DVD Review HTF Review: The Pink Panther Film Collection (1 Viewer)

[RobertSiegel]

I havn't yet picked up this set, but thanks to everyone especially for the great in-depth review, which now makes me want it in my collection. Unfortunately, the only sad thing was the same poor case type as the new Ten Commandments, where the discs are stacked on top of each other. I do own a all-region player, I might purchase that one since I am reading there are more extras.

As for RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER, how sad it is that MGM could not have made this the ultimate set. The version I have on Artisan, while 2:35:1, is one of the worst transfers in my collection. It is taken from, what looks to me, like a film print that was used in a cheap movie house where the projector scratched the film throughout and is in terrible shape.I was rather surprised, as some of Artisan's releases used to be pretty good.

 

[Ronald Epstein]

Count me in as another person flabbergasted by
what MGM has done with this set.

I open up it up to find two discs floating freely
in the packaging. Stacked upon each other, there
is no way that you can fasten all the discs securely
in their hub housing.

Somebody was smokin' something when they came up
with this packaging. What other studio have you
seen put out a set as sloppy as this?

I am also disturbed that the other region(s) get
a documentary that Region 1 does not. You are led
to believe that this is the ultimate Pink Panther
set yet the studio excludes material that fans would
certainly have wanted included.

On the plus side....

The transfers seem quite good. I didn't notice
The Pink Panther Strikes Again being as overly
bright as everyone points out. I do see the framing
issues, however.

Also, for the first time ever, I watched A Shot
In The Dark. I never got to see this Pink Panther
film, and suspected it was probably going to be as
bad as the first film (I hated The Pink Panther). I
was wrong. This was actually a very good Panther film.
It was the first time that all the signature characters
and mannerisms started coming together.

 

[Scott Kimball]

I picked this set up yesterday and drooled over the outer packaging. It's beautiful.

I had read, however, about the unfortunate choice of stacked hubs.

Had MGM put in plastic pages (like Paramount's DS9 and CSI), with that outer cover - this would have been absolute killer packaging. The paged holders would have taken no more space than what MGM gave us - I compared the DS9 6 disc set (s1) with this package, and they are identical in space requirements (inside the binder).

Paramount's The Ten Commandments came in a stacked format - and I've read reviews of other studio's product that also have been packed this way. Seems to be a growing trend... one which we shouldn't accept quietly.

Even if the discs are secure in this format (which is questionable), having to perform a juggling act with the discs every time you want to take them out of the case is asking for trouble. I already dropped one of the Panther discs. This packaging is not user friendly - and this coming from someone who has never considered any of the existing hub styles to be too troublesome in the past.

-Scott

 

[Jaime_Weinman]

Well, I'll put in a good word for the first film. I think it's the best of the bunch precisely because it's not 100% slapstick or 100% Clouseau. It's a beautiful-looking, sophisticated combination of caper film, romantic comedy and slapstick, and surprisingly dark and morally ambiguous (the only good person in the film is Clouseau, and he's betrayed by everybody). Blake Edwards' best comedy and one of the best Hollywood movies of its era. It's worth it for the "Meglio Stasera" song number alone.

Shot in the Dark is great, but it makes Clouseau into just another bumbling guy instead of the more complex character he promised to become based on the first movie. And Return is disappointing compared to the first movie (Charles Litton becomes a much duller character and it doesn't have the visual style or variety of comic styles that Panther I had).

"Pink Panther" is often considered to be a disappointment compared with the rest of the series. I think it's the other way round: the rest of the series didn't live up to "Pink Panther."

 

[Keith M.]

I have the old versions and recently ordered this new set...

Should I bother keeping the old versions or sell em off?

Or should I keep the old cases and toss the new packaging out?

Cant wait to watch them in their OAR!!! These are some of my all-time favorite comedies, I am very disappointed in the extras though. I would have really liked to own the blooper reels and outtakes I saw on tv many many years ago...

Some of these outtakes can be found on the Peter Sellers biography dvd...

 

[Will*B]

I'm a huge fan of these films and had them all on laserdisc during the 90's.

I now have the R2 DVD set, and I can honestly say that the only framing difference I noticed is that you can no longer see the terrible splices - especially in 'Strikes Again'.

In other words, this set is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

Does your doag biite?

