The Great DeGaulle Stone Operation
Encyclopedia
The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation was the first short
in the Inspector
series of theatrical cartoons
. On release, it was attached to the James Bond
film Thunderball
(which contains a cameo appearance by André Maranne
, who plays Sergeant François Chevalier in the Pink Panther film series).
The title is a play on words
, being both a pun on the term, "gallstone
", and a reference to the then-French President, Charles de Gaulle
.
has been tasked by his Commissioner to guard the DeGaulle Stone, an enormous diamond
worth 10 billion francs. The Commissioner warns the Inspector of the dire consequences should he lose the diamond, but the Inspector manages to lose it in seconds, handing it to what he thinks is his assistant, Deux-Deux, but is in fact a three-headed thief, collectively referred to as the Matz-O'Reillys. The left (the Soviet Russian
-accented "Weft") and right (the American
-accented "Wight") heads argue about what to do next, and the apparently dim third head (the Chinese
"Wong", but sounding like "wrong") tries to break up the fight, only to be beaten up by the others. The Inspector uses this chance to try and catch up with them, at which point they get into their car and drive away, flattening the Inspector in the process. Deux-Deux then tries to pursue them in his own car, but only succeeds in flattening the Inspector some more.
The thieves have their car convert itself into a plane, forcing the Inspector to man a plane of his own in order to pursue them. The crooks easily dispose of him with a giant fly-swatter however, and his plane crashes into the Sûreté
building, destroying the Commissioner's office and earning the Inspector another ear-bashing. The Matz-O'Reillys manage to escape, but once back at their hideout, Wong discovers that their jacket has a hole in it, and they have managed to lose the diamond.
The Commissioner returns the diamond to the Inspector, who puts it in a safe. Unfortunately, the safe turns out to be the Matz-O'Reillys in disguise, and the chase is on again. The Inspector tries to pursue them out the window, but the Matz-O'Reillys escape in their car, causing the Inspector to fall and crash through the roof of the Commissioner's staff car.
The Inspector and Deux-Deux pursue the thieves to a hotel, where the Inspector's attempts at catching them meet with a predictable lack of success. Every time the Inspector looks through the keyhole, he gets blasted in the eye no matter where he moves it (when he shows Deux-Deux, nothing happens). When the Inspector announces he'll shoot at the count of three, the Matz-O'Reillys escape in their car, knocking down the door and flattening the Inspector, who fires a bullet that only drops to the ground.
The Matz-O'Reillys cannot hide forever though, and the Inspector arrives at their hideout with a considerable number of backup units. Realising that they are going to get caught anyway, Wong puts the diamond in a glass of water, within which it is inconspicuous. The Inspector and the other officers break in, and apprehend the thieves. While the others search for the missing diamond, the Inspector decides to help himself to the nearby glass. The next scene shows him being rushed to hospital, and a surgeon removing the DeGaulle Stone from the Inspector. The surgeon gives the diamond to his nurse...who turns out to be the crooks, in disguise again. The Inspector is left with a bandage on his stomach
, some painful memories, and the task of explaining himself to the exasperated Commissioner.
contained a laugh track
when the Pink Panther cartoons were broadcast on NBC
-TV. Currently, the laugh-tracked version airs on the Spanish language
Boomerang TV channel
.
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
in 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...
series of theatrical cartoons
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...
. On release, it was attached to the James Bond
James Bond
James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
film Thunderball
Thunderball (film)
Thunderball is the fourth spy film in the James Bond series starring Sean Connery as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. It is an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Ian Fleming, which in turn was based on an original screenplay by Jack Whittingham...
(which contains a cameo appearance by André Maranne
André Maranne
André Maranne is an Anglo-French actor who appeared chiefly in English-language roles from the mid 1950s.-Career:Born in Toulouse, France, Maranne's most prominent recurring role was Sergeant François Chevalier in six of The Pink Panther films, alongside Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom. Before the...
, who plays Sergeant François Chevalier in the Pink Panther film series).
The title is a play on words
Word play
Word play or wordplay is a literary technique in which the words that are used become the main subject of the work, primarily for the purpose of intended effect or amusement...
, being both a pun on the term, "gallstone
Gallstone
A gallstone is a crystalline concretion formed within the gallbladder by accretion of bile components. These calculi are formed in the gallbladder, but may pass distally into other parts of the biliary tract such as the cystic duct, common bile duct, pancreatic duct, or the ampulla of...
