Jun 12, 2019
The Pink Panther (1963)
"If I were my father, I would have you tortured."
"You know, if you were your father, I doubt very much if I would have kissed you."
#the pink panther#1963#blake edwards#Comedy film#Films i done watched#peter sellers#david niven#robert wagner#capucine#claudia cardinale#Colin gordon#Brenda de Banzie#James Lanphier#Michael Trubshawe#Guy Thomajan#Riccardo Billi#henry mancini#fran jeffries#One of those rare moments in film history where from complete chaos history is made. Designed as a crime caper with an international#Ensemble cast; first choices ava gardner and then Peter Ustinov backed out to be replaced by capucine and sellers respectively#Edwards had multiple cameras rolling to capture the improvisations he encouraged. And from this something iconic was born#Although sellers steals the film (despite niven's top billing) everyone is really very good. Edwards encouraged all his cast to develop#Comic performances and both cardinale and the lovely capucine get some brilliant moments. Cardinale didn't speak any english at#This point which further points to the controlled chaos going on behind the scenes. Watching again now it doesn't really feel like a panthe#Film i suppose but something altogether more sophisticated and wry. With meglio stasera mancini produced one of the most#Memorable song breaks in a 60s film (all the better for some comic business going on in the background between sellers and gordon)#Oh and don't feel bad for Ustinov. He made Topkapi instead (in a role earmarked for sellers) and won an Oscar for it#So everybody won. This was the beginning of a long but fraught relationship between Edwards and sellers. They enjoyed working with one#Another immensely here but it wasn't to last. With each sequel their working relationship deteriorated a little more#It's sad because they clearly sparked so well off each other. This may have also been the beginning of sellers' issues with diet pills