 

[Douglas Bailey]

A poster on alt.video.dvd claims the set is missing a music cue in Revenge of the Pink Panther.

I haven't got the set myself, and don't want to pick it up if the remixes are dropping elements from the original mix. Can any owners of the new set say whether there is a problem here or not?

 

[Jason Stocker]

Yes there is a problem. There is no music accompanying the "Silver Hornet" in "Revenge of the Pink Panther". Not even on the mono track.

 

[Prentice Cotham]

Is it present on the R2 set?

 

[Brian Thibodeau]

Well, I finally sprang for the French Panther box set at DVDzone. The packaging's in French, but everything else is in English with appropriate subs:

http://www.dvdzone2.com/dvd/detail.asp?id=125985

The site lists the box at 59 euros, but when I checked out, it came up as 49 euros (just under 55 euros shipped). That's about $66 US, $88 CDN. Sure, the R1's cheaper (goes for $55 CDN +tax in our Future Shop stores), but those missing extras really burn my ass. I didn't mind paying the extra on principle alone!

 

[PaulP]

Too bad we only get six seemingly random cartoons out of quite a few (and two* are not even strictly "Pink Panther" shorts): http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Other_S...her/index.html

The Pink Phink (1964)
Pinkfinger (1965)
The Great DeGaulle Stone Operation (1965)*
Pink, Plunk, Plink (1966)
Psychedelic Pink (1968)
The Ant and the Aardvark (1969)*

 

[MarcoBiscotti]

I'm really glad The Ant & Aardvark was included!

 

[PaulP]

It would be very cool if MGM released all Pink Panther shorts in some similar fashion to WB's Looney Tunes Golden Collection. Abundant extras would be nice, but just 4 discs of Pink Panther would be quite welcome...

 

[TonyD]

one thing i noticed that was odd is that in the trailer for revenge the voice overkeeps calling him andre' clouseau.

and was it ever explaned how dreyfus came back from being disintegrated during strikes back, for revenge?

 

[Cees Alons]

... and the artwork for Trail printed on the flipside of the inlay.


Cees

 

[Cary P]

I agree with you 100%, Jaime.

I've always felt the first Pink Panther film stood head and shoulders over the rest. It's most noteable attribute is Henry Mancini's beautiful score, perhaps the finest of his long, great career. It was Mancini's music that initially attracted me to the series in the first place (over 30 years after the series' debut), so perhaps I am a bit biased. I can still remember my jaw dropping the first time I saw the "Meglio Stasera" number on the intital DVD release, as this version is not included on the original vinyl soundtrack album.

But I also really enjoyed David Niven's performance, and the swank, ski-lodge atmosphere which permeates the film. The female leads are quite enjoyable as well.

By the way, check out the Buddha Records reissue of the Pink Panther soundtrack for a superb sounding remaster job.

 

[Paul_Nyman]

AMC is running The Return of the Pink Panther this week on tv, but of course the picture is in Full Frame, not Letterbox.

Does anyone know if the picture quality on tv is better than the elements used by Artisan?

 

[Guido Bibra]

The "Silver Hornet" music cue is also missing on the R2 disc, but only on the english, german and french soundtracks. On the italian, spanish and french tracks it's there - because these tracks have not been remixed into 5.1.

I have no idea why the music cue is missing, but to me it doesn't sound like a genuine piece of Mancini score. Maybe it's some stock arrangement which was inserted there and has been removed now in the remixing process. I haven't even noticed that it's missing because in the old mono mix it's almost completely covered over by the sounds of the car.

 

[Anthony Neilson]

Ronald - Universal also uses this horrendous packaging. I first noticed it last year, used for the R2 Psycho collection and I ranted about it then.

Since then, it has been used more and more - most recently for THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. This design is a pain for anyone who orders their discs by mail as it is almost inevitable that one of the discs will end up floating.

Sorry to thread-fart but I'm sure we're all agreed that this must not be allowed to become the default for anything two-discs and above.

BTW The R2 Pink Panther comes in a beautifully designed, fold-out digipack.

 

[Matt Czyz]

Paul,

I saw parts of Return on AMC, and the PQ is exactly the same (with the major exception of being fullscreen) as the dvd (it was easy to tell this because the end credits cut to widescreen, and it looked exactly like the artisan dvd.