Has Skis, Needs Lift

The Pink Panther. "We must find that woman," declares Peter Sellers. For emphasis, he briskly spins a large globe, then absentmindedly leans on it to be sent spinning to the floor. As a twittery, accident-prone French detective, Sellers trips over carpets, steps into a Stradivarius, and pratfalls through love scenes with his wife, never suspecting that she is the mysterious female accomplice of the jewel thief that he wants to nab. Some of Sellers' sight gags are funny, but not funny enough to keep this over-waxed comedy from schussing steadily downhill at the recherche Italian ski resort where Panther's high-priced actors search in vain for a lift.

The movie has Claudia Cardinale, spilling out of her role as the Indian princess who owns a coveted teardrop diamond dubbed the "Pink Panther." It has David Niven as the thief, resurrecting his Raffles characterization of 1940. It has Robert Wagner as Niven's ne'er-do-well nephew, who seems to have been shoehorned into the narrative to appease the young. It has Capucine in the role of Sellers' wife, giving a surprisingly able performance as a knockabout comedienne. And it has a pervasive air of desperation that leads to the inevitable masked-ball finale in Rome, with fireworks going off, Sellers in a suit of armor bumping into Cleopatra, and a pair of cat burglars dressed as gorillas--presumably with the hope that a lot of monkey business will perk up a tired Panther.

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