AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

MamaGravity good back-story, and good acting

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

gridoon2018 "Trail Of The Pink Panther" may be the only movie in history in which the first-billed actor appears only in archival footage, and even then only for about one third of the running time, and the second-billed actor appears for about 3 minutes! All the Peter Sellers material is made of deleted scenes and replayed clips from previous films in the series; the problem with those deleted scenes is that there were deleted for a reason (Blake Edwards showed good judgement when he cut them out, not when he put them back in), and the problem with the film clips is that....we've seen them all before, obviously. The new scenes with Joanna Lovely....ooops, I mean Lumley interviewing series regulars one-by-one are pointless; Richard Mulligan's scenes near the end (he plays Clouseau's father) are mostly embarrassing. On the whole, apart from being morally dubious as an experiment, "Trail" is not very funny either....until the end credits, where we get a compilation of some of the series' most memorable moments. *1/2 out of 4.

Petri Pelkonen Peter Sellers died in 1980, but more Pink Panther movies kept coming.In Blake Edwards' Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) we still see Sellers clowning as Inspector Jacques Clouseau.But his performance consists of flashbacks and outtakes from previous films.Sure the scenes with Sellers are the funniest ones in the movie.And then the ones with Herbert Lom as Chief Inspector Dreyfus.Mr. Lom sadly died on September at the age of 95.It's also enjoyable to watch David Niven appearing as Sir Charles Litton.He was voiced by Rich Little because he was suffering from ALS.Joanna Lumley plays television reporter Marie Jouvet.Burt Kwouk is Cato again.Robert Loggia portrays Bruno Langlois.Harvey Korman is Professor Balls.Capucine reprises her role as Lady Litton.Richard Mulligan plays Clouseau Senior.Julie Andrews is seen as Charwoman.Some of the comedy works in this picture, as does the music by Henry Mancini.And the animated opening titles created by DePatie-Freleng Enterprises is also something you like watching.

TheLittleSongbird I genuinely wanted to like this film. I love the Pink Panther movies, and the animated TV series, but this was really quite shameless. Not to imagine quite strange, not only in its idea which is a rather bad one admittedly but in its execution.It is supposedly a tribute to the late Peter Sellers. I admit it his presence in this film as Inspector Clousseau actually saves this movie from being any worse than it was, but he deserved much better than this. Herbert Lom is sort of fun too, and Henry Mancini's original music is marvellous. However that is the only praise I can give.Blake Edwards is talented but I found it difficult to believe he directed this, it didn't feel like his style of directing. The film looks rather dated too, while the plot is a shambles and the sight gags and script are really quite poor even for a Pink Panther film. In regard to the latter reason, the outtakes are unremarkable at best and the new footage is dismally unfunny. Also, the pace is pedestrian, despite people saying that the 1963 Pink Panther movie is the dullest entry, and I have heard people say that, I think this entry is the dullest. Other than Sellers and Lom, the other acting is rather poor. Joanna Lumley grates, Robert Loggia is wasted and David Niven's voice is dubbed terribly. I understand Niven was ill, but really they either should've used his real voice or not used him at all.All in all, a shameless mess. 3/10 Bethany Cox

theowinthrop When Peter Sellers died in 1980 he was planning on another Clouseau film. He probably hated the idea, although he was writing the script. Sellers knew that his signature role for all time would be the stumble-bum French Inspector, but he hated how it hid his performances in, say, DR. STRANGELOVE or BEING THERE from the memory of the public. For as other actors caught in repeat performances of the same part (think of Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes or Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates) have said, those repeat roles are just going through the same paces again and again, and don't help stretch the performers talents.What is odd about TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER is that it is a posthumous resurrection of Sellers due to Blake Edwards, who should have known far better than to do this. Some dead actors have managed to reappear after they died in films, like Jean Harlow in SARATOGA, but usually they were shooting the film when they got sick and died. In TRAIL OF THE PINK PANTHER Edwards decided to use outtakes and some cut sequences to build up a plot for a new film. Supposedly, for the third time in the series, the actual "Pink Panther", the stone that Claudia Cardinale was struggling to hold onto in the first film, is the center of a robbery - a successful one. Clousseau is sent to solve the robbery. But his plane apparently crashes into the sea. Is the great detective dead or not? Joanne Lumley plays French television journalist Marie Jouvet. She is assigned to investigate the disappearance of Clousseau and who might be behind it. There are many potential characters: Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom, twitching again), the head of the French Mafia (Robert Loggia) - still struggling from their defeat by Clousseau in 1978, and even Sir Charles and now Lady Lytton (David Niven and Capuchine, reunited for this second film). Cato (Burt Kwouk) and Clousseau's old assistant Hercule Lajoy (Graham Stark) are interviewed. And the clips and outtakes are added in a sad attempt to give unity to the mess. For it was a real mess.Basically, Sellers was (in 1982) seemingly irreplaceable in the role. The public identified him with the French detective who mispronounced the English pronunciation of "monkey" as "minkey". The public watching the film could only consider it a curiosity at best. They might stretch it into an attempt at honoring a great comic actor. But they probably also thought it shabby, which it was. The other films preceding it had benefited from the energy of Sellers characterization (rather subtle one, by the way: people tend to forget that clumsy and arrogant as Clousseau was, he was a brilliant detective - listen to his conversation with Lajoy in a sequence from A SHOT IN THE DARK regarding the suspect Maria Gambrelli - we know Clousseau is in love with her, but he points out very sharply she had no motive for the murder she has been accused of). The sequences with Sellers at work had his energy, but the gaps appeared when Lumley or rest of the cast struggled with the vapid plot.The actors are not doing badly. Best is Richard Mulligan as the elderly father of Clousseau (who would like to make time with the reporter), and Lom of course. Stark is an old scene stealing pro (look at his subsequent work in VICTOR/VICTORIA as a snide and suspicious waiter). Here he is Lajoy enjoying his retirement. He shares an easy sequence with Lumley (one wishes there was more to it). She is quite good too, but her role is confused by the script (her best sequence is not with Loggia - a sad lost opportunity by two good performers - but just before when she realizes her taxi driver is being forced to kidnap her). She also has a moment confronting Lom (who can't give a damn about finding Clousseau) where she mimics his twitching eye.But why they trotted out Niven again is beyond me. He was within a year or so of his death, from Lou Gehrig's disease. He no longer had that wonderful gentleman's voice of his, so Rich Little was dubbing for him. You listen and you realize it is not Niven. That is just doubly sad.It could have been different in two ways. In 1982 the roles of both Clousseau and Sir Charles Lytton were not totally sewed up by Sellers and Niven. A film called INSPECTOR CLOUSSEAU had been made in the middle 1960s starring Alan Arkin, who might have been available to attempt the role again. And in the early 1970s, the third Pink Panther film had resurrected Sir Charles and Lady Lytton with the jewel robber being played by Christopher Plummer. A bit of recasting would have been needed. If they had done it (presumably if the performers were available or when they were) more time might have been spent on the script. Sadly that was not the case here.Edwards would make another "Pink Panther" film after this, which did less box office than this one did. Then, wisely, he went onto other projects. They never did find Jacques Clousseau in these last two films. The last two films were so terrible they did not deserve to merit the recovery of Insp. Clousseau. Now, aside from an occasional viewing on television both are forgotten (as is Arkin's one attempt at the role). However, Steve Martin took over the role a few years ago, with Kevin Klein taking over Lom's role as Dreyfus. Martin will shortly be seen in a sequel to his first "Pink Panther" film. Good luck to him - he has big shoes to fill.