A Shot in the Dark (1964 film)
| A Shot in the Dark | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Blake Edwards |
| Produced by | Blake Edwards |
| Screenplay by | Blake Edwards William Peter Blatty |
| Based on | The stage play by Harry Kurnitz L'Idiote by Marcel Achard |
| Starring |
Peter Sellers Elke Sommer George Sanders Herbert Lom |
| Music by | Henry Mancini |
| Cinematography | Christopher Challis |
| Edited by |
Bert Bates Ralph E. Winters |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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June 23, 1964 |
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $12,368,234 |
A Shot in the Dark is a 1964 comedy film directed by Blake Edwards and is the second installment in The Pink Panther series. Peter Sellers is featured again as Inspector Jacques Clouseau of the French Sûreté.
Clouseau's bungling personality is unchanged, but it was in this film that Sellers began to give him the idiosyncratically exaggerated French accent that was to later become a hallmark of the character. The film also introduces Herbert Lom as his long-suffering boss, Commissioner Dreyfus, Burt Kwouk as his stalwart man servant Cato and Andre Maranne as Francois, all of whom would become series regulars. Elke Sommer plays Maria Gambrelli. Gambrelli would return in Son of the Pink Panther, this time played by Claudia Cardinale, who played Princess Dala in The Pink Panther. Graham Stark reprised his Hercule Lajoy role in Trail of the Pink Panther.
The film was not originally written to include Clouseau, but was an adaptation of a stage play by Harry Kurnitz adapted from the French play L'Idiote by Marcel Achard. The film was released only a few months after the first Clouseau film, The Pink Panther.
Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is called to the country home of millionaire Benjamin Ballon (George Sanders) to investigate the murder of his chauffeur, Miguel Ostos. The chauffeur was having an affair with one of the maids, Maria Gambrelli (Elke Sommer), and attacked her in her bedroom after she broke off with him. Miguel was shot and killed in her bedroom and Maria was found with the smoking gun in her hand, but claims no knowledge of how it got there as she maintains she was knocked unconscious. All evidence points to Maria as the killer, but Clouseau is convinced of her innocence because he has developed an immediate attraction to her. Realizing Clouseau has been inadvertently assigned to a high-profile case, Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) has him removed and personally takes charge of the investigation.
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Wikipedia