The (mis)adventures of Inspector Clouseau return to DVD with a six-disc Special Edition featuring five of the "Pink Panther" movies (with upgraded transfers and new 5.1-channel audio remixes, and the first DVD release of "Trail Of The Pink Panther"). Nicely packaged in a multi-fold slipcase, the set includes on Disc 1 ("The Pink Panther") a scene-specific Blake Edwards audio commentary, a trivia track, a trailer, and a "Shots In The Dark" photo gallery. Discs 2 - 5 ("Shot," "Strikes Again," "Revenge," and "Trail," respectively) include the photo gallery and trailer. Disc 6 (the bonus disc) includes "The Pink Panther Story," which offers a look back at the creation of the film series with vintage photos, film clips, and interviews with the many talents involved with the productions including director Blake Edwards, producer Walter Mirisch, stunt double Joe Dunne, and others. The 29-minute documentary was produced by John Cork and Bruce Scivally, the team responsible for the many great James Bond DVD documentaries. Also included is Cartoon Theatre, which includes the 11-minute featurette "Behind The Feline: The Cartoon Phenomenon" and six original "Pink Panther" cartoon shorts. The featurette addresses the creation of the cartoon character and includes interviews with Blake Edwards and cartoon co-creator David DePatie of DePatie-Freleng Enterprises. The animated shorts are: "The Pink Phink," "Pink, Plunk, Plink," Psychedelic Pink," "Pinkfinger," "The Ant And The Aardvark," and "The Great De Gaulle Stone Operation." "Inspector Clouseau" (1968), "The Return Of The Pink Panther" (1975), "Curse Of The Pink Panther" (1983) and "Son Of The Pink Panther" (1993) have not been included in the set and (except for "Return") have yet to be released on DVD. The titles as they appear in this set are available (at this time) only in the set. Individual DVDs available are the previously released versions. (Michael Coate)
Special Notes:
This edition available only in "The Pink Panther Film Collection" five-movie, six-disc set ($69.96/cat no. 1006065). Also see "The Pink Panther Film Collection" entry in our database for more review data.
Story Synopsis:
In this 1978 entry in the series of Inspector Clouseau romps, the entire world mourns the death of the lovable but inept Parisian detective in "Revenge Of The Pink Panther." What no one knows is that when his house is blown to bits by the ruthless drug lord Douvier (Webber), Clouseau escaped the deadly
DVD Picture:
This new anamorphically enhanced 2.35:1 DVD picture is smoother and cleaner, with fewer artifacts than the previous DVD (also anamorphically enhanced). The color scheme appears to be quite similar, offering nicely saturated hues in some scenes, and other scenes that appear a bit washed out. The picture often has an inherent hazy appearance, with glowing whites, but other times images are sharp and detailed, with satisfying textures. There are some flecks of dirt noticed in the source element, but nothing that is considered obtrusive. Edge enhancement is not much of a problem, and there are minimal compression artifacts. (Suzanne Hodges)
Soundtrack:
The remastered Dolby
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