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Now let me tell you about the sequel to the original Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark. In this sequel, Maria becomes the primary suspect in the murder mystery until her sheer beauty leaves Inspector Clouseau wanting to believe otherwise. As a result, a chase begins in which Clouseau does everything in his power to prove her innocence. In my opinion, many people assume this sequel is an overarching improvement to the original, which just isn’t right given that both are of equal stature despite being incredibly different. The original casual black comedy style tone still remains prevalent even in A Shot in the Dark.
Unlike the previous installment, A Shot in the Dark manages to maintain a level of humor which keeps the audience immersed throughout, without going for the cheap laugh. The film manages to integrate funny bits into almost every scene, which is a good thing, because the first half of the movie was almost unwatchable due to the sheer dullness. However, the second half of the movie had a riot of a time which was unfortunate because almost all the funny parts of the sequels are comparably worse. Overall, even with the second movie having a much more amusing tone than the first it still suffers from the dull structural issues which the first one had.
Despite the outlandish plot, the movie delivers in ways you least expect it to, like for instance, utilizing Herbert Lom’s role of a Clouseau hating commissioner named Charles Dreyfus to its fullest and actually making the character funny instead of a pain to watch. His performance throughout the movie is without a doubt the funniest thing about the movie even though, Sellers and many others were still stuck in the degraded phase where they were relying way too much on repeated bit.
The best part about Dreyfus is that he is so comical in the way he gets angry. Maria is also hard to forget, but in my opinion, the femininity in the first part of the movie was a lot more compelling. On the negative side, I think George Sanders was also greatly underused here, which is a pity because he is such a fantastic actor. As for Cato, I think he’s very funny and amusing, but my word, his caricature of a martial artist is very much out of fashion now.
With A Shot in the Dark, there has been an audible improvement in direction, pacing, and even editing compared to the first one. The series format has benefited from a shorter runtime, so I welcome that. Wonderful performances as well. The nude camp scene is brilliant and the ending is truly unforgettable, but the long silence between bits of killing was really funny. The beginning is quite clearly artistic. Again, the movie isn’t exactly funny, but it is amusingly ridiculous and hosts a variety of entertaining circumstances.
This chill, gory, and low-budget thriller is surprisingly well-polished in several aspects, from the umbral cinematography that captures every frame like a masters painting, to the flash-cut heavy editing, along with the shrieky score and sound design. However, if violent films and jumbled timeline stories are not your forte, then this movie is definitely one meant for the trash can. It does feel like a calling card effort for the team who created the picture, which contains the co-writer and director, Keene McRae, who is attempting to further his career by taking on this feature, in addition to acting in a supporting role. The skills are certainly there, but the more dialed in approach toward character building was noticeably absent.
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