Synopsis
Inspector Jacques Clouseau, smitten with the accused maid Maria Gambrelli, unwittingly turns a straightforward murder investigation into a comedic series of mishaps, testing the patience of his irritable boss Charles Dreyfus as casualties mount.
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Cast
- Peter SellersJacques Clouseau
- Elke SommerMaria Gambrelli
- George SandersBenjamin Ballon
- Herbert LomCharles Dreyfus
- Graham StarkHercule LaJoy
- Moira RedmondSimone
- Tracy ReedDominique Ballon
- Burt KwoukKato
- André MaranneFrançois
- Vanda GodsellMadame LaFarge
Recommendations
- 100
TV Guide Magazine
The picture is filled with one sight gag after another, many familiar to anyone old enough to remember the glory days of silent comedy. - 80
Empire
Unlike in The Pink Panther, Clouseau was the real star here. - 80
The New York Times
The whole thing is colorful, gay — and Henry Mancini's music is as sassy and frivolous as the film. - 80
The Telegraph
Elke Sommer is good as the devious maid Maria Gambrelli but it is Sellers who steals the show as the inept detective fumbling and bumbling his way around solving murder mysteries. - 70
Variety
Sometimes the narrative is subordinated to individual bits of business and running gags but Sellers’ skill as a comedian again is demonstrated, and Sommer, in role of the chambermaid who moves all men to amorous thoughts and sometimes murder, is pert and expert. - 60
Chicago Reader
This isn't quite up to the original, but it has its moments, as Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) sets out to solve a murder in an English country house. - 40
IGN
Ultimately, A Shot in the Dark is not superior to The Pink Panther, as many have suggested, but a somewhat predictably derivative sequel that maintains its predecessor's form but not substance.
