Having seen all the Pink Panther movies the previous week, I looked at the Therapeutic Pink Message boards and discovered mention on one of the blog links a documentary called The Curious Case of Inspector Clouseau. On that link was one to YouTube that allowed me to watch this doc in six parts. In this one hour television special from England, we get brief pertinent info about Peter Sellers' pre-Pink Panther life before that movie and its sequel, A Shot in the Dark, catapulted him into stardom. We also get glimpses of his relationship with director Blake Edwards and some of the fights they got into when working. Among the interviewees: Herbert Lom, Graham Stark, Elke Sommer, Dyan Cannon, William Peter Blatty who co-wrote A Shot in the Dark, and Edwards producing partner, Tony Adams. Host Burt Kwouk also provides his own insights on both Sellers and Edwards. What's discussed besides that director-star relationship is how tormented Sellers was after his stardom concerning his weight and the heart attacks that resulted. Also how tired he seemed to be with Clouseau especially the repetition of some gags. There's also some interesting interview footage of Peter himself just being himself discussing some jokes and certain characterizations. As well as a brief scene of his marriage to Britt Ekland in 1964. And then there's footage of Edwards' laughing on set of some of the Panther movies. Quite fascinating, this documentary, though because of its short one hour length, it also seemed abrupt concerning the segue from one Panther movie to the next especially when the time came to discuss Peter's last proposed Panther script which one of the interviewees who's not mentioned above says would have been a disaster especially since Sellers was thinking of directing it himself with Blake nowhere near it. Despite the limited running time though, The Curious Case of Inspector Clouseau was still worth my time as a die-hard Pink Panther fan.
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