A Shot in the Dark (1964)

The opening scenes for A Shot in the Dark, the low-key second Pink Panther vehicle starring Peter Sellers, depict a 1960s-era feeding frenzy of clandestine trysts in what turns out to be the mansion of the wealthy man who becomes Inspector Jacques Clouseau's chief murder suspect -- before the namesake shot in the dark. It's all a plant or a tell for Clouseau's revelation of the real killer, so pay attention. Actually that's not fair, because Clouseau assumes one killer is responsible for the murder he is investigating as well as the dozen or so murders that ensue. After a fresh fix of Inspector Clouseau cartoons and Henry Mancini's archly lissom Pink Panther theme music during the opening credits, Sellers returns to his understatedly maudlin portrayal of the idiot savant French detective. (He's a legend in his own mind and a klutz, a putz, and a yutz to boot.) For physical humor, his pool-cue ploy is masterful but the brunt of Sellers' humor here is intellectual: "I knew that" and "I know what I have been saying" etc. when to the casual observer anything else would be obvious. Or, perhaps like Columbo, is his idiocy merely part of his brilliant strategy? We also see Sellers' developing linguistic genius as he analyzes the "beump on the head" of the maid that Clouseau's boss, the Chief Commissioner, would like to charge with the crime. His nerdishly romantic fascination with the maid (the cloyingly sexual Elke Sommers) eventually carries them to bed -- but there is the little matter of his Chinese houseboy (Burt Kwouk), who has been instructed to "attack without mercy" to help keep up Clouseau's asserted alertness and martial-arts skills. Meanwhile, Clouseau's boss (Herbert Lom) is twitchingly going off the deep end in his frustration over Clouseau, a theme that will be artfully carried into future Pink Panther sequels. Look for what I presume are the Mancini orchestra members playing the Pink Panther theme song at the nudist colony and listen for the comic off-camera twang of the borrowed guitar Clouseau hides his thighs behind. 4 stars.