proceed with this film, so when Sellers and Edwards declined to participate, Mirisch decided to proceed without them. The film languished in obscurity and although it has been released to home video on VHS and DVD, was not included in 2004's Pink Panther Collection but was later added to the Ultimate collection released in 2008.
Synopsis
An organized crimeOrganized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
wave strikes across Europe. Suspecting a mole within Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
, the Prime Minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
brings Clouseau in to solve the case. Clouseau foils two assassination attempts but is subsequently kidnapped. The gang uses him to make masks of his face which they later use to commit a series of daring bank robberies
Bank robbery
Bank robbery is the crime of stealing from a bank during opening hours. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, robbery is "the taking or attempting to take anything of value from the care, custody, or control of a person or persons by force or threat of...
across Switzerland. Eventually, Clouseau foils the plot and unmasks the traitor within the Yard.
Cast
- Alan ArkinAlan ArkinAlan Wolf Arkin is an American actor, director, musician and singer. He is known for starring in such films as Wait Until Dark, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Marley & Me, and...
as Inspector Jacques Clouseau - Frank FinlayFrank FinlayFrancis Finlay, CBE is an English stage, film and television actor.-Personal life:Finlay was born in Farnworth, Lancashire, the son of Margaret and Josiah Finlay, a butcher. A devout Catholic, he belongs to the British Catholic Stage Guild. He was educated at St...
as Supt. Weaver - Delia Boccardo as Lt. Lisa Morrel
- Patrick CargillPatrick CargillPatrick Cargill was a British actor known for his role on the British television sitcom Father, Dear Father.-Career:...
as Commissioner Sir Charles Braithwaite - Beryl ReidBeryl ReidBeryl Elizabeth Reid, OBE was a British actress of stage and screen.-Early life:Born in Hereford, England in 1919, Reid was the daughter of Scottish parents and grew up in Manchester where she attended Withington and Levenshulme High Schools.-Career:Reid applied for and was accepted in a revue in...
as Mrs. Weaver - Barry FosterBarry Foster (actor)Barry Foster was a British actor who appeared in numerous film roles and is known for his leading role as a Dutch detective in the ITV drama series, Van der Valk, which spanned five series over 20 years from 1972....
as Addison Steele - Clive FrancisClive Francis-Early life:He is the son of actors Raymond Francis and Margaret Towner. He was born in Eastbourne.His father played Detective Chief Superintendent Tom Lockhart in the 1960s series No Hiding Place and his mother still acts today - most recently she played Jira, Anakin Skywalker's friend, in Star...
as Clyde Hargreaves (aka "Johnny Rainbow") - John BindonJohn BindonJohn Dennis Arthur "Biffo" Bindon was a British actor and bodyguard who had close links with the London underworld. In numerous films, he played gangsters or tough police detective. Bindon has been described as "the archetypal actor-villain, and an all-round 'good geezer'". He was also notable for...
as Bull Parker - Michael RipperMichael RipperMichael Ripper was an English character actor born in Portsmouth.He began his film career in quota quickies in the 1930s and until the late 1950s was virtually unknown; he was seldom credited. He played one of the two murderers in Richard III. Ripper became a mainstay in Hammer Film Productions...
as Frey - Tutte LemkowTutte LemkowTutte Lemkow was a Norwegian actor and dancer, who played mostly villainous roles in British television and films. His chief claims to mainstream familiarity were his roles as "the fiddler" in the film version of Fiddler on the Roof and the old man who translates for Indiana Jones in Raiders of...
as Frenchie LeBec - Anthony AinleyAnthony AinleyAnthony Ainley was an English actor best known for his work on British television and particularly for his role as the third Master in Doctor Who. He was the fourth actor to play the role of the Master, and the first actor to portray the Master as a recurring role after the death of Roger Delgado...
as Bomber LeBec - Wallas EatonWallas EatonWallas Eaton , sometimes credited as Wallace Eaton or Wallis Eaton, was an English film, radio, television and theatre actor....
as Hoeffler - David BauerDavid Bauer (actor)David Bauer was an American actor, a Chicagoan, who was based primarily in Britain. He was chosen as the most promising actor at Washington University and his professional career began immediately after graduating...
