None. The.
Hello and welcome to Goon Pod, coming to you this week live
from a well appointed ski lodge in the Italian Alps where my
guest and I are drinking cognac and contemplating forming a
conga line. And they're both in sensible
knitwear. Isn't that right, Gary?
Very much so, yes. And oh, who is this?
Who's just booked head? And this is handsome American.
This is Robert Wagner. Hey.
Who's that over there? Enjoying a joke with Capucine.
It's it's one and only Colin Gordon.
The Dorset tones you can hear belong to my guest this week.
Gary. Roger.
Hello, Gary. Hello, how are you doing?
And thank you for inviting me back.
I'm glad to say that I do have an actual working microphone
this time, which is quite often useful when you're recording
podcasts. I had a hell of a job trying to
because because last time you were here because Gary was on
last year talking about the the Clueso films in general terms
and obviously I invited you on today to talk specifically about
the Pink Panther, the first one because it is 60 years this
month December 2023 in in December 1963 the Pink Panther
was released. But yeah last time you were on
that you're you're the technology was was letting you
down slightly so. What happened was I was actually
speaking to you from Scotland last time.
Oh yeah, and that in itself shouldn't make a difference.
But I was not speaking to you from my regular board and I had
to make urgent provision for a microphone and I chose one on
the strength of the fine reviews on Amazon which turned out to be
less inaccurate. But thankfully I am now reunited
with my lovely blue Yeti and yes all all as well.
We don't we don't need microphones here do we?
Because we're, as you said we're in this lovely ski lodge and
this is, this is the home of fielding isn't it.
And so your your voice carries and carries and carries and out
there, I think I can see, Is it Lauren Hardy trying to move an
organ over a rather wonky bridge and being chased by a gorilla?
Yes, Yes it is. Is it Robert Wagner in a gorilla
suit? No.
OK, so no. Have we actually now got a
definitive link between Lauren Hardy and the Pink Panther?
Are we actually saying that that's that's Canon?
Yes. Right.
OK. Yeah, we'll go with that.
I'm, I'm sure, I'm sure I mentioned that last time I was
on. About Spike Milligan using that
clip and there's a lot about the the added caption live from
Oslo, which said nine year old mean to hysteric.
So we're going to talk about gorilla suits a bit later, I
think. Yes, yes.
So yeah, you're you're you're very fond of the franchise,
aren't you? The the Pink Panther franchise,
the series of films with, let's face it, with Sellers as clue.
So. Indeed.
I mean we have actually we we did watch.
I was a year ago. We watched Inspector Closer with
Alan Arkin. Yeah, we did.
And it was an interesting, it was an interesting film.
And then he brought his own style to it.
But I think also, I mean that film.
No, not that Peter Sellers nor Blake Edwards was involved in
that film. Am I right?
No, and I I prefer my Alan Arkin, late 60s Alan Arkin
menacing Audrey Hepburn, then being a bumbling French
detective, to be honest. Fun Funny, you mentioned Audrey
Hepburn because I think her name is going to come up in this
conversation. Everything's linked.
Everything is, isn't it? Really.
It really is. I mean, this is, I know that
this is something that you and I and Tilt, of course, I've talked
about on the Sitcom Club before, but the supposed sitcom universe
where basically everything is just an expansion of everything
else. And we've probably advanced this
absurd notion that when television started in Britain,
it should have been an established protocol that every
piece of OK, I'll give, we'll give Shakespeare, you know, a
pass on this. But any kind of new drama or
comedy, all of it, has to be in some way linked to the previous
one, so that you have this enormous, basically vast,
stellar St. Of fictitious characters running
all the way through every single piece of British drama and
comedy. You mentioned the sitcom club
there, so that is that, along with Jaffa Cakes for Prouster
the the two central planks of your podcasting empire, shall we
say both, which both of which have been on hiatus for quite
some time for a number of reasons.
Yes, indeed. Yeah, we are.
We are hopeful, but we we can't guarantee, but we are hopeful
that we might be able to release some sort of Christmassy treat
before the end of the year. But in the meantime, all of the
previous episodes are available, of course, at secondclub.com.
Yeah. And thank you for giving me the
chance to crowbar that in there. And the the the possible
Christmas treat. It's possibly about a hitherto
to us anyway unknown sitcom from the 1970s, right?
Well now this is the thing, because you actually put me on
to this because I'm trying to remember what I was doing.
I think it was. I was probably faffing about oh
I know what it was. Yeah.
So. Oh, right.
OK, how much of this can I say out loud?
OK, so my my sort of my, my real life work so to speak.
Is that ITV? And I was doing some ITV bits
and pieces. What do you think?
I think it might have been involving the FA Cup or
something like that and I suddenly get an urgent message
from Tyler saying there's a sitcom with Ken Jones and R for
low together. Can you get this thing?
And yeah, we we we investigated it and yes, it turns out that a
few of them have managed to to survive.
So yeah, we we will we will come back to that.
Hopefully that'll be before the end of the year.
But yes, I'm looking forward to that way.
I know we watched the the first one of those just recently, and
it's good silly fun by the the same writer as NEAREST and
Dearest John Stevenson. Yeah, and what else?
He wrote. Coronation Street.
Not all of it. Did a number of episodes.
Yeah. OK, Well, hopefully, hopefully,
as I say that, that will be coming up sometime in the
future. So let's talk about the Pink
Panther. We must find that woman.
What was that? What you say?
We don't have much of A description.
About 5 foot 7 black hair, wearing a light beige coat and
the fools that that fence escape.
He might have talked. We will catch him.
We must. We must find that woman.
She is our first positive link with the Phantom.
This film in particular, what does it mean to you?
So I suppose like most youths I got into pink panthering via the
cartoons and my era was very much the all new banned for show
featuring crazy like screen. And of course gradually through
repeats and what have you, you're introduced to the the
others in the series, particularly the fact that the
inspector clues or cartoons. He has a sidekick who sounds
very much like he's voiced by John Blue Fall although I don't
think he is. He never actually appears in the
films. And then of course, I think, I
think maybe the first one I ever saw was Strikes Again.
I think it would have been a television screening of that
sometime around about early 80s. And for a while that was how I
just saw the Pink Panther films. It is Peter Sellers as Inspector
Clouseau and there's Cato running around and there's
Herbert Long with his dangerous cigar lighter and so on and so
on. And gradually what if actually,
what if the one of our reference guides?
Because of course, you know these days it's all about the
Internet, isn't it? It's all about the tik toks.
But when you and I were growing up, you had books on a shelf
that were written by people like Leslie Halliwell, and you
consulted them if you wanted to find out about past films of a
series. And that's when I discovered, of
course, about the fact that David Nevin had been in the
original Pink Panther and this was intended as a vehicle for
himself. And I don't actually think I saw
this film until the year 2000, surprisingly enough, because for
whatever reason, my viewing of the Pink Panther films was
somewhat sporadic. So I never saw Revenge of the
Pink Panther until I think 1992. I saw the Alan Arkin one,
strange enough, I think I saw that before then I think that
was sitting on the video shop and I was intrigued to find out
what it looked like. And I'm pretty sure I actually
actually. I know I certainly saw the trail
of the big pan for many years before I ever saw the actual pig
pan for So what? About shot in the dark, maybe
you see. That shot in the dark?
I don't think I saw that for the first time till maybe about 10
years ago. Strangely enough that wouldn't
always eluded me for whatever reason.
You know what it's like with like certain films or shows
where you always just realize that you've just missed them in
the schedule they were just on the other day or something like
that. And before you know obviously we
had catch up and so on. So it was one of those things
where it was like always, all next time, Next time it's on,
I'll get to see it. But I got Trail, the Pink
Panther, the video shop, I think sometime around about 9192.
And of course, Trail has quite a lot of clips of the Pink Panther
in it. So that would have been the
first time that I'd seen that footage.
And then the first time I actually saw the film was a
television, airing in 2000. Was was that the IT the
notorious ITV airing? Yes.
I mean, I don't know that it has a lot of notoriety outside of
our conversations. Yeah, but for anybody who
didn't, and he was discussing this previously, it got an
airing at early peak time Saturday tea time in August of
2000, and was intended to then kick off a pink pan for season
with the rest of the films in that same slot.
But that season didn't get any further, at least in that slot.
It then moved to early afternoon and we were chatting off early
all day about it. May well be the people who were
planning those schedules at the time were sort of thinking,
well, obviously you've got to start with the first one,
whereas the audience is expecting to see broad it's
better clues. Oh and Cato and Dreyfus and so
on and so on. And I suspect to be honest, I
think it would have been exactly the same if they had started the
season with a shot in the dark. I mean, even though you've got
by that point, yes, you've got Dreyfus and so on.
I think that for most people the return strikes again on revenge
are considered the epitome of Clueso.
But there there were generally speaking what people identify
with when they think of that character.
And as we'll discuss that, this film is somewhat uneven and
there is a sort of a back and forth between Sellers and Nevin
as to who this film is for in a way.