", and a reference to the then-French President, Charles de Gaulle
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle was a French general and statesman who led the Free French Forces during World War II. He later founded the French Fifth Republic in 1958 and served as its first President from 1959 to 1969....
.
Plot
The InspectorInspector Clouseau
Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau is a fictional character in Blake Edwards' The Pink Panther series. In most of the films, he was played by Peter Sellers, with one film in which he was played by Alan Arkin and one in which he was played by an uncredited Roger Moore...
has been tasked by his Commissioner to guard the DeGaulle Stone, an enormous diamond
Diamond
In mineralogy, diamond is an allotrope of carbon, where the carbon atoms are arranged in a variation of the face-centered cubic crystal structure called a diamond lattice. Diamond is less stable than graphite, but the conversion rate from diamond to graphite is negligible at ambient conditions...
worth 10 billion francs. The Commissioner warns the Inspector of the dire consequences should he lose the diamond, but the Inspector manages to lose it in seconds, handing it to what he thinks is his assistant, Deux-Deux, but is in fact a three-headed thief, collectively referred to as the Matz-O'Reillys. The left (the Soviet Russian
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
-accented "Weft") and right (the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
-accented "Wight") heads argue about what to do next, and the apparently dim third head (the Chinese
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
"Wong", but sounding like "wrong") tries to break up the fight, only to be beaten up by the others. The Inspector uses this chance to try and catch up with them, at which point they get into their car and drive away, flattening the Inspector in the process. Deux-Deux then tries to pursue them in his own car, but only succeeds in flattening the Inspector some more.
The thieves have their car convert itself into a plane, forcing the Inspector to man a plane of his own in order to pursue them. The crooks easily dispose of him with a giant fly-swatter however, and his plane crashes into the Sûreté
Sûreté
Sûreté is a term used in French speaking countries or regions in the organizational title of a civil police force, especially the detective branch thereof.-France:...
building, destroying the Commissioner's office and earning the Inspector another ear-bashing. The Matz-O'Reillys manage to escape, but once back at their hideout, Wong discovers that their jacket has a hole in it, and they have managed to lose the diamond.
The Commissioner returns the diamond to the Inspector, who puts it in a safe. Unfortunately, the safe turns out to be the Matz-O'Reillys in disguise, and the chase is on again. The Inspector tries to pursue them out the window, but the Matz-O'Reillys escape in their car, causing the Inspector to fall and crash through the roof of the Commissioner's staff car.
The Matz-O'Reillys cannot hide forever though, and the Inspector arrives at their hideout with a considerable number of backup units. Realising that they are going to get caught anyway, Wong puts the diamond in a glass of water, within which it is inconspicuous. The Inspector and the other officers break in, and apprehend the thieves. While the others search for the missing diamond, the Inspector decides to help himself to the nearby glass. The next scene shows him being rushed to hospital, and a surgeon removing the DeGaulle Stone from the Inspector. The surgeon gives the diamond to his nurse...who turns out to be the crooks, in disguise again. The Inspector is left with a bandage on his stomach
Stomach
The stomach is a muscular, hollow, dilated part of the alimentary canal which functions as an important organ of the digestive tract in some animals, including vertebrates, echinoderms, insects , and molluscs. It is involved in the second phase of digestion, following mastication .The stomach is...
, some painful memories, and the task of explaining himself to the exasperated Commissioner.
Laugh track
The Pink Panther ShowThe Pink Panther Show
The Pink Panther Show is a showcase of cartoon shorts produced by David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng between 1969 and 1979. The television series was produced by Mirisch Films and DePatie-Freleng Enterprises, and was broadcast on two American TV networks:...
contained a laugh track
Laugh track
A laugh track is a separate soundtrack invented by Charles "Charley" Douglass, with the artificial sound of audience laughter, made to be inserted into television programming of comedy shows and sitcoms.The term "laugh track" does not apply to the genuine audience laughter on shows that shoot in...
when the Pink Panther cartoons were broadcast on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
-TV. Currently, the laugh-tracked version airs on the Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
Boomerang TV channel
Boomerang (TV channel)
Boomerang is a 24-hour American cable television channel owned by Turner Broadcasting System, a division of Time Warner. Boomerang specializes in reruns of animated programming from Time Warner's extensive archives, including pre-1986 MGM, Hanna-Barbera, Cartoon Network, DePatie-Freleng Enterprises...
.