Review of A Shot in the Dark

As other reviewers have pointed out, this is a film that depends to a large extend on physical humour, but there is more to it than that. Many of the best physical comedians, such as Laurel and Hardy, Chaplin with his Little Tramp and Woody Allen in some of his early movies such as "Sleeper", were also skilled at creating great comic characters. Peter Sellers's Inspector Clouseau is a character in this tradition. Indeed, one can say that, with Herbert Lom's Commissioner Dreyfus, he is part of a great double act. Clouseau is not only physically clumsy and accident-prone, but also ridiculously pompous and lacking in any sense of humour. He has an unjustifiably high opinion of himself, not only as a detective but also as a lover and as a martial-arts expert. Despite this, he still manages to retain a sort of absurd dignity. Dreyfus starts off as the straight man to Clouseau's clown, but as the film progresses he becomes increasingly manic as his frustration with his incompetent subordinate turns to hatred and drives him to desperation. Dreyfus did not appear in the original "Pink Panther"; one reason why "A Shot in the Dark" is the better film The film concerns Clouseau's investigation into the murder of a servant at the home of M. Ballon, a wealthy industrialist. All the evidence points to Maria, one of the maids, but Clouseau refuses to believe she is guilty. Even when further murders take place, again with Maria as the chief suspect, he continues to believe in her innocence. Certainly, his belief has more to do with the fact that he cannot bring himself to believe any harm of a pretty young woman than with any powers of deduction, but it should be noted that the supposed buffoon Clouseau is the one character who is unwilling to see an innocent woman sent to the guillotine, unlike his superiors who only want to get the case cleared up as quickly as possible.

There are some great opportunities for Sellers to display his comic talents, such as the nudist camp scene, the sequence where an unseen assassin stalks Clouseau and makes repeated attempts to kill him, only for an innocent person to fall victim on each occasion, and the running joke whereby Clouseau's Chinese manservant Kato frequently attacks him to test his martial arts skills, inevitably leading to chaos. Lom can be very funny as well. Of the main characters, Maria is perhaps the weakest link; Elke Sommer never really seemed to overcome the difficulties of acting in a foreign language. Nevertheless, this is a highly enjoyable comedy. 7/10