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

Art_AD

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Mar 12, 2001
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I will get this set but I am slightly disappointed about the exclusion of That's Panthertainment(which has outtakes) which was on the R2 release The commercials and Peter sellers documentary I understand, as they probably do not have the R1 rights but the other they should have worldwide rights to. Seems odd.
 

Joe Cortez

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May 29, 2002
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Thanks for the review.

Despite the flaws and content omissions, I think I may end up picking this set up; I mean who doesn't want more Peter Sellers in their DVD library? And the inclusion of the animated shorts pretty much sealed the deal for me.
 

Tony Whalen

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Well, I already own the previous releases of "Pink Panther", "PP Strikes Again" and "Revenge of the PP". So I was kinda on the fence about this one.

Don't care for "Trail" (although I love Jeff's idea of throwing out "Trail" and putting "Return" in the set :D ) but would enjoy having "Shot in the Dark".

However, that all being said, new transfers and audio, PLUS those animated PP shorts? I'm in. :D I was already drooling at the idea of new transfers, but the animated shorts pushed me right over the fence. Guess I'm double-dipping. :D
 

Chris PC

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Everything is always so convoluted. Ok, so this looks interesting, but with the difference in the R1 and R2 sets, what an annoyance.

In answer to the poster about the Return DVD. The quality of the Return of the Pink Panther DVD, non-anamorphic and all, is below average in my books. I haven't viewed it in full, but I flipped around. Its ok, but not great. Watchable.
 

Matt Czyz

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I just picked up the Return of the Pink Panther disc for $7 at CompUSA last night whilst buying blank dvd cases, just because it was so cheap. I knew going in that the PQ wasn't going to be all that hot, and it itsn't. As Chris said, it's ok, but definitely watchable. The sound was better than I expected it would be, though. It was also a nice surprise to see that the movie was 2.35:1 instead of the 1.85:1 the case said it was.

In case Artisan gets off their butt and *does* remaster it, I'm only out seven bucks anyway.
 

Jeff>K>B

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Jul 30, 2003
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I take it that the "Return of the Pink Panther" that both amazon.ca and chapters.ca say "will be released on April 20, 2004" is just a re-release of exactly the same version that's been out for a while. It sure looks like it on their websites.
 

Chris PC

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If "Return of the Pink Panther" was re-released with the quality of the transfer improved it would be a no-brainer to buy that and the box set and have a fairly well rounded collection with good quality audio/video.

Doubt it for sure. I checked the Amazon.ca website and the cover art is identical to the crappy 1999 Artisan version I picked up from the Future Shop recently. Oh well. Amazon.ca is smartly bundling the collection with the "re-release" of the "Return of the Pink Panther" DVD. I wonder if there will be any difference. If not, people will notice the horrible quality of the Return DVD vs the collection, for sure.

Are there any other good Pink Panther movies that are missing from the collection?
 

MarcoBiscotti

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It would be great if Artisan could design the Return discs corresponding to those in the PP Film Collection so that we could replace Trail in the box set.
 
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I just got this set today and I am very disappointed to see quite a bit of image cropping. Comparing the new discs to my old ones, I see that "Pink Panther Stikes Again" has cropping all around the image, especially during the animated title. "A Shot in the Dark" has slight cropping on the top and bottom plus a considerable amount on the left side (though it does add a bit to the right). "Revenge of the Pink Panther" was also cropped on the sides just a bit.
Looks like I'll have to keep my old discs after all.
 

Chris PC

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Which region has cropping? How does the overall image quality compare? The review here was favourable for quality.
 
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"How does the overall image quality compare?"

Except for the cropping, the image quality is improved over the older discs. Especially on "A Shot In The Dark". The only exception being "The Pink Panther Strikes Again". I'm very disappointed in this title. The pre-title sequence looks especially bright. There is a long shot of the inspector and dreyfus sitting on a bench in which the inspector almost looks like he's glowing. another odd thing I noticed about this set involves the sound on the animated shorts. On "Psychedelic Pink" and "The Ant And The ardvaark", there is a laugh track. I have never heard a laugh track on a pink panther "Theatrical" cartoon before. I'm guessing that these tracks were prepared for the television broadcast. It's very annoying to be told when to laugh.
 

Mike Williams

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Is the Artisan release of "Return of the Pink Panther" 1.85:1 as the package states, or is it 2.35:1 as Matt Cysz pointed out. Since the movie is definitely non-anamorphic, a 1.85:1 movie would have about the same appearance as a 2.35:1 anamorphic movie, so I'm wondering if Matt is simply mistaken and didn't realize the movie wasn't anamorphic.
 

Matt Czyz

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Mike,

Return of the Pink Panther is definitey 2.35:1 (I've seen enough movies to tell the difference between that and 1.85:1). As far as I know, any 2.35:1 movie should look the same (ratio wise) on a 4x3 television (which I have), anamorphic or not.
 

Brian Thibodeau

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992
Don't know when, but the laugh tracks were added to the Pink Panther cartoons sometime during their TV runs. The Ant and the Aardvark may have always had them as I've never seen one without the laugh track, and it seems a little more appropriate with these "zinger" filled cartoons, if no less annoying.
 

Mike Williams

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Matt,

That is true. If you're watching on a 4x3, there's pretty much no mistaking a 2.35 aspect ratio. When I saw "Return of the Pink Panther" in Wal-Mart for $5.50, I noticed the 1.85 on the back and considered it very strange, since all the other Pink Panther movies are 2.35. It's good to know that "Return" is 2.35, after all, but discouraging to know that the Artisan Release is the only way to get it, with its lousy picture quality and non-anamorphic transfer.

Thanks, Matt.
 

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