Well, yeah. So the the film was conceived as
a as a comedy. Well, like a gentle comedy.
Not a gentle comedy, but one of those glitzy international romps
that was so beloved of film makers in the early 60s about
this charming jewel thief. So Charles Litton AKA The
Phantom and I I gather that Niven saw this or hoped that
this would be the first of a series of of films about the
antics of Sir Charles Litton because he was casting around
for projects to work on around this time wasn't it?
And and the character of Clusey was very much secondary and and
Peter Ustinov was famously originally cast as Clue so.
I didn't actually realize until I was researching for the
podcast today the used to not, apparently.
This is, according to Blake Edwards, an interview he had
pulled out of the film of One Week to Go.
Yeah, something like that. Yes, and so they were in a quite
a desperate state to try and find a replacement.
See and. These days you'd be held, held
to a contractually to God that you'd be financially.
It would be very, very difficult to extricate yourself from well,
I feel. Yeah, yeah, I think they
actually said that they did pursue legal action against just
enough as a result of ruling out.
And he wasn't the first person of course, as we'll come to, to
have left the project. Oh yeah.
Yeah, so he he went off and filmed very good film.
Top Carpi, which was directed by Jules Dessen.
Have you seen Top? Probably I seen this last time.
Have you seen Top Carpi? Have we watched?
Happy N No, no, I have no we have not.
On the list, It's really good. It's based on an Eric Ambler.
I love Eric Ambler, the novelist based on one of his novels.
And apparently Sellers had been offered the role that used to
have took up. So essentially they swap rolls,
I guess. Ceramics handmade by the
descendants of ancient heroes here, Reverend.
My name is Simpsons, Arthur Simpson.
I'm Church of India myself. It's a very religious place.
Do you know that Saint Paul passed through here on his way
to Samarth race? I do.
Will you be surprised to know the amount of people that don't
Bishop? The whole idea of the Pink
Panther came about because Blake Edwards was talking to a writer
that he had used before, a writer called Maurice or Maurice
Richland. And he he approached him with
the with a pitch for a film. And it was basically a French
police inspector is on the trail of a notorious jewel thief.
And the twist is that the inspector's wife is having an
affair with the thief. And that was the that was the
pitch, and Blake Edwards ran with it.
We may as well actually just just touching on straight away
because I I asked yourself last night about this and then we
said no hope, no save save it for the recording.
Yes. Yeah always we'll discuss
everything before and so OK let let let's let's take opposing
views on this for the sake of argument.
OK, let's let's let's suggest that this is Sky News and
today's hot topic during Kate Barley's show.
Is this, Did Clouseau and Simone, did they actually have a
loving relationship at first before her head was turned by
the world of Eve's and Laurent? Or was Simone always in a
relationship with Sir Charles and was using Clouseau from day
one? You can take whatever side of
the argument you want and I'll I'll provide the.
That's a point. So how long?
In the film Clueso says that he's been on the trail of the
Phantom for? I think it's.
I didn't jot it down between 10 and 15 years, something like
that, I think. And I think he's only been
married to Simone less than that period.
So I I contend that Simone married Clueso specifically to
aid the Phantom. In other words, she would be
able to provide the Phantom with inside information, and so he'd
be one step ahead of the police investigations.
That's my contention. OK, for the sake of argument,
I'm going to say I would like to think and I'm I'm more sort of,
this is a sympathy for Clueso. I'd like to think that there was
something there to begin with before because I mean, OK, if
given that Clueso has been chasing the Phantom for so long,
then he's bound to have mentioned it early on in their
relationship. And the more he said about the
phantom, perhaps that's when she started getting interested and
perhaps has then sort of considered, OK, well, you know
this phantom is is Oh yeah. Because obviously he suspects,
you know, before the the big pan for itself is his latest target
that he suspects it is Charles. So she will have seen Sir
Charles as an important person, a businessman, so on and so on
in the media and thought, yeah, that that lifestyle looks
interesting compared to the lifestyle of a police officer's
wife, so. But yet, technically, then, she
has she has unmasked Sir Charles as the phantom before her
husband has. That's his job.
Well. I mean, we know that.
So Charles and someone are already in the relationship at
the beginning of this film, so maybe it's a Charles himself who
has unmasked himself to someone rather than rather than clues.
Or perhaps. And the rest.
Well, indeed, yes. But I mean, because, yeah, first
glance you're sort of thinking, OK, yeah, how Clueso and Simone,
that they just their roles are not the same and you think,
yeah, how, how could this have come about?
But it could be. True love, but again she's an
elegant, self assured woman of the world and it's again, it's
it's like the question, how did Sellers, sorry, had a clue.
So get to the position he is in this French, in the settee, no.
Yes, because I I'm I'm going to suggest that this is a Peter
Principle in play and that Clueso is strange thing is OK
Clueso is buffoonish and he's obviously accident prone but
don't think Clueso stupid Clueso sometimes in his calculations
and what have you. I'm I'm going to be on just this
one single film and think of the series as a whole.
Sometimes he's an he's he's right.
Sometimes he is correct in his calculations.
He's not very good at being able to act upon his suspicions, but
he must surely have. OK, I guess it's ridiculous
saying this when you then think of the scene with himself and
John Blue Fall as the lookout at the beginning of the town and
you think how an Earth could could get this, How does this
guy actually manage to, you know, find his way to the office
correctly every morning? But I think, I think there was a
combination of he does have a good brain for detective work to
an extent. I think he's also good, good
people around him. And also he is quite often lucky
that he finds himself at the right place at the right time.
And I could see that happening because, I mean, everybody knows
people like that, probably in their own workplace.
You see people and you think that bloody hell that they get
promoted. Oh, absolutely.
Level. And OK, I'm I'm one of them.
Right, OK. OK, hang on, hang on.
OK I'm going to be going to be circumspect about what I'm
describing here but this is this is a place I used to work at
many, many years ago like sort of 20 plus years ago.
One of the managers there was receiving an award for I don't
know whatever it was employee of the month whatever it was but
some some it was, some do that were staging.
And up he goes and he gets his little plaque and what have you
and shakes the chief executives and and there's a woman there
that I didn't recognize because we're all standing at the bar
myself and all these coworkers and she's saying how the how the
hell he got that I will never know if honestly.
Right if he if he is your manager then God help a lot of
you. That was his wife.
And honestly, I mean, and she wasn't wrong because if you ever
said anything to him, if you said you've got some sort of
issue and you, you explain what the problem was, his face would
just freeze. Like he was like the equivalent
of like the blue screen on windows.
You could see that, like the cogs trying to turn over and in
his mind. But somehow he was above far,
far more on the face of it, far far more capable people.
And he obviously said the right things.
He never struck me out. There was a particularly good
networker. So how he done it, I don't know.
But yeah, so I can only assume that the same as well.
Yes, yeah. But there's sometimes Gary, It's
something as simple as I used to work for a very small company
many, many, many years ago, where someone completely
incompetent in terms of doing the actual job achieved a level
of promotion simply because he provided our boss with a steady
stream of pornography. So back in the days when you had
to work for it, you know? It's interesting.
Just talking about you, you said Cluso is not stupid, or at least
he I I think it's quite interesting watching this film
again for the purposes of this, because you're watching it.
I'm watching it with more of a critical eye, you know?
And it's interesting how Cluso frequently acknowledges when
something simple that he attempts to do goes awry.
There's. One.
There's one in particular where he is in the bedroom and he
attempts to place his gloves and his hat on the hangar and both
just immediately dropped to the floor and it just holds up his
hands. Yeah.
It doesn't have. To say a word.
And he's not. He's not.
Oblivious to his failings. Is he?
Let's put it down, yes, yes. And I like it's interesting as
well. So we're going to go backwards
forge with this conversation. I know, but you said before that
Sellers was the replacement for Houston off at very short
notice. And I gather, depending on you
know what you've read, who you believe he Sellers arrived in
Rome on the Friday to begin filming on the Monday in in
November 62, and he meets Blake Edwards.
Blake Edwards really only knew him from seeing.
I'm all right, Jack. Prior to this and in the car
journey from the airport to the hotel, the the two of them were
talking about the character of Clouseau as it had been sketched
out for Houston off and the Houston off.
Clouseau was to be quite composed, quite straight, quite
by the book, and Sellers was firm that he wants to make the
role his own. So both men, you mentioned
Lauren Hardy, Both men loved Lauren Hardy, that they loved
the great silent comics, and in that during the course of that
car journey between the two of them, they they they sort of
shaped the character of Clueso. The basic details if you like.
So he's a well-intentioned yet idiotic accident prone character
who is aware of his own failings but never gives up despite
everything. Conspiring.
Against them. And he always tries to maintain
his dignity. Yes.
Above all else, yes. And and also in this film, this
first film we never see because he he's only got a wife in this
film. In subsequent films, he's a
bachelor. He's very, what's the word,
Axorious. He's very devoted, overly
devoted to his wife. Although I think he's just
trying to get his end away, really, isn't he?
