Son of the Pink Panther (1993, Roberto Benigni, Herbert Lom, Bert Kwouk, Graham Stark, Claudia Cardinale) – Classic Movie Review 11,405

Director Blake Edwards made one final attempt to revive the Pink Panther series with the 1993 comedy Son of the Pink Panther, starring Roberto Benigni, Herbert Lom, Bert Kwouk, Graham Stark and Claudia Cardinale.

We bet director Blake Edwards wished Roberto Benigni had made his Oscar-winning movie Life Is Beautiful before this one came out, as it might then have taken a few bob at the box office. To be fair, it actually took $20 million on a cost $28 million, so, although failed both critically and commercially, it was not the disaster of legend. Nevertheless, although intended to relaunch the series, it was the end of the road, and the final installment in the original Pink Panther series.

Benigni is a comic of undeniable, if broad talent, who makes a reasonable job under the most difficult circumstances of playing Inspector Clouseau’s illegitimate son, French gendarme Jacques Gambrelli, in this straggler script left over from Peter Sellers’s heyday and revived when it should have been consigned to the wastebasket.

Old hands Herbert Lom (Commissioner Charles Dreyfus), Burt Kwouk (Cato Fong), Graham Stark (Professor Auguste Balls) and Claudia Cardinale (as Benigni’s mum, Maria Gambrelli, confusingly played by Elke Sommer in A Shot in the Dark though Cardinale was Princess Dala in the original 1963 The Pink Panther) offer some moments of pleasure, but, sadly, they all seem past their sell-by date here.

This eighth and final movie in the original Pink Panther series is distinctly off colour. By the way, just how does a diamond have a son?

It is the last movie for Edwards (who retired from film-making and died on 15 December 2010) and composer Henry Mancini (who died in 1994).

Steve Martin revived The Pink Panther 13 years later in 2006.

Also in the cast are Debrah Farentino as Princess Yasmin, Jennifer Edwards as Yussa, Robert Davi as Hans Zarba, Mark Schneider as Arnon, Mike Starr as Hanif, Kenny Spalding as Garth, Anton Rodgers as Chief Lazar, Oliver Cotton as King Haroak, Shabana Azmi as Queen, Aharon Ipalé as General Jaffar, Dermot Crowley as Sergeant Duval and Liz Smith as Marta Balls.

With Benigni aboard, the film found financing from Aurelio De Laurentiis, the nephew of Dino De Laurentiis. The film’s budget of $28 million came partly from MGM (under Alan Ladd Jr) and partly with $13.8 million from Aurelio De Laurentiis’s company, Filmauro.

Filming for four months started from 8 June 1992 in Pinewood Studios, London, and Jordan.

Kroyer Films made the animated P, ink Panther character and the animated persona of Clouseau Jr in a live-action sequence for the introduction. The opening Pink Panther sequence cost $1 million.

Kevin Kline, Rowan Atkinson, Gérard Depardieu and Tim Curry were all potential Clouseau Jrs at various points, until Edwards finally wanted Benigni after viewing him in Down by Law and Johnny Stecchino.

It is uncertain which is the worst Pink Panther film: Inspector Clouseau (1968), Trail of the Pink Panther (1982), Curse of the Pink Panther (1983), Son of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther (2006) and The Pink Panther 2 (2009) all have claims to the title. That is a whole lot of bad movies.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,405

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