Search
When the coach of the France soccer team is killed by a poisoned dart in the stadium in the end of a game, and his expensive and huge ring with the diamond Pink Panther disappears, the ambitious Chief Inspector Dreyfus assigns the worst police inspector Jacques Clouseau to the case.
The famous Pink Panther jewel has once again been stolen and Inspector Clouseau is called in to catch the thief. The Inspector is convinced that ‘The Phantom’ has returned and utilises all of his resources – himself and his Asian manservant – to reveal the identity of ‘The Phantom’.
The trademark of The Phantom, a renowned jewel thief, is a glove left at the scene of the crime. Inspector Clouseau, an expert on The Phantom’s exploits, feels sure that he knows where The Phantom will strike next and leaves Paris for Switzerland, where the famous Lugashi jewel ‘The Pink Panther’ is going to be. However, he does not know who The Phantom really is, or for that matter who anyone else really is…
When legendary treasures from around the world are stolen, including the priceless Pink Panther Diamond, Chief Inspector Dreyfus is forced to assign Inspector Clouseau to a team of international detectives and experts charged with catching the thief and retrieving the stolen artifacts.
The Pink Panther diamond is stolen once again from Lugash and the authorities call in Chief Inspector Clouseau from France. His plane disappears en-route. This time, famous French TV reporter Marie Jouvet sets out to solve the mystery and starts to interview everybody connected to Clouseau.
Charles Dreyfus, who has finally cracked over inspector Clouseau’s antics, escapes from a mental institution and launches an elaborate plan to get rid of Clouseau once and for all.
Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau is dead. At least that is what the world (and Charles Dreyfus) believe when a dead body is discovered in Clouseau’s car after being shot off the road. Naturally, Clouseau knows differently, and taking advantage of not being alive, sets out to discover why an attempt was made on his life.
Inspector Clouseau disappears, and the Surete wants the world’s second best detective to look for him. However, Clouseau’s enemy, Dreyfus, rigs the Surete’s computer to select, instead, the world’s WORST detective, NYPD Sgt. Clifton Sleigh. Sleigh obtusely bungles his way past assassins and corrupt officials as though he were Clouseau’s American cousin.
The Pink Panthers have stolen over £270m in diamonds in more than 241 robberies in cities from Paris to Tokyo. The film explores the rise of the group during the 1990s Balkan conflict when economic sanctions imposed on Serbia fueled illegal activities. The criminals reveal an underworld driven by fast wealth and paranoia, while the detectives and inspectors, who are working with Interpol, are on a mission to stop their crime spree with growing success.
The comedy pioneer behind the Goon Show, Dr Strangelove and the Pink Panther series is explored in depth in this film, surveying his meteoric rise to fame and troubled personal life.
A Shot in the Dark is the second and more successful film from the Pink Panther film series where both animated and real life sequences are mixed. A cult classic from Blake Edwards based on the play L’Idiot by Marcel Achard and Harry Kurnitz.