He's basic. Uh huh.
Why aren't you in bed, my darling?
I was. I mean.
I mean, I'm just. I'm just going to, dear.
My study varies. Yes, The Porter just brought it
in. I sent it to the.
Village to be repaired. I just hope they know how to fix
plastic. I hope so too.
So far so good. We shall see.
Better. Than ever.
Yeah. I doubt if we should need it
tonight, my love. I'm sure we won't die.
Yeah. No.
He. He.
Really does come across as genuinely in love with someone.
Yeah. And that that makes a little
more tragic. Yeah, because you.
Can see that he's being played and I suspect anybody else
observing their relationship for any length of time, even if they
don't know anything about Sir Charles being in the picture,
they can see that it's generally one way traffic.
You know, he will give a lot. She will give a little back,
which seems to be just enough to to satisfy him and to to keep
him, you know, away from suspicion or whatever.
Like I said, actually there are a couple of times in the film,
but he does, he says at one point we mustn't have any
secrets between US. And he spots little things like
on not little things at all, but like the shattered vase of
flowers and so on. And even then there's a little
flicker there is if he's sort of thinking, OK, is there something
going on here? But that doesn't last very long
that doesn't doesn't stay with him.
He doesn't become more and more suspicious.
He's he's almost like he's constantly on his guard every
once in a while. But then she only has to say the
slightest little thing and he's reassured again and as far as
he's concerned all is OK. There's the, there's.
The scene where he sees the wet footprints, yes.
Trailing along the. Floor towards the bed.
Yes. And he's for the longest time
he's trying to work out what this could mean.
And then Simone just pulls him into the bed and all is
forgotten. Yes.
Pretty much. It is.
I mean, a lot of this film is is set in the Clueso bedroom or the
the hotel bedroom that the Cluesos are staying in.
And it's a classic bedroom fast, isn't it?
Well, now this. This this is the the one of the
things that struck me about the film and how sort of uneven it
is because in a way it sort of feels like 2 films.
I don't just mean that the the the two and a throw in between
is Sir Charles or Clueso. Which one of them is actually
like the the the big star of this film?
But you see that like the the first thing that actually struck
me just watching it back the other day.
The opening titles don't include Clueso, which is understandable
because like you say, he wasn't intended to be the principal
character. The next thing I noticed, apart
from the fact of how colorful the film is, because it really
does, it makes good use of the the outdoors and the
surroundings and everything. It looks so warm.
It looks so inviting. Oh, well, yeah.
I'm sorry to interrupt, but in the 1st 10 minutes of the film,
we see four different locations and they are on location.
We well, sorry, right at the beginning we see the the Sultan
of Lugash, don't we? But then we see Rome, including
apartments which were situated directly across the road from
the Colosseum, Hollywood and Cortina.
Yes. That's all in.
The 1st 10 minutes, yes. And then you go from that and
it's a really busy opening as well as a lot going on in those
first few minutes, a lot of characters going on.
And there's also a couple of, they don't, they're not red
headings as such, but a couple of things that sort of throw you
the wrong way. The two heavies that are chasing
after Robert Wagner's character, for example, you might think,
OK, or we're going to see them again.
I mean, if I do things like that where you're sort of, you're
just sort of finding your way in the opening of the film, you're
sort of thinking, OK, by who's who here, what's what's, what's
actually, yeah. What's?
Our what's our focus point? I expected.
More definitely from the Robert Wagner character.
In terms of his back story to come into this, it doesn't
really. All it is that he owes some
goons in Hollywood. 40,000. Dollars.
Yeah. He's been lying to his
benefactor, His uncle, Yeah, Sir Charles, that he's studious at
college and looking to join the Peace Corps.
But he's just been out and about having a a grand old time of it,
hasn't he really he hasn't done. He's, he's, he's, he's a he's.
An early American prototype for Leslie Phillips and Casanova,
73. You better explain.
Explain that. So for for those who've never
seen Casanova 73, written by Gordon and Simpson is basically
Leslie Phillips trying to get his oats week in, week out.
And this show began at 8:00 in the evening and was rapidly
elbowed to post Watershed because it really was just
Leslie Phillips trying to get his leg over with a very.
Suggestive opening credit sequence.
Oh. God, yes.
Yes. And which we won't dwell on, but
no, wasn't it? Wasn't it responsible for
Mastermind? Yes.
Because they needed something to go into that 8:00 slot and
mastermind it was. And of course that then became,
I mean still going today, of course.
But yeah, that that, that promotion to that slot is what
established mastermind from then on.
Should we just talk a little bit about the principal actors in
this? Yes.
Like to do. I always like to do this, you
know, I like to say, you know what have we seen them in before
and that sort of thing now? Let me just quickly throw in one
name right the outset, which the name popped up on the screen and
I thought, I know that name but I cannot place him.
The associate producer of the film was Dick Crockett, and I
think he might also have been stuntman for this film as well
as yes, he was the President in Strikes Again the the.
The sort of Jimmy Sorry, Gerald Ford.
Gerald Ford. Yeah, Avatar.
Yeah, yeah. Really.
Yes. And you?
As soon as I saw his name, I thought, I've seen that name
somewhere before. And yeah, yeah, because.
The scenes in this in The Pink Panther, during the fancy dress
party, you've obviously got Clouseau in the suit of armour,
and sometimes the visor is up, sometimes it's down, and often
when it's down, the character of Clouseau falls over.
Yes, that's Dick Crockett in that it's not sellers, I I do.
Like the fact that the clues So again look at this goes back to
him not having an excess of common sense, that of all the
different costumes that he could have chosen for this rather
important task, he has chosen the least mobile of all.
You're not going to outrun somebody, are you in a do we
think? Do we think that he went to the
the dress shop of Augusta's Balls, regardless of whether he
was Graham Stark or Harvey Carman?
And just the thing for you, Inspector.
Does or did August balls have a branch in Rome?
I'm I'm sure, I'm sure something could be arranged.
I mean he because he, I think he is actually his own, his only
customers, you know? Yeah, OK.
But yes, so that's interesting. Dick Crockett.
Yeah, I can picture him now in Strikes Again, Which is.
Is that your favorite? Isn't that your?
Is that your favorite? My.
Favorite of all is return because I think that it's got,
it's just got the perfect balance of the the clues or by
that time the clues or is sort of what you've come to expect
from the characters is the character is fully rounded and
he's in I suppose what you call his final form.
Also I really like the the subplot with Christopher Plummer
running for that film as well. Yeah, it's interesting.
That never didn't return to place.
Charles. It's Christopher Plummer.
Yet Nevin returns after Sellers is dead, Betrayal and yes.
He is in course as well, yes, as is, as is Capucine.
But I don't think, I don't think never would have been right for
the role as portrayed in return, because he's much more physical.
He's why he sees, you know, he seems to have gone backwards in
age. He's a slightly younger man,
true. And there's a lot of action
going on. I don't know that never would
have been ideal for that. Probably not.
No. Just on Capucine.
Real name? Oh God.
I'm going to take a run at this. Jermaine Helaine Irene
Lefebrevre. He was famous as a model, but
she made, she did quite a few films and her squeeze at the
time of this film for one of a better word was Charles Feldman.
And he also happened to be Blake Edwards agent.
And she and she came into because I think Eva Kardner was
meant to be Madame Clouseau, wasn't she?
Yes. But she had she.
Had some unrealistic demands, yes.
And I think that I think she, I think she ended up leaving maybe
about sort of three weeks into the initial stages for the
production and there was about a week after that I think the use
not left but kept the cap. You seen interesting because she
had a long relationship with the actor William Holden in in the
60s. She was very close friends with
Audrey Hepburn and Audrey Hepburn had been considered for
the role of the Princess isn't she?
And you I think you said because we touched on this last night.
I think you said or Tilt said that would have made sense and I
disagree because right at the beginning of the film when we
see the young Princess and the pre credits sequence in Lucash
clearly played by a young actress who is, you know, of
Asian descent, no getting around it.
Whereas Claudia Cardinali who we see you know in the rest of the
film as the actual grown up Princess Princess Darla, isn't
it. Well, at the very best you could
say she's got swarthy looks, swarthy Mediterranean looks,
She's basically changed race as she's grown up.
I mean it. Had it?
Had it been Audrey Hepburn? I mean, OK, it certainly wasn't
uncommon for people to be playing characters of different
ethnicities to themselves. So yeah, well, Sellers himself,
of course. So, yeah.
But I think that Claudia cardinality is ideal for that
role. To be honest, I think that she
thinks she comes across quite natural in the role, whereas I
think the Audrey Hepburn might have been a bit sort of film
star. Does that make sense?
The way I'm saying that it's like, oh bloody hell is Audrey
Hepburn and the whole thing you're looking at and you're
thinking it's Audrey Hepburn, yes.
