A Shot in the Dark (1964 film) as Burt Kwouk as his stalwart man servant Cato and André Maranne as François, all of whom would become series regulars. Elke Sommer portrays the murder suspect, Maria Gambrelli. The character of Gambrelli would return in "Son of the Pink Panther" (1993), this time played by Claudia Cardinale, who appeared as Princess Dala in "The Pink Panther" (1963). Graham Stark, who portrays police officer Hercule Lajoy, would reprise this role eighteen years later, in "Trail of the Pink Panther" (1982). The film was not originally written to include Clouseau, but was an adaptation of a stage play by Harry Kurnitz
Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground guitar ever recorded" and used the song as a standard to measure such iconic rock music that followed in its wake, such as "Whole Lotta Love" by Led Zeppelin. In 2003, John Clarke in "The Times" wrote that "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" was "the most intense and startling blues record ever made". Francis Davis, author of "The