Revenge of the Pink Panther (U), August 1979

(USA), 1978: director Blake Edwards)

PETER SELLERS, DYAN CANNON, HERBERT LOM.  I’ve heard that if you flog something long enough it can be the death of it; apart from wives, it also applies to animals (even pink panthers.)  The Revenge is not quite dead yet but, like Montezuma’s, it tends to be a trifle painful.  Sellers is once again given his head as the inept Chief Inspector Clouseau, and tortures his vowel sounds as divertingly as ever while colliding with life in a passable assortment of broadly comic situations.  Indeed, the breadth of the comedy requires hardly any nuance from director Edwards, though he does keep things moving at a tidy pace.  It seems a pity that, with three writers on the job, the verbal mirth is rather short on pith; still, the visual pranks are frequent enough and the finale is adequate.  Perhaps I’m being unkind, and doubtless the kids will lap it up, but I did enjoy the earlier Panthers so much more.  Ah well, Pink Panther, RequiesCAT(sic) in Pace!  Plus DANGEROUS GAME(U).

(programme 124 minutes)

Tickets for all performances 70p and £1.00

(Notes compiled by Robin Bowditch)