Whereas the role of the Princess is to be somewhat understated
and she's also extremely cautious about such AL's and the
other people around her. Because as we discover on the
subplot, it's not just the fact that she's got this very
valuable diamond, but also there was a political slanter as well.
It is disputed. I will have this conversation
when the top story in news today is about the elegant marbles.
Oh God, yeah. Yeah.
She She's portrayed as very. Vulnerable, but at the same time
very strong willed and very self confident with her with a she's
got agency in this film and and what I couldn't get my head
around was that because it was a marvellous job they did, she was
overdubbed for the whole film, yes.
I didn't know whether she wasn't that she couldn't speak English
properly or she had such a heavy accent that they needed to
overdub her for the whole film. I'm not quite sure I was.
Three years old when I rode my first elephant.
I was 6 when I went on my first Safari Frazari Wild Animal Hunt,
and I was 10 when I begged my first tiger.
But I never forget my lovely Little Pony.
When did you beg him? Oh, you're making fun again.
You really don't like animals, don't trust a man who doesn't
care about animals, and don't trust an animal who doesn't care
about people. Why?
You don't like people? I like people.
Oh, that's supposed to be me who doesn't like people, right?
If you say so. No, I should just.
Point out of the way, Yeah, best.
The best instance of somebody being dubbed for a film?
Howdy Hernia and Carry on Emmanuel Dumped by Kenneth
Connor as an Australian. What?
What was?
Sorry, What? What?
So there was there. Was a bodybuilder called Howdy
Hernia? Yes.
And the the guy, the bodybuilder himself playing the role was
thought to have quite a sort of weak voice, not with a strongman
voice. So he's dubbed by Kenneth
Connor, who then plays him as an Australian.
But. Kenneth Connor's in the film as
well as Yes he is, but. He's not playing an Australian,
so he's he's able to. And you're going to see the
actor who plays Harry Hernia in another film.
At some point when he get round to disgusting, come play with
me. Oh.
Dear God, yeah, OK. Which?
Which you really should not have
agreed to. Well, I want to.
I want to see it for the reasons that you you've you've really
built it up over the years that we've talked about.
Come play with me, I think. I think.
In all honesty, I think it's this is this is off topic, but
the I think I think it has developed Mystique all of its
own. But yeah, we'll save that for
the cast, yeah. Cool.
OK, now can't be seen. She's got really good comedy
chops in this good good timing. She she works very well.
She plays off sellers very well. The bit with the hat, when the
hat drops in her face, caught in the hairpin, she's you know
she's not afraid to to do comedy, which a lot of models
turned actresses would possibly feel a bit awkward or
disinclined to do to do the comedy.
I would have said, but I think I thought she was very good.
She was in lots of French, French movies.
She was in What's New Pussycat, of course, which Sellers was in.
And she also yeah, she was in Trail and Curse of the Pink
Panther. She was in an episode of Heart
to Heart alongside Robert Wagner and she was she, she was to have
been cast in the Sellers film Waltz of the Tory Doors, but
this fell through. And David Niven.
David Niven, David Niven. What do you think of David Niven
generally? Well, I mean David is not
somebody that I've actually seen a lot of fun screen.
I've not seen a lot of his work. But of course I was familiar
with him growing up and I think I was probably more aware of
just this general sort of persona and being the the the
typical as portrayed English gentleman and he's somebody that
I'm interested to see and more films I'm interested.
I would like to see him in Raffles of 19, maybe 939 of him
that was be interested to see him in that.
And there's also one that we've spoken about as well.
There is a bank robbery film. I think it's called as a
Nightingale and Barkley Square and Nightingale.
Saying about the square. Yeah, Yes.
Yeah. I'm.
Interested to see that as well and I've not really heard him
being spoken about in a great deal in terms of acting range.
I think that he's more somebody who is very dependable on screen
and was a big name for the fact that he personified a particular
type of gentleman. And of course he's he's ideal in
this. I think that perhaps the scenes
where he is attempting to seduce the Princess, perhaps he the age
gap is a bit too much. Yeah, for sort of modern
audiences. But then the Princess herself
actually refers to that in the conversation about the the
dining table, the fact that he's a middle-aged man going from one
conquest to another. Mm hmm.
He tends to always play the same sort of character, doesn't he?
Really? I'm very fond of him in, Well,
I'm very fond of the film in general.
A Matter of Life and Death, The Power and Press Burger film.
Yes, again he was. Lead.
Was he the lead character in Casino Royale?
Lead actor in Casino Royale? He was in Murder by Death with
Sellers as well, of course. And yeah, great raconteur.
And he was just never off Parkinson, was he?
He was always on Parkinson. And his character in this Sir
Charles, the relationship that he has with the Princess is
never made clear. Is he is he purely just trying
to? Does he do you think he has any
romantic interest in her at all? Or is he purely just trying to
get the goods in terms of where the the diamond is?
Through getting a drunk. And whatnot I I.
I think romantically, no. But in terms of trying to have
his either way, so to speak, certainly yeah.
And if that then by extension, then leads him closer to the
diamond, then all the better. Yeah, I'm.
Going to talk more about the cast of course, but just we
might as well talk about this bit now, but.
So in this film. I would say 60% of Clueso in
this film. He's desperate to have adult
hugs with his wife. Yes, she didn't want to be.
And his poor thwarted libido. He's a bit like, he reminds me a
bit of Pepe Le Pew in this There's there's.
One there's one scene that do you know what this The sense is
strange because as I was watching it, I thought, did I
actually hear that or am I just sort of wishing that I'd heard
it because it's such a good gag? And then when I was going
through some newspaper cuttings for reviews of the film from the
time itself, I was so pleased to actually see one reviewer
specifically mentioned this. So I knew that I hadn't imagined
it at all. The point where someone says, I
think at best just have a sleeping pill and you better
have one yourself. And he walks into the bathroom
and then drops the sleeping pills and you don't see it.
And then later on, a few seconds later he's trampling over them
again and again you don't see it.
And I'm, I'm sort of thinking did I actually, did I hear that
was that. Yeah.
And that that's just a such a a such a lovely idea for a guy
because it's it's a it's it's a sight gag that isn't a sight
gag. And.
And also key to it as well. I mean, so much of the comedy
with Cleo so happens off camera. And in that instance, you don't
hear him. You hear the sound of the
sleeping pills dropping on the floor in the bathroom.
You don't hear Sellers going oh shit or something or whatever
and you don't. He walks out perfectly.
Passive face, passive expression.
You know he's he's used to the sort of thing happening in his
life and and Blake Edwards was you know made a point of filming
as I say lots lots of the comedy occurring off camera.
He was influenced by Ernst Lubic the German film director of
Heaven Can Wait and we saw it recently didn't we?
To be or not to be. So basically the actors move
more than the camera. I think I'll.
Just take a sleeping pill. What am I doing?
I'll give it for you. And why don't you take one
yourself? I You need the rest, you know?
Yes. I think perhaps I will do.
Yeah. My daddy.
Thank you, my Angel. Thank you, my Angel.
You've got Sir Charles. What we would say today, you
know, the problematic scenes potentially with Sir Charles and
the much, much younger Princess and putting pressure on her to a
degree, getting a drunk and all that sort of thing you've got.
Robert Wagner's. Character George forced trying
to force himself pretty much on Madame Clouseau and and the
Princess I think at one point and and close to himself of
course who's just, you know who only wants us a bit of loving
really it's all he wants. And Roger Lewis, in his book on
Sellers, he said the joke of the Pink Panther is that it is a sex
comedy in which the characters don't get to have any Claudia
Cardinali's horish Princess. That's a bit strong.
Oh, come on, Roger. Claudia Cartadelli's horish
Princess gets drunk on champagne and passes out on Niven's.
Sir Charles Capucine fans off Robert Wagner.
Niven is always called away or otherwise distracted.
If Capucine comes close, nobody succeeds in getting their rocks
off. Nobody manages to keep
possession of the Rock, the Pink Panther jewel itself.
Hang on, what was he actually? I mean, he surely wasn't
expecting full on Confessions of a Window Cleaner in 1963, was
he? I mean if if the had actually
been, a scene involving 2 or more of those characters would
have got past the sensor. Probably not.
Maybe, maybe, maybe Billy copies Circulating Scandinavia, right?
OK. We haven't.
Mentioned them really, have we, And I think we need to the
wonderful, peerless Colin Gordon, yes.
Yes, indeed. And of course the role of sort
of clues was psychic to an extent.
That goes Graham Stark in Shot in the Dark.
Yeah. And then, of course you have oh,
remind me of his name. A man from The Turn and strikes
again. And revenge.
Andre. Andre.
Oh. Andre Moran, yes.
But for this film, we have Colin Gordon as the Lords of London
representative. Yep.
And he's just, he's one of those actors who was just in
everything, another one of those faces that he just like, you
know, the people, all the people were spoken about before, like
Frank Forte and so on. If it's a British film of a
certain era, Colin Gordon is going to be in it.
And the first time I would have ever seen Colin Gordon was in
Step 2. And son, when he's playing the
representative of the DHSS and slowly getting plastered.
