The Pink Panther (1963)

For most of my life, the Pink Panther was only a cartoon character from an animated series. Then, quite recently, I learnt that that character originated from Blake Edward's crime comedy The Pink Panther, and being a fan of crime movies and having heard good things about it, I decided to check it out. 

The story follows a French detective, Chief Inspector Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers), who is obsessively trying to catch a jewel thief known as "The Phantom". A lead takes him to Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, at a ski resort where English playboy Sir Charles Lytton (David Niven) and bored Princess Dala (Claudia Cardinale), who has with her the Pink Panther diamond, are also staying. 

For most of its running time, The Pink Panther doesn't really a plot nor a real focus and relies on a silly and pointless scene after another. In addition, with all the subplots being revelled at the beginning —Clouseau's wife (Capucine) having an affair with Lytton and Lytton being "The Phantom"—, there's very little mystery and, after a while, the story becomes dull, uninteresting and unengaging, and it takes some turns that make no sense whatsoever.

The characters are the reason why not much happens for the majority of the film. There are a lot of them and apparently all of their backstories need to be unveiled before the story moves any further. I wouldn't normally consider this a flaw but this time I do since this doesn't add much to the story. Also, most of them are annoying and unlikeable.

United Artists

All of that being said, The Pink Panther is not the kind of film you watch for a complex story or characters as it's more about the comedy. While it occasionally falls flat, whether it's physical or verbal, the humour is quite delightful and there are many laughs spread throughout the film.

The cast is also a pleasure to watch. Although he's underused —his was supposed to be only a minor character, after all—, Peter Sellers does a very good job as the clumsy Inspector Clouseau and provides most of the film's humour. David Niven is equally good as Sir Charles but he's given way too much screen time with his uninteresting subplots. As for the actresses, both Claudia Cardinale and Capucine are here just for eye-candy purposes.

The highlight of the film? The amusing animated opening credits featuring the Pink Panther and Henry Mancini's iconic theme song.

Please Don't Eat the Daisies

If you think this is going to be a review of the 1960 movie with Doris Day and David Niven then you are only partially right.

            

Left - Movie cast; Right - Apparently there was a TV show too (1965-1967)

Here's episode 1 on youtube.

I watched Please Don't Eat the Daisies last December and when I discovered a couple weeks ago that my library had the book it was based on, I decided to check it out.

                       

The author and her book

Please Don't Eat the Daisies by Jean Kerr is HILARIOUS!!!! It's one of those books where you find yourself laughing out loud and end up reading in one sitting because you don't want to put it down. My favorite chapter was "How to decorate in one easy breakdown," where Kerr describes the process of redecorating one's home. I also greatly enjoyed the chapter "The Kerr-Hilton," which describes the house/monstrosity they bought. The only chapters that didn't seem to fit in were the ones titled "Don Brown's body" and "Toujours tristesse" - a play and short story respectively. However, it is always interesting to read fiction written by another person because it gives you a glimpse of another side of them that you may never have known existed.

Ok, now to the movie.

In writing the script for the movie starring Doris Day and David Niven, the writers took the four rambunctious boys, the crazy old house, the fact that everyone is writing a play, and that Mr. Kerr is a critic. However, the critics part is greatly built up, showing instead of telling, what it is like to be the wife of a drama critic. It also throws in a little marital discord in the form of an actress, played by Janis Paige. Reminiscent of Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, the movie paints a vivid picture of what it's like to buy a fixer-upper. Doris Day, however, is able to transform this creaky castle into what could easily be a chic New York flat. She also finds the time to play the lead in the local town play, in addition to attending plays with her husband. Only Doris Day could do all of that and still look fresh as a daisy (pun intended).

I hope you get a chance to both read the book and watch the movie. They are both delightful and shouldn't be missed!

Click here to see pictures of the movie version of the Kerr home and here to see pictures of the actual home! Each version gets more and more ridiculous. The movie house appears twice as big as the real house and the TV show house even bigger!

Jean Kerr wtote several other books. I'm having my library get The Snake Has All the Lines, How I Got to be Perfect, and Penny Candy.

A note about the TV version:

I just started watching the first episode. The children are entirely too well behaved and Mr. Nash (his name in the show) is suddenly a hypochondriac!