TheRetroCritic

A long-time fan of Blake Edwards' iconic franchise, I grew up seeking out and watching every single Pink Panther film. Yes, even those wimpy Clouseau-less ones, that bizarre Roberto Benigni effort, the unofficial Alan Arkin spin-off and, more recently, the Steve Martin remakes... It's been a tough road, to say the least. Anyway, time to delve into my childhood's colon nice and deep to revisit one of my many cinematic obsessions. The first Pink Panther film was never my favourite. For one thing, Peter Sellers' dim-witted inspector was nothing more than a side character while a majority of the film was spent with David Niven's cat burglar The Phantom, Claudia Cardinal's gobby Princess and a young Robert Wagner as The Phantom's nephew... oh and Clouseau's scheming, two-timing wife. Too many main characters, you say? That's right. Really this is my main complaint with this first instalment. A lot of it is fun but every so often it's