And we saw him in a very different role of drama
involving two bank robbers. Oh, Strongroom.
Darren Nesbitt, yeah. Yes.
Yes, he's playing against well, I always think of Colin Gordon,
he's he, you know he's a sitcom stalwart and he tends to play
minor member, minor members of sort of middle management or
officialdom. Whereas in that he's a, he's a
bank manager, sure, but he's he's also, he shows a very sort
of human caring side, doesn't he?
Because, well, I won't ruin it, but yeah, yeah.
And of course we've been watching him recently, very
recently in the complete and utter history of Britain.
It's really. Nice, actually, that he is in
the publicity material I've seen, yeah, on the show, which
was recovered and restored by the wonderful people with ITV
and for the public. Are you contractually?
Obliged to say I am not but. No, they do a fabulous job and
I'm so pleased to see the show return and and be celebrated as
a result. Yeah.
And when the initial publicity, Mazito came out for it and you
can see it on on on the streaming service, he is, he's
right there. He's front and center along with
Palin and Jones and he's up. He's ideal in that role.
He is. He's perfect as the the guy
holding it all together. Yeah.
He, of course, was #2 in The Prisoner famously, yes.
And I thought it was very clever last night.
Gary, when we're talking about this, I said, do you know, do
you know, Gary? There's two number twos in the
Pink Panther, and you spent the longest time.
I'm thinking OK, I don't remember seeing Leo McCann was
Patrick. Patrick Cargo wasn't in it.
Watched that. No.
I definitely didn't see down. There's but no.
No way. So no.
And you you you had me flummoxed.
Oh, yeah. So I.
Said Well, OK, well, if you if you've seen the Austin Powers
films, which thankfully I've only seen once, and not all of
them either, you have a character who's like Doctor
Evil's henchman, just known as #2, played by Robert Wagner.
Hey, hey, who? He's 93 and still working, I
believe. Well, we've.
Been watching recently, haven't we?
Encoded we have the. Wonderful.
What's a 1772 BBC 72 series? Yeah, I mean, he's he's very
much just one of the cast though, isn't he?
He's not, he's not a lead in that necessarily.
He's actually got, I think. He's got the the, the headline
credit on most of the the episodes, but he yeah, he's sort
of apart apart from one episode of the scene so far where he is
the focal point. He's he's sort of like appearing
spearingly, yeah. Do we think, Do you think if if
Robert Wagner had been taken out of this film, if his character
wasn't in this film, would it have affected it in any way, Do
you think? I don't.
Really think so. I mean we did.
We chatted about this briefly and I was sort of hypothesized
without any evidence to back this up.
But I was thinking perhaps this was to maybe attract American
audiences having good looking young man in the cast.
Yeah, but I don't really think it's Cancer is adding a great
deal to the text. I was thinking actually that
because one of the things that I can pick up on it at first, but
as was then seeing the film play out again, you've got obviously
the the long scene with Charles and the and the Princess after
the dinner party. Then you've got him discovering
his nephew is there for the first time.
Then there's a scene with them skiing and it's a scene with
them at the train station. All of this is going on a
folklore is on the screen. Yeah.
And I can't really think of anything that's absolutely
pivotal to the plot that needs his nephew there.
OK, Aside from one, obviously, the two guerrillas.
Yeah. But.
They could have had. We've seen in one of those
guerrillas, yes, indeed. I don't think, yeah, I don't
think that he was essential to. Do you know what It's just it's
kind of time absurd. He's the kind of character who
would have been if this was a film based on a novel.
He's the kind of character that would have been the novel.
And then by the time it's. Got to the big.
Screen His character has been dropped.
Absolutely. Because yeah, there's.
Just there's just not enough time.
And as it is, I think the film itself is a little bit longer
than it needs to be it. Is it?
Is it is all that you've got? All of these scenic views, all
this location work and so on, and you've got long, long
stretches. The filmed are just taking
place. Includes his bedroom, yeah.
And suddenly. Because what one of the one of
the reviewers of the time actually described as a Rick's
like, farce, And I mean it's not, it's not inconceivable
actually that you could have done this on the stage because
I'm all right in thinking that a shot in the dark, I think
originally was. Yeah, it was.
There was a French play not called Shot in the Dark called
something else and the Clueso was nothing to do with it And
because of the success of because they realized very early
on that I mean in this film Sellers went into it as a
supporting actor and emerged as the star really and and the the
standout. And so they realized very early
on that they needed to make to capitalize on this and make
another film. And so I think Blake Edwards had
the had the rights to this play and he just repurposed it to be
a Clueso vehicle, essentially. Clue so in the pink.
Panther. He's almost fully formed in
terms of how we come to know him, isn't he?
In terms of the look, but the the accent isn't quite there.
It's it's it's more of a straightforward French accent
that he uses and it's halfway through the filming of Shot the
dot, which by the way is my favorite of the of these films.
In fact, it's my favorite Sellers film of all time.
OK. Halfway through, Sellers decided
to alter the voice. And so that's why in Shot the
dark, sometimes in parts, you know, he's got a fairly
straightforward, conventional French accent.
And then there's other scenes where he refers to, for example,
a myth, you know? But yeah, going back to that
saying Clouseau being almost fully formed, yeah, he springs
onto the screen almost as we would come to know him in later
films. And it reminded me a little bit
of Colombo, because Colombo is first with Peter Falk.
It is first seen in the 1968 TV movie called Prescription
Murder. And although he's slightly
smarter and he doesn't, I don't think he's got the the, the
Chevy Mac at that point. And his hair is a bit shorter
and a bit neater, but he's more or less, and he's maybe
slightly, maybe a little bit more gruff, but more.
Or less. He's the Colombo that, you know,
we come to know and love in the 70s and to a slightly lesser
degree in the 90s. So it's quite amazing that there
wasn't, you know, that that that that there wasn't a huge amount
of OK, so I suppose clue. So in the later films becomes
more cartoonish, doesn't he? Let's face it, yeah, I suppose
like a couple of things. Actually that struck me about
the sadly portrayal of Clueso. I think that the I thought that
the scene where you had Clueso and Colin Gordon as the as
Tucker. Kind of.
Tucker, Tucker. Clueso.
And Tucker visit the Princess ahead of the big party.
And that little scene with the three of them that strikes me as
probably the most clueso, as in later clueso, yes.
Of. The whole film, yes, because
we've finally gotten away from his wife for two minutes, and
here he is with a sensible sidekick as well.
And that struck me as something that just would not at all have
been out of place in any of the later films, Your Highness.
Please excuse his interruption. I have news of great importance.
This is Mr. Tucker of Lloyd's of London.
And we have met before. I've met her to you now.
Yes, I know. But we are meeting her again
now. What is this news, Your
Highness, I have discovered the identity of the Phantom.
You don't say. I do say because you're not
positive. I am positive.
He is, I believe, at this very moment here in Rome.
Really. Yes.
Have you seen or heard from Sir Charles Litton?
Not since I left Cortina. Why?
Sir Charles and the Phantom are one and the same.
You're not serious. I am serious.
I can understand how difficult it is for Your Highness to
accept the facts. Sir Charles is a very persuasive
and attractive man. He is also Sir Charles.
Listen. A man of considerable influence
and reputation. She's got quite a point there,
You know. He is a fraud.
And I shall prove it, you know. That he's going to trip over
that step, but he keeps it going for so long.
Eventually you started out yourself and you think, well,
maybe he isn't actually. Of course he does.
Yeah. But also he's not going to face
first. It's just a subtle it's just
it's very, you know, carefully done.
Something that struck me and I hadn't really picked up this
before. His first scene gets a laugh as
very first scene is that scene from saying we must find that
woman on the globe. Yeah, yes, and.
That's, I mean that that's such a good way of just getting the
character over with the audience immediately, very first time
have appeared on the screen. You've got a huge belly, laugh
the audience. Knows from the outset that this
is this is who we're dealing with in this clue, so is quite
gracefully clumsy. I I couldn't think of a better
way of putting it. And he noticed he walks almost
like a pigeon when he's when he's in and out of bed, you
know, walking Hasting into the bathroom for the sleeping pills
or whatever he's got. Oh, he's got a very distinctive
little sort of waddle almost. It's it's, it's it's lovely.
I just, I just want to mention an actor here called Michael
Trumpshaw. You know about Michael.
Trumpshaw. He's he's somebody.
He's quite recognizable, isn't he?
He's got the. The very large moustache, yes.
And he plays a minor character in this he's he's one of because
you, you have Brenda Debanzi as Angela Danning, the Brenda
Debanzi we've seen in films like you and I have watched Hobson's
choice. She's been the man in you too
much with Bernard Miles as a husband.
One of those faces that you would see in a lot of British
films around this time. And she plays this, this
socialite who's always throwing these extravagant parties.
And among her sort of what would you call it, her entourage you
like is this character called Felix Towns.
And he doesn't really have anything to do with the film.
