The adventures of bumbling Jacques Clouseau (Peter Sellers) – now elevated to Chief Inspector – of the Sûreté seem to have come to an end when he is mistakenly declared dead.
However, the disaster-prone detective is, in fact, alive and well and takes advantage of the situation to launch an undercover investigation into his own murder, adopting a variety of cunning disguises.
There are so many comedy turns hanging from a slender plotline in this helping of Inspector Clouseau that it tends to sag in places.
But there are still plenty of laughs as Clouseau goes on the trail of drug smugglers, taking his boss, Chief Inspector Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) beyond the end of his tether.
Sellers is well supported by Dyan Cannon, as a drug dealer’s girlfriend, and by Burt Kwouk, as Cato – the valet whose constant ambushes on Clouseau are among the film’s highlights.
This may lack the coherence of the previous films, but if you accept this as just a vehicle for Sellers’s comic genius you won’t be disappointed.
Chief Inspector Clouseau
Peter Sellers
Chief Inspector Dreyfus
Herbert Lom
Simone Legree
Dyan Cannon
Philippe Douvier
Robert Webber
Cato
Burt Kwouk
Scallini
Paul Stewart
Marchione
Robert Loggia
Dr Auguste Balls
Graham Stark
François
André Maranne
Claude Russo
Sue Lloyd
Guy Algo
Tony Beckley
Tanya
Valerie Leon
Fernet
Alfie Bass
Cunny
Danny Schiller
Director
Blake Edwards