A Shot in the Dark (1964)

User Rating:

7.6/10   

Director:

Blake Edwards

Writers:

Blake Edwards (screenplay) and
William Peter Blatty (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

23 June 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Mystery

Tagline:

It's Sellers the Sleuth... and there's nothing he won't do to track down a body -- dead or alive!

Plot:

As murder follows murder, beautiful Maria is the obvious suspect; bumbling Inspector Clouseau drives his boss mad by seeing her as plainly innocent.

Plot Keywords:

Clouseau | Inspector | Murder | Maid | Detective

Awards:

Nominated for BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Peter Sellers	...	Jacques Clouseau
Elke Sommer	...	Maria Gambrelli
George Sanders	...	Benjamin Ballon
Herbert Lom	...	Charles Dreyfus
Tracy Reed	...	Dominique Ballon
Graham Stark	...	Hercule LaJoy
Moira Redmond	...	Simone
Vanda Godsell	...	Madame LaFarge
Maurice Kaufmann	...	Pierre
Ann Lynn	...	Dudu
David Lodge	...	Georges
André Maranne	...	Francois
Martin Benson	...	Maurice
Burt Kwouk	...	Kato
Reginald Beckwith	...	Receptionist

Runtime:

102 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) (original rating) | Canada:G (Manitoba/Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) (re-rating) (2003) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Portugal:M/12 | Iceland:L | New Zealand:PG | USA:Approved (certificate #20691) | Canada:G (video rating) | Netherlands:AL | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Brazil:12 | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:PG | Norway:11 (re-rating) | Norway:16 (original rating) | Singapore:PG | UK:A (original rating) | UK:PG (video rating) (1988) | USA:PG (re-rating) (1975) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Luton Hoo Estate, Luton, Bedfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Mirisch Corporation, The

Trivia:

Body count: 8

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: In the scene where Peter Sellers answers the door bell and finds a package (a clock with a bomb) you can see clearly that someone has left the keys in the door lock as he opens the door.

Quotes:

Clouseau: [after bumping into Hercule] You fool! I could have killed you with a karatay chop-uh!
[tries to leave and runs into him again]
Clouseau: You fool! You're off the case!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The 50 Greatest Comedy Films (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Shadows of Paris

Lesser known, but this is the best Pink Panther film

A fast paced comedy/mystery less about who-dun-it than how many corpses can they fit in the movie?! The Inspector Clousseau character returns and Sellars is to be credited with creating a characterization that seems just believable enough to be ridiculous.

Some very funny moments of physical and verbal humor. Sommer is mostly window dressing in this role, forced to play straight-gal to Sellars' sometimes manic "clumsiness". Lom makes his first series appearance (with hilarious facial tics) as the head cop. The best film in the series.

Very memorable opening sequence set to Mancini's excellent theme song is one of the film's many highlights.