But what I thought was interesting, what I picked up
on, because I wasn't really aware of the character of the
actor, but I noticed his name of the credits, Michael Trumpshaw.
And I thought, I wonder if it is.
I wonder if that's the same guy. And I looked it up and yes, it
was because Trumpshaw had been very, very close friends with
David Niven in real life. He'd served with him at Malta
and and Dover. In their early days he'd been
he'd been David Niven's best man twice.
And Niven constantly refers to Trubshaw in The Moon's A
Balloon. And I just want to read you this
because Niven describes first encountering Michael Trubshaw
while they were both stationed in Malta.
I guess it must have been in the, I'm not sure, late 20s,
early 30s maybe. And he writes, he says suddenly
an air splitting belch. Rent the air.
This is Niven, yeah. I spun around and perceived a
truly amazing sight. Trump's raw was approaching 6
foot six with legs that seemed to start at the navel encased in
drain pipe tight white flannels. He sported a blue blazer with so
many brass buttons on it that he's shown like a gypsy caravan
on Derby day. On his.
On his head, a Panama hat with MCC ribbon.
Of course, on his face the biggest pistache had ever seen.
A really huge growth which one could see from the back on a
clear day. Part of it was trained to branch
off and join the hair above. As it is.
It was in fact not so much a moustache as an almost total
pursuit. Immersion, OK?
Now. So as I say the two of them had
been very good friends and and I knew this fact that because it
it it, it occurs in a matter of life and death.
For example David Nevin always tried to include his friend's
name in every film he made. OK, so in the matter of life and
death, Robert Coote's character is named Bob Trubshaw flying off
the. Trubshaw.
Oh, I'm so sorry. You can't wait here any longer.
You must be mistaken about your captain.
Well, if anyone's mistaken, it's not me.
Mistakes don't happen here. But this is the aircrew section,
isn't it? You should know.
Peter couldn't have got away with it.
Besides, you checked his invoice for me, didn't you?
Yes, it was against the regulations.
Regulations are made to be broken.
He was due here half now after me.
This is his section and he hasn't reported.
So he's either a WOL or there's been a mistake.
There hasn't been a mistake here for 1000 years.
Oh, so there have been mistakes. A girl that was here before me,
she was here 640 years. Holy smoke, she said.
When the records don't balance, all the alarm bells start
ringing in the records office. I bet they do.
Proper flap, eh? Yes, during the.
Filming of Wuthering Heights. David Niven was in that and he
tried to convince the director William Wyler he, he tried to
let him drop the name of Trumpshaw into a line of
dialogue Wuthering Heights and and William Wyler refused.
So never got around it by having a prop man add Trumpshaw's name
to a tombstone that we see in the graveyard.
OK, so he was, he was, you know, he was his his way of sort of
honoring his friend by including Trumpshaw's name in as many
films as he could. And then and then I mean up to
this point Trumpshaw wasn't an actor.
He'd been running a pub and then he kind of just got into acting
and fell into acting and he was in films like, not huge roles
but Hard Days Night, The Sandwich Man with Michael
Benteen, of course. Magic Christian Sellers
Bedazzled guns and Never own, which Nevin also was in.
He was. He was in a film called
Operation Snatch, which sounds like sounds like something you'd
watch. Yeah, I was.
Going to say it, if you hadn't said it, I was going to say it.
It's probably on, probably on Amazon Prime.
But but apparently him and Niven's relationship called and
and Trumpshaw insinuated in an interview that Niven sort of
resented the fact that he'd followed him into acting.
That makes sense. So anyway.
Anyway, a big diversion there, but I just wanted to mention it
because I was very interested in the Niven Trumpshaw
relationship. Quick deviation.
Yeah, I do like going for newspaper archives.
That's a big hobby of mine. Yeah.
And so many of them online these days because, you know, there's
just over the last few years putting explosion in the number
of digitized newspaper archives that you can browse for.
Previously, you had to actually go to the library, you know, the
microfilm and what have you. So I was interested to know what
the earliest usage of the phrase the Pink Panther was, and I
ended up doing a couple of little alleyways.
Well, one of them actually was was relatively recent, the fact
that there is apparently a new leopard subspecies in South
Africa which was photographed at.
I think it's pronounced the Madiqui Game Reserve in April
2012, and it's been given this name, the Pink Panther, and it's
described as a pink hued male leopard.
And it's not particularly pink when you see a photograph of it,
but so there we are. So there is actually a creature
out there called the Pink Panther, for one thing.
The earliest entry that actually found for just the phrase itself
was 19 O 7, and usually in the early part of the 20th century
it was being used in a whimsical manner in the same way you would
say, you know, you know, you've seen, like, you know, pigs will
fly, that kind of thing. And you just see used in poems
and cartoons and so on. And then I saw an advert in a
newspaper from New York, the Dunkirk Evening Observer, from
July 1936, that was advertising a nightclub, which was called
Johnny Hamernik's. And from the description that
sounds like the kind of place that Stan Nolley would have
found themselves in in Blotto, for example, And they mention
the Friday special at the bar is the Pink Panther.
Now this then led me to research, OK, what actually is a
Pink Panther? And apparently this is according
to a website, allrecipes.com. Pink Panther is a nice drink to
have around the pool on hot summer days, and it can solve
crushed dice, One fluid ounce of Amaretto liquor, one fluid ounce
of vodka, 8 fluid ounces of pineapple juice, a teaspoon of
grenadine syrup, freshly sliced pineapple, and one maraschino
cherry, and actually gives you directions as to how to assemble
this in the glass. So not.
Not as nice as an Esther Ranson. Well, and that.
You know what, when I was reading this earlier on straight
away I was just all my head was pair, no, ozo, marmalade and
salt. And I'm thinking which one is
going to be better? So at some point we'll have to
do a taste test and see which one it wins.
And then this is the one that really struck me.
And I thought, wow. In the Detroit Free Press,
December 1946, there is a columnist who's talking about
having phoned in an old jacket. He's found a business card for a
chap called Little Joe. It says call Little Joe for
prompt service. Little Joe apparently was a
bootlegger and this business card was from the days of
Prohibition and it was basically all sort of liquor delivery
service. You just ring this number and
then somebody will come to deliver your requested item.
And he had a little price list on the card of all the bits and
pieces that you could you could get.
But the thing that really astonished me was there was this
phrase pink pan for being used in a completely different
context. The article said.
The patrons of Little Joe would study the list, hoping to select
some portion Little Joe had whipped up in his bathtub that
wouldn't bring on Pink Panthers. And here it was being used in
the way that we would now say Pink Elephant.
Right. Yeah.
And I've never. I've never heard this before and
yeah, that was that was quite a standing.
So I'd be interested to know what, if any of those was the
that the the trigger for actually titling the diamond on
the film The Pink Panther. But it would be fascinating to
know, yeah, either of the the writers had ever encountered
those. Before, quite possibly just on
the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther theme.
The music, of course is, I'm going to say it, iconic.
I hate to say iconic, but what are the word is there?
I mean, I'm sick of it. I've heard it so many times.
You know, I used to love the pink pattern theme, but it's
become dulled by repetition I suppose.
But the music in this film is is generally lovely.
And particularly we've got halfway through the film, this
scene set around a fireplace in a ski lodge and you've got the
actress Fran Jeffries breaking the 4th wall and singing, yes,
singing a song, Meg, Leo, SAS Das Sarah or something like
that. Not quite sure.
And wouldn't Gary, I mean, obviously, you know, I preferred
touched on this right at the outset top of the show, but
wouldn't you love to be in that locale?
Yes. I I really, I really like that.
I mean, I know that some people might Sort of look at that.
I think all that doesn't need to be there that's slowing the plot
down, whatever. I really like that little
intermission and the fact that it's not just because obviously
a lot of different films, some of the later Lone Hardy films
for example, quite often have musical numbers in them that
don't really serve any purpose in terms of the plot per SE.
But this initially it's it starts off where you think OK,
not musical interlude, and then as a camera pants over see
Clueso in animated conversation with Tucker.
And only only Clueso was animated.
Tucker was quite impassive. But yeah, whatever it is that
Clueso was saying he's. Pissed off about something,
isn't he? Yeah, he's.
Really he's he's trying to sort of expound his theory about
something and then just finds himself being wrapped up all of
a sudden in this huge conga like.
At the best bit of that, right at the end when the music ends,
Sellers decides just to inject this little bit of this like a
little instinctive shoulder twitch thing, doesn't he?
Right at the at the closure of the song and he looks absolutely
delighted. He's beaming, isn't he?
Which is thought. That was lovely.
OK. We haven't really.
I think the third act is the best.
I actually think that we got the fancy dress bowl which
culminates in the the car chase and then the trial.
And I do think that this is the best part of the film, strongest
part. The police dressed 2 policemen
dressed as a zebra. I'll have your stripes.
Anything suspicious? No, no, no.
Nothing to worry about. My men are ever mingling here,
mingling there, watching all the time, watching.