as Police Chief Geffrion - Richard PearsonRichard Pearson (actor)Richard de Pearsall Pearson was a Welsh actor. Notable films of his career included Brian Desmond Hurst's Scrooge as well as a brief appearance in John Schlesinger's Sunday Bloody Sunday and cameo roles in three films by Roman Polanski: Macbeth , Tess and Pirates...
as Shockley - George PravdaGeorge PravdaGeorge Pravda was a Czechoslovakian film and television actor.He began his career in Czechoslovakia, where he was credited as Jirí Pravda, and then emigrated to the United Kingdom....
as Wulf
Cast notes:
- Alan Arkin not only played Inspector Clouseau, he played the members of the gang whenever they were disguised as Inspector Clouseau, with the other actors' voices dubbed onto the soundtrack.
Production
Following the two successful previous Inspector Clouseau films, Blake Edwards and Peter Sellers vowed never to work together again. Producer Walter MirischWalter Mirisch
Walter Mortimer Mirisch is an American film producer. In his long and successful motion picture career, Walter Mirisch has produced some of the industry’s finest and most memorable films...
was interested in a third Clouseau film, but Sellers repeatedly refused the role. Following Alan Arkin's success in The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming
The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming is an American comedy film. Based on the Nathaniel Benchley novel The Off-Islanders, the film was directed by Norman Jewison and adapted for the screen by William Rose....
Mirisch asked Arkin if he would do the Clouseau role who replied in the affirmative. Blake Edwards turned down the director's chores so Mirisch found Bud Yorkin
Bud Yorkin
Bud Yorkin is an American film and television producer, director, writer and actor.Yorkin was born Alan David Yorkin in Washington, Pennsylvania. He earned a degree in engineering from Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsbugh, Pennsylvania...
. Just prior to shooting Sellers contacted Mirisch stating that only he could play the role and would, if he himself approved the script. Mirisch turned him down.
The film was produced by Louis Rachmil as one of Mirisch Films
Mirisch Films
Mirisch Films was a British motion picture and television production company subsidiary of Mirisch Productions. Originally founded in 1962, it was best-known for producing The Pink Panther series of films , and various DePatie-Freleng animated cartoons, before shutting down in 1982.- Films and...
United Kingdom's film company qualifying for Eady Levy
Eady levy
The Eady Levy was a tax on box office receipts in the United Kingdom, intended to support the British film industry and named for Sir Wilfred Eady. It was established in 1957 and terminated in 1985.- Background :...
funds. Location scenes for Inspector Clouseau were shot in Europe.
The animated
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
opening credits were done by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises
DePatie-Freleng Enterprises was a Hollywood-based animation production company, active from 1963 to 1981. They produced theatrical cartoons, animated series, commercials, title sequences and television specials. Notable among these is The Pink Panther film titles and cartoon shorts and the Dr....
, using their character design of The Inspector
The Inspector
The Inspector is a series of 1960s theatrical cartoons produced by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises and released through United Artists. The titular character is based on Jacques Clouseau, a comical French police officer who is the main character in the Pink Panther series of films.-Plot:Although the...
from the series of short cartoons under that title. (De-Patie Freleng also animated the Pink Panther cartoon shorts, as well as the opening credit sequences for most of the Edwards-Sellers Clouseau films.)
Miscellany
In the scene where Clouseau is being chased through the cemetery after falling in the plot and disrupting the funeral, you can see a sign on a cross in the lower right part of the screen for a few seconds. The sign reads "Reposite En Pace: Norman Lear, 1903-1962". Norman LearNorman Lear
Norman Milton Lear is an American television writer and producer who produced such 1970s sitcoms as All in the Family, Sanford and Son, One Day at a Time, The Jeffersons, Good Times and Maude...
was director Bud Yorkin's partner in Tandem Productions
Tandem Productions
Tandem Productions, Inc. was a film and television production company that was founded in 1958 by Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear.-Tandem Productions:...
in the early '60s, and would collaborate with Yorkin for many years on television shows as All in the Family
All in the Family
All in the Family is an American sitcom that was originally broadcast on the CBS television network from January 12, 1971, to April 8, 1979. In September 1979, a new show, Archie Bunker's Place, picked up where All in the Family had ended...
and Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son
Sanford and Son is an American sitcom, based on the BBC's Steptoe and Son, that ran on the NBC television network from January 14, 1972, to March 25, 1977....
.