Wish this had been a complete set, or at least a complete Blake Edwards set, but oh well...

This collection features all six of The Pink Panther films that Peter Sellers starred in, on Blu-ray, in PLUS a ton of extras to be announced at a later date.

The 6 movies are:
o The Pink Panther
o A Shot In The Dark
o The Return of the Pink Panther
o The Pink Panther Strikes Again
o Revenge of the Pink Panther
o Trail of the Pink Panther

Pre-order now at Amazon (http://amzn.to/2ihaBVp) and soon at ShoutFactory.com!

I don't need Ted Wass.

OTOH, what I wish could be done is take the outtakes from Strikes Again that were used for Trail and see them put back into a new cut of Strikes Again. This what Edwards SHOULD have done back in 1982. Fans would have reacted better to a new cut of Strikes Again then to a disgraceful attempt to set the stage for a franchise reboot with Wass in "Curse."

Even with Wass Curse is better than Son! Lol

I would've liked Inspector Clouseau with Arkin in the set. Its okay but would have been good for completions sake. Hopefully anither label will nab it.

Very excited about this - big fan of the Peter Sellers PINK PANTHER films (whose memories were disgraced for a new generation by Steve Martin's re-launch dreck). Was hoping all these films would come out on Blu-Ray with good transfers. Looking forward to the bonus content (and the gag reels).

It's great that "Return" which is the one I have the fondest regard for will be in the set despite its different studio.

I watched "Inspector Clouseau" once. It just didn't work. Arkin was doing the character his own way and the fact Edwards wasn't involved made it more of an alien film about a character who shared the same name.

Eric Paddon wrote:It's great that "Return" which is the one I have the fondest regard for will be in the set despite its different studio.

Agreed. My brother and I recorded the opening sequence on cassette when we were little; his fascination with crossbows can be traced back to this film. Lol...plus the scene where he and the bellboy are sliding all over the place in Lady Litton's room gave me one of the biggest laughing fits I've ever had with those films!

Edwards playing the heist "straight" is what helps the film from being as over the top as Strikes Again was where the focus was more like aping the Bond films at that point.

Clouseau's "There is a time and a place for everything!" and then dropping to that whisper and the neurotic close-up, "And this is it!" is what makes the finale even more funny.

My good friend Al and I do quotes from those movies more than any other:

Now then Hercule...what is the inescapable conclusion?
Maria Gambrelli killed the chauffeur.
You are an idiot!

Lol...if I were to rank them, I think I would go:

1. A Shot in the Dark
2. The Return of the Pink Panther
3. Revenge of the Pink Panther (very goofy but it would be my guilty favorite of the bunch)
4. The Pink Panther (dry humor; favorite bit is the zebra at the party drinking out of the punch bowl as well as the chase scene at the end)
5. The Pink Panther Strikes Again (Until You Love Me is brilliant)

I love all of them...frankly numbers 3-5 could be organized in any way for me depending on my mood.

My faves...I confess I tend to rewatch the sequels more than the original, though like you Michael, they're mostly interchangeable (though I do think REVENGE is a distant 5th on this list):

A SHOT IN THE DARK
PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN
RETURN OF THE PINK PANTHER
PINK PANTHER
REVENGE OF THE PINK PANTHER

RETURN, oddly, was still a UA release but was funded by ITC. Apparently MGM licensed it back or owns it outright domestically now -- not sure which, as the UK Blu I have is from Universal -- but it's essential to have. I don't like it quite as much as most seem to -- Plummer in the Niven role is a bit of a turnoff -- but it's classic stuff.

I agree INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU didn't work. Still I would have rather have seen a complete collection for this series than a "Sellers Collection." TRAIL is incomplete without CURSE, and while I think we are not Ted Wass fans, I think the film as a whole is much more watchable than TRAIL (minus its few outtakes that work, it's pretty bad), plus it has one of Mancini's best scores for the series and the "Turk Thrust III" cameo is actually pretty funny.

Silver lining in my semi-disappointment with Shout is that MGM's "cash grab" licensing means not only will the other films eventually pop up from someone, but the chances of an overseas box-set from, say, Arrow are likely very high. I'd also like to see the cartoons get a release, as the rest of the DePatie-Freeleng cartoons have from Kino.

Lom did get one funny solo bit in "Trail" that was new when he slips on the soap.

I wonder if the outtakes for "Trail" still exist in their original state for "Strikes Again" with the dialogue that had to be overdubbed for "Trail" (Andre Maranne relooped some lines and they used a Sellers voice imitator for some others) to fit the "plot" of the latter. The scene where Francois drives Clouseau to the airport was actually him driving Clouseau to the asylum for the beginning of "Strikes Again".

I never saw CURSE so I am in the dark on that one. I have not seen INSPECTOR CLOUSEAU in its entirety - from what I remember I was not impressed.

Stay in the dark. Exposing to the light of Curse is too painful!

It's better than TRAIL and SON, IMO. At least it plays like a coherent film

"Son" I admit was unbearable and unfunny.

Of course we talk about bad and I would still rather sit through SON than the Steve Martin films!

I would also love to see those outtakes freed from TRAIL...did Edwards ever talk about why there were so many of them excised from STRIKES AGAIN? I assume that's where all those mostly came from.