Customer Reviews

The Pink Panther Film Collection (The Pink Panther / A Shot in the Dark / Strikes Again / Revenge of the Pink Panther / Trail of the Pink Panther)

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Having bought the Pink Panther Box set, thinking that all the pink panther movies where included (which there not), I was upset that probally the best movie (The Return of the Pink Panther) was not included. Other than that, it's a good buy

I can't beleive they would even consider this. It is missing 4 of the movies. That's almost half. Sure, they aren't all great, and 2 of them are owned by other companies, but a film collection is supposed to have all the movies in a collection right? "Inspector Clouseau," "Curse of the Pink Panther," and "Son of the Pink Panther" aren't on DVD, so there is no way to complete your collection. "Return of the Pink Panther" is out there from Artisan...but its just not the same. Still, if you're a fan, you might as well pick up this set, 4 out of 5 are classic comedies.

Having been a fan of "The Pink Panther" series from childhood, I was ecstatic that this set was being released, as the films are otherwise out of print on DVD (although luckily I still have my trusty VHS copies in reserve). I am tempted to give the set five stars simply because it is a wonderful day to see these films back in print, but realistically I had to take it down a notch as there a couple of negative considerations, the most obvious of which, of course, is the absence of "Return of the Pink Panther" from the collection, ostensibly because of legal hang-ups. Whatever the cause, the absence of the first of the 1970s-era "Panthers" is sorely missed. The other minor negative is the relative absence of special features on the movie DVDs, although the original "Pink Panther" has a wonderful trivia track. I would have really loved commentary tracks with Blake Edwards and some of the actors. I am somewhat ambivalent on the extremely unusual packaging the set comes in. It is hard to adequately describe the case, but suffice it to say that removing half of the DVDs is annoyingly difficult, although it looks very stylish.

On the positive end, you get four great "Panther" movies and the bodged-together "Trail of the Pink Panther", plus a disk of extras. Some people have dismissed the extras disk as inconsequential, but I rather enjoyed it. I particularly liked the documentary "The Pink Panther Story" which was heavy on interviews and insight. I had no idea that Sellers hated "A Shot in the Dark", whereas I (and many others) think it is a perfect movie in every way. I knew that Sellers could be somewhat Mercurial to work with, but I had no idea, for instance, that he had certain colors that he would not tolerate around him, and in fact made the producers of one of the movies once repaint a train because he couldn't stand the color! Also on the disk is a documentary about the animated Panther, which is quite interesting, as well as several of the short subject cartoons, which seem selected at random. They did include the Oscar winning "Pink Phink", the first cartoon short of the Pink Panther, which was an excellent choice. "Psychedelic Pink" included an annoying laugh track, and "Pinkfinger" was one of the weaker of the cartoons, which I have great recollection of from childhood. Interestingly enough, there are two related subject cartoons, one each of the Ant and the Aardvark, and The Inspector (in a fairly weak episode) to round out the extra disk.

This is a great set overall, with just a couple of things bringing it down to a four rating. I recommend it to all "Panther" fans everywhere, and to anyone who loves to laugh.

i think its great they decided to put these classic films into a set finally. but what about return of the pink panther? even though it isnt as popular as the others, its still a part of the series, and i think its a great one as well. as someone else said they should've put all 8 films in a set. that would be awesome, but all the same, this is a must have dvd set.

MGM's "Panther" set wastes no time in showing off its quality once the menu queues up, as the tenor-sax notes of Henry Mancini's eternally cool theme song slink out of the speakers. Director Blake Edwards delivers a delightful solo commentary on the first and best film, "The Pink Panther."

The DVDs' fine (5.1) audio is complemented by the vivid widescreen images on the first "Panther," a gorgeous relic of the swinging '60s. The reproduction allows contemplation of detail such as the amazing topography of David Niven's hair. There's a lot for the Technicolor to take in -- fabulous clothes, beautiful people and to-die-for European locations.

A half-hour docu on the "Panther" films checks in with the series' surviving principals. A brisk DVD documentary tells the tale of the Pink Panther cartoon character, found money for Blake and his partners. A bonus disc collects the Panther's animated adventures.

The five original "Panther" films collected in this set range from the nostalgic pleasures of the first to the sludge of "Trail of the Pink Panther" -- a barely watchable collection of Sellers outtakes borne along by a why-bother story -- but with Peter Sellers onscreen the laughs never completely faded away. DVD viewers are both warned and encouraged.

I agree with other assessemtns - I would have paid more to have ALL the pink panther films, but to lose, perhaps the funniest and less cartoonish of the later ones ("Return of the Pink Panther") is inexcusable.

Save your money and wait for the bigger set to come. Big BIG BIG dissapointment.

I've been a big Panther fan for decades. This set's great, the lack of Return notwithstanding (I already have it anyway...)

The big problem I have is that the main menus refuse to come up on our DVD player. The only disc which works correctly is the Bonus Disc. The five other discs do not display the menu. I can get access to the different choices (set-up, chapters, extras), but only by winging it with the enter key. Pretty annoying.

This is one of the only DVD's I've ever had this happen with.

Be Warned, but probably buy it any way.

There's simply no point in issuing a boxed set of Pink Panther movies that excludes RETURN. Why the heck didn't they just wait till they got the rights?

MGM/UA Video clearly see's nothing but $$$ signs in their eyes and have done nothing but insult the public. But what's new, big corporations have been doing that for centuries.

Trail of the Pink Panther is not even a proper movie. Oh yes, sure you can see outtakes from the other films and it could have been considered as bonus material but certainly doesn't warrent inclusion as part of the actual series.

I say we should all boycott this boxed set and send a message to corporate greed. Don't be a fool and spend your hard earned cash on this incomplete set. You're just lining the pockets of the rich and letting them know it's ok to deliver unacceptable product to the public.

Get it right or you don't get my money!

The Pink Panther Film Collection consists of 5 Panther films and 1 bonus disc. Only 4 of the films are worthy ('Trail of the Pink Panther' is a train wreck of a film - it's a film made of outtakes and clips from previous films tacked together two years after Peter Seller's death), and it's also missing a major Panther film ('Return of the Pink Panther') which was the first Sellers-Edwards collaboration immediately following the hiatus after 'Shot in the Dark'.

The 4 worthy films, though, shine as comedy classics, fully display Sellers' genius, witness the evolution of the Clouseau character, and feature the talents of Seller's surroundings casts and Edwards' direction. Many can argue which is the best film; I personally prefer 'The Pink Panther' followed by 'Revenge of the Pink Panther'.

The bonus disc has one documentary about the Panther films, one documentary about the Panther animation, and 6 Pink Panther cartoons. The main documentary has some good info about the Panther series, but is not nearly as comprehensive as it could be. There is no mention of the thought process behind 'Trail' and scant detail about the other films.

'The Pink Panther' has audio commentary by Blake Edwards, a trivia feature, a photo gallery, and the original trailer. The other films have only the photo galleries and trailers.

Deep insight into the Pink Panther series is missing in this collection, but it's also an excellent value for four great comedies.

The bonus dvd was not really great. If I would have done a bonus dvd, then I would have added the great outtakes from the making of these movies. They are almost as much fun to watch as the movies themselves.