peter seller die in late 1980 and just a he be on the verge of get another clouseau flick off the ground . the film be to be title romance of the pink panther and and this time seller be write the film and with blake edward nowhere in sight . upon seller death and ua offer the film ( which be originally to be helm by sidney poitier and then later clive donner ) back to edward . rumor have it that the studio want dudley moore to replace seller . moore and edward pass on the same ground represent that no actor could possibly replace could seller . a sensible move . unfortunately and edward have other idea . this be the result . there seldom be a film that felt a simply and utterly wrong a trail of the pink panther . with this film and edward attempt to make an all new panther escapade use deleted footage of seller from the previous three panther and with brand new scene film around him to make it appear a if seller be really involved . for a little while and it almost work ( the join be at time seamless ) despite itself . but then you see a sequence lift wholesale from strike again ( clouseau mishap with a bag of grocery ) and thing go rapidly downhill . the seller footage be of course very amusing and but it painfully obvious which panther film the scene be cut from ( especially the strike again footage and where a number of that film support character suddenly appear for no good plot reason ) and the flimsy plot do all manner of convulsion to fit the scene in . then and 40 minute in and clouseau vanishes and his plane have disappear . suddenly and what plot there be ( which be nothing hot anyway ) evaporates and the film wanders into would be citizen kane territory . from here on joanna lumley ( quite lovely with a french accent ) wanders in a a tv reporter determine to track down clouseau . with her arrival and the pace grind to a halt and so do the laugh . it certainly nice to see some of the early panther notable again ( david niven and graham stark and capucine ) along with an amuse contribution from richard mulligan a clouseau even batty father and but even this doesn not really work and outside of pad the film to a releasable running time . even bad be that niven and who be gravely ill at the time and be dub by c grade impressionist rich little . little can be hilarious impersonate celebrity ( his howard cosell on futurama be a blast ) but his attempt to seriously imitate niven be just painful and with his own accent frequently creep in . it only give niven scene a bizarre and otherworldly quality and in a film that already feel mighty creepy . little be also rope in to imitate the voice of harvey korman ( more successfully ) and seller ( excruciate ) and which only make thing stranger . this second half of the film mix lumley interview with clouseau contemporary with heavy dos of flashback footage ( from early panther ) and all of it so much good that the new stuff . even when it attempt to be funny on it own and edward resort to steal these gag ( a oppose to the footage ) from early triumph . witness dreyfus barely conceal laughter during his attempt to eulogise his former nemesis . and then remember that he do the exact same thing in revenge . if there be one shin light in this misbegotten dud and it the peerless herbert lom . he a truly underrated comic presence who manage to rise above the material with all his facial tick and pratfall and explosion of rage . the final shot of the film and with clouseau stand on a cliff face and look out to sea ( only to get pooped on by a seagull ) manage to sum up the whole enterprise . it a blatant stand in ( how could it be anything but . ) and when he do speak ( curse the swine seagull ) it clearly little voice do a bad seller impression . have pass on romance because he believe no one could replace peter seller and blake edward only go on to prove his point . in an even less dignified way . maybe the final comment should go to edward and his dedication at the beginning of this misguided and shambolic but possibly well intentioned fiasco . to peter . the one and only inspector clouseau .