Chapter Two: A Shot in the Dark
By Brett Beach
September 23, 2009
Edwards and Sellers collaborated three more times in the Clouseau vein with increasing commercial success throughout the 1970s. 1978's Revenge of the Pink Panther was the most successful of their five Pink Panther films grossing nearly $50 million. This trajectory was undermined by the hostility between the two on the set (a symbiosis perhaps likened to Herzog and Kinski) and undone by Sellers' death in 1980. Edwards then let life imitate art and practiced his own sort of cynicism, by attempting to resurrect the franchise in 1982-1983 (with Trail of the Pink Panther and Curse of the Pink Panther) and then in 1993 with Roberto Benigni in Son of the Pink Panther. Those three grossed $10 million, $5 million and $3 million respectively.
As much as I have enjoyed getting to know The Pink Panther in its many guises (this was my first time seeing A Shot in the Dark and several of the others), it is the non-Clouseau collaboration between the pair that I prefer to recommend to readers in parting: 1968's The Party, a hippie-dippy Hollywood satire that is a lot more kind-hearted than many of Edwards' films. It confirms that he is a genius with composing widescreen shots (very important in setting up many of his gags) and with taking his time (for better and for worse) in letting many moments play out.
Next time: The first film in this series was the #1 grossing film of its year. The follow-up was #3 in its year and was roundly judged to be a commercial failure by its studio. How does it hold up? Prepare to go back to the summer of 1992.
Continued:
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