Dare you drink? What's?
On duty who is inside there? Sergeant Wilder, Sergeant.
And you will be heavy like this and I'll have your stripes and
get out of here and stop mingling again.
That's funny that. Zebra and the stripes, they're
good. Yeah, they're good.
Well, I think I'll handle even the the.
The two men in gorilla suits doing a duck suit routine was
very well done, and I'm not sure that's Robert Wagner in that
gorilla suit. I don't think he's got the
comedy timing. No, I I, I Presumably it
wouldn't have been either. No.
It might be N never. No.
And it's a bit of a weird, you know, the British ambassador who
was also wearing a gorilla suit or no, he was wearing a gorilla
suit originally and then David Nevin knocked him out, I think.
And. Right, OK now I've actually I
did make a note of this because I thought this was 11 area where
Sir Charles as his nephew discovers when he finds his case
and then finds the false bottom in it and he's got like all of
his tools and so on. He's very precise about his work
but he's attending what he knows is a fancy dress do and he
attends it as a thief with the whole like, you know he's got
like the eye mask on and what have you.
And I'm thinking about any other costume would have probably, you
know, been been a better disguise.
That's like a big bag with swag on it as well.
That's like one of. Those, you know, those Nazis
that bug it off to Argentina after the war.
That's like them turning up to a change, a dress party in 1971
dressed as Hitler. You know, they're obviously
thinking nobody's going to suspect me.
I think so, Ted. Where's the last place you'd
think I'd put them? I was just also, I know why they
did it, but you've got two men in gorilla suits trying to open
a safe, yes? Why do they just?
Take the heads off. Why do they?
Why do they have the heads on? I don't know why, because it's
not Robert Wagner and probably not David Niven in there doing
that comedy business. But still, maybe.
Maybe. Maybe they they both suspect
that the other gorilla is undercover clues.
Oh. And they don't want to reveal.
Themselves or a real gorilla? Oh, could be it could.
Be Yeah, yeah. I love the the car chase with
the old man in the square. No.
OK, I've. Got.
I've got a silly theory about this which I cannot prove, but
if anybody can prove this, I think it would be yourself.
OK? Because you remember the tale
about when Strangelove came out, Yeah?
And the intended ending? Yeah, Strangelove.
Yeah, and how? Sellers then sort of in
desperation, phoned Milligan and said, what do I do?
How do we end this film? And was Milligan suggested Fiona
Lennon. We'll meet again.
Yes. This whole scene with the car
chase, it really strikes me as this is pure Spike Mulligan.
And I do wonder, OK, I know that it must have obviously have been
in the the text initially, but there's just something about
this where I can, I can sense that Mulligan's has played some
sort of small part in suggesting little details.
It might not even be like the the the entire scene, but things
like, for example, the the conversation between Clouseau
and Tucker with the guy standing between them and then Zebra
running down the road, It just say feels so.
Yeah, absolutely. And also, I mean it's it's
great. Obviously it would have been
expensive to film an actual car crash, but again the car crash
happens off camera and we just see the the result of it.
And the old man has just taken it all in the stride, isn't he?
You know he's not. It's just another evening for
him. The the, the ending.
We've talked about this in the previous podcast, not connected
to Goon Pop, but where, you know in there was a time in films
where the the villains could not profit at the end.
Yes. And they're kind of doing.
This. Don't they?
OK, now I. Did wonder about this?
Because I was thinking, OK, is this actually breaking the the
rule? I mean, the the things that were
popping into my head were like the last scene.
I know this is a terrible spoiler.
If you've never seen OK, you've never seen The League of
Gentlemen. I mean, brilliant films in
Richard Attenborough. You've never seen that.
Please just skip with your permission, Tyler, because it's
your cast. I'm going to suggest people to
skip forward maybe 10 seconds or so.
Yeah, No. OK, right.
The last scene in The League of Gentlemen is just underlining.
Crime does not pay. Yes, right, That that.
That's why it's there. Yeah.
And then I got to thinking, technically, if you want to be
really precise about it, suppose Charles and Simone and his
nephew and so on, They haven't. In this specific instance, apart
from kidnapping the dog. He hasn't actually committed a
crime, has he? No.
Because he was, obviously. Intended to but I mean that that
in itself and the intention to steal the diamond should have
been enough to to get him in you know in chains.
But nonetheless you could sort of say he's not like he's he's
then legging it with the the diamond.
And also the Princess of course for her own reasons is also in
her own way guilty as well. So yeah, yeah, it it it it it's,
it's sad the the conclusion and it would have, it would have
actually been if if things had worked out differently and this
had been the first in a series of films about Sir Charles
starring David Niven, then it would have been quite a tragic
ending for Clueso, even with the little point in there.
But all the realized in a few months and they'll get out.
Yeah, but but then. But then.
He's But Clueso is a national hero.
He's got women throwing themselves at him as he's being
LED into the police car. Yeah, he's kind of, he's for the
first time. He's a winner almost, yes.
And he can't quite get his head around that.
So could could this have? Actually, St. clues on a
completely different direction. When he got out eventually,
could he have fought himself? Maybe I've been wrong on this
whole, you know, police slash felon maybe ever been the wrong
side of this all this time. Maybe I should try and become
the next Charles. I don't necessarily think that
that he would have had it in him as a professional jewel fief
safecracker. Whatever it is.
I think that he probably because he's not the most practical of
people. Well, no he.
Would he Would have been the one who would have employed John
Bluthor to be looking up. Yeah.
Although, yeah, although, hang on, John Bluth's character
wasn't actually blind, was he? No, he wasn't.
No, no, indeed, a couple of little lines that that stood
out. One was, I just love that little
scene where he's like he's racing off to Castro Charles and
he's got the gun in his hand. These shows I've really gotten
this time again that that's that's that's just a lovely
little floodish where he's suddenly, you know he's alive.
He's just like, ah, right, this is my life's work.
I'm actually going to get my last that recording lane.
He's got to use about three or four times as hell in here.
Oh yeah, we. Know where that's from?
No, I'll get no, because you know, of course, I'm not a good
show aficionado. So is this.
This is a good reference. It must be Helen.
There or variations of that line he uses in this in this film.
And that's a blood knock line from the from the right.
Hello. My darling.
Hello, my darling. Why did you draw the cousin just
to keep me? Warm.
Warm is one thing. There must be hell in there.
No, it's wonderful. And the what the?
World was, well, this. There's almost certainly no
connection at all with this. But what I heard, I couldn't
help but thinking, is this possibly a nod to this when he's
at the party and in the chaos when the lights are out?
The woman with a snake. She says to take your filthy
hands off my ASP. That got me.
Thinking about the piece of cook routine, which also Kenneth
Williams did as well. Yes, You know, yeah, yeah, I've
got an Aspen here and I don't know is it is that it's just
this is just nonsense? Is that just something pops into
my head at random or is that something that the sellers
heard? I mean, I'm probably going to
find out now. Probably somebody's going to
point out that that sketch actually came after the pink it.
It just, it struck me as as maybe that was just a little nod
because yeah, well, OK. Let me ask you this, I said.
The villains kind of win, but it's it's a kind of a Gray area.
Who were we rooting for in this film?
Is it who we meant to be rooting for?
Is it? Is it the thief and the
philanderer? Charles Layton?
Is it the adulterous Simone Clouseau?
Is it? Is it the fraudulent, womanizing
George Lytton? Is it the the entitled Princess
who, by the way, wants to stop the diamond, the Pink Panther
diamond, being returned, rightfully returned to her
people in lugash? Are we meant to root for any of
those characters? Or are we meant to root for
Clue? So I I'm not quite sure.
It's it's a It's a tricky 1 because I mean I think certainly
CLUES was the only one who comes out of this with any integrity
of all those. Characters.
And yet you're probably sort of thinking, in a way, is Sir
Charles going to pull it off? Was he actually going to, you
know, get a ski lift with the The diamond intact and go on to
his next escapade? So yeah, it's a tricky one.
I mean, I'm a big fan of, like, heist films and so on.
And there were you. You remember that a few years
ago, There were at least three that I know of, possibly more
dramatization to the Hatton Garden heist.
Oh, yeah. And one of the one I really like
was the television dramatization with Kenneth Kranum.
But there's also another one with Michael Caine as well.
Yeah, yeah. And.
I saw a review of that one, which was suggesting that they
didn't focus enough on the victims in that case, because it
was all just about the hijinks of this, you know, group of, you
know, would be villains. And I don't know, maybe it's
just me, but when you get caught up in that kind of plot, you you
saw thinking to yourself, you know, can they do it?
Can they actually, can they pull it off?
I don't. I don't think that most people
are looking at that kind of film and thinking, got a hope that
police hurry up and turn up, You know, true.
No, you do. You do want them to succeed,
don't you? Yeah.
So yeah, it's a tricky one.
And yeah, the I suppose the point I'm trying.
To make is that I say who we rooting for clues.
So is the standout character the others?
With the possible exception of Simone, Clouseau or Capucine,
the others are fairly vanilla. Aren't they really?
David Nivens? No great shakes.
His character is just fairly bland.
Robert Wagner's just annoying. And to a degree, so is the
Princess. I would.
Have been interested.
I mean OK the the the film is as was I'm saying before it felt a
little bit too long. So I don't think there would
have been any additional space for this.
But I would have been interested actually in some sort of spin
off that actually told Sir Charles tale about how he he got
into this at first because he from what we understand he has
got this respectable veneer and it's that's that's a common
enough text and common enough plot and many texts about the
the respectable businessman you know who this person is.
You know you know who you're talking about you can't just go
pointing the finger at them you know.
And so yeah I'm interested to know did he become was he always
a straight businessman who then gone to trouble and then started
the sideline or was it the old way around.
He always needs a sort of a respectable occupation to be
able to because he can't introduce himself.
As you know I'm safe cracker. And the reason I'm here is
because I've got an eye on what you've got in your sick
upstairs. He's clearly he's.
Clearly got a lot of money because he's got you look at the
drinks cabinet that he had in his hotel room, which was the
size of a studio flat in London, I mean.
This was the 60s after all, and everybody on on an end film and
on television in the 60s and 70s drank to excess and had
ridiculously large bars. I mean, Christ, Teddy Medford
even had a whole bloody cocktail cabinet.
He kind of been on Charles money, surely?
I think, Sir. Charles doesn't need the money
at all. I think he's just in it for the
thrill of it. I think that's all it is, a
couple of last. Little tangents for myself,
sure. One thing that was a little bit
surprised about because I didn't think that this was going to tie
into the the timeline, but when I was looking on the newspaper
articles about the Pink Panther getting it's released, I think
it was in January 64, it got its British premier release.
And quite quickly on the heels of that in February 64, where
all the stories about Peter Sellers and Brett Eklund, and
I'm sure you you've touched on that in the cast previously.
But one thing that was intriguing was the case of Mr.
Sven Eklund, Brett Eklund's father.
Oh yes, and the case of when did he see the Pink Panther?
Because in the course of all these articles about the fact
that, you know, sellers and eckland were going to marry
within the space of three weeks or so, there were quotations
from Brett Eklund's parents. And one of them particular was
in the Western Delhi Press on the 12th of February 1964 when
Sven Eklund said I have never seen Peter Sellers in films and
yet the Daily Herald for the 12th of February 1964 has Mr.
Sven Eklund quoted as saying. Having seen Peter Sellers in the
Pink Panther, he seems a very pleasant sort of man.
Now are we to just from this that Sven got a phone call from
Western Daily Press and said Peter Sellers No no can't can't
can't place them don't forget we've ever seen them Then
consults the the newspaper listings spots of the Pink
Panther is in. Because I'm sure one of these
articles actually said that he lived on a street with a cinema.
So just then goes straight to the goes to the first screening
of the Pink Panther, gets back just in time for a phone call
from the Daily Herald and said, yeah, I'm glad, glad you called
because yeah, I've actually just been watching them.
And yeah, Buffy chap. The other thing I really liked
was a review in the Liverpool Daily Post.
I'm not sure if it was exclusive to that publication or it was a
syndicated column, but sort of you're called John Chettlefield
and about Clouseau, he wrote. A funny, pathetic character
emerges as genuine as chaplains, which I really liked.
Yeah. And for that to be identified
right off from the first film is I guess that that's that puts
the full stop on the fact that it was still being billed and
it's more of obviously still is as David Kniffin and Peter
Sellers. But there's no question that you
know just from first viewing alone that Clouseau is the
standard character of this. Yeah.
And. And I think it's still a pretty
decent film. And Sellers is brilliant in
every scene that he's in. Yes.
And yeah, there's some long years, there's some fairly
strung out bits that we could do without and we could have
certainly done without Robert Wagner, I think.
But I would, I would, I would suggest that this film is one of
those films that's probably caused a lot of disappointment
over the years to people you know renting it out on video
things like that thinking that it's the knock about slapstick,
Clouseau, Pink Panther films that we get in the 70s.
I need to find that it's no, it's a it's a fairly
straightforward international romp with some glitzy locations
and some beautiful women and you know, big name star in the in
the official starring role But with the Cluso character in it
for maybe, I don't know, half the film is he, maybe 2/3 of the
film we see Clueso something like that and he's certainly not
the Clueso. I mean in many ways he is, but
he's he's not as, as I said before he's certainly not as
cartoonish as he is to become. And the film itself is not as
cut because you look at strikes again for God's sake.
That whole film is basically it builds into a cartoonish
crescendo and it's amazing. That Dreyfus actually returns.
To the. Police Department as a result of
you could, you could draw a line between return and revenge.
I think you can get away with that but it strikes again.
This was some more more difficult to.
Square. I would, I would say if you if
you were planning on watching like the whole clues or box set,
I wouldn't skip this. I would, I mean certainly set
your expectations for 1960s. Think of a.
Lucrade production, you know it like the sedan or the persuaders
or something like that. It's going to be, you know,
exotic locations and very colorful and so on.
Think of that. But I certainly I wouldn't, I
wouldn't skip, I wouldn't go straight to the 70s because it
is really fascinating to see the development of Closer And yes,
the other thing as well as it is, is or just how fully formed
Almost Closer was by Shot in the Dark.
Because then you've got everybody else around them,
you've got all the the regular supporting players in that film.
And OK, the last thing that's popping into my head is how many
Pink Panther films actually involve the Pink Panther
diamond. Two.
I don't have an answer to this. I'm going to have to think of
this. Two.
OK, Shot in the Dark doesn't. No return.
Does Tries again. Doesn't revenge.
Doesn't not including trailer cars.
So it is. It's two, isn't it?
Yes. Yeah, there we go.
By the time. OK, return to the Pink Panther
addresses it. You know, the Pink Panther
Diamond is of course involved in the plot, but after that, it's
just the Pink Panther is just shorthand first clue.
So it's another clue. So film.
Here's here's a. Theory.
OK, I don't think that Christopher Plummer as Charles
Litton. I don't think he's a real so
Charles Litton. I think he's another jewel thief
going by the name So Charles Litton.
Ah. Trading on his notoriety?
Yeah, exactly. Yes, because Charles is all
retired or is in jail or whatever, and then he's
appropriated his image and it's a case of identity theft or he's
got. He's got the real Sir Charles
locked up in a cellar. Possibly so.
Don't know why. He would do that, but anyway,
right? And.
Quick trivia question for you. What is Dave Lodge's character
name in return? He's only referred to by
surname, isn't he? I think so, yes.
Well, you don't know either well.
No, I'm looking out. There, because I'm stay on IMDb.
Go on. What's the name?
His name is Mac. Oh.
Yes. Well, they.
Should have given them the same name as he's got in Coco Show
Heroes, or the continuity would have been a bit off.
I'd have liked in. Return of the Pink Panther, if
at some point he flexes his muscle.
Yeah, it's clue, says, dicking about with the telephone or
something. You should.
Should Dave Lodge have been allowed to break the 4th ball
and deliver his famous line? There we go.
So happy 60th birthday, The Pink Panther.
I don't know whether ITV will be marking the occasion by ringing
it again. And I.
Don't believe there are any plans to do so well, You you've
got a. Bit of influence, Gary.
Surely you could. I have.
No influence. I have awareness of what may be
on ever so slightly ahead of the Radio Times, but no.
I can't just yeah, I can. Unfortunately I cannot actually
stage close of season on ITV one.
Whatever. Fancy it.
But. But.
Right after we stop recording, I'm going to be pressing you for
all the Goss about Nigel in the jungle, of course, because you
know everything. Oh, why?
Yes, absolutely. All the dirt, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. Gary, listen, I'm going to send
such a. Dated reference By the time this
this drops true, it'll be. Out by then Bernie.
So hopefully, as as as you refer to rather the top of the show.
Hopefully there'll be a pre Christmas or a Christmas sitcom.
Club fingers. Crossed.
I actually had to remember that you might be on it yourself.
I'd. Be very pleased to add my 2
Penneth. All depends on logistics of
course, doesn't it really? Yes.
So we will see and this podcast will be taking a break in
January for maybe a couple of months.
And after that I'd love to get you back at some point, maybe
next year or some. Well, no, you are going to come
back next year because at some point we're going to talk about
the man, about the house movie, aren't we?
Yes. Yes indeed.
And the reason? We will be talking about that on
Goon Pod is because of course Spike has a memorable camp
cameo. Indeed so.
But you and I are both huge fans of of the, the television show,
aren't we? So, yeah, lots to talk about
there. So look forward to that.
So Gary, thank you so much and and I'll, I'll, I'll normally
say to guess, I'll talk to you again in the future.
I will talk to you again tomorrow, I think.
Yes, indeed. Yes, indeed.
Cheers mate. Thanks very much.
Cheers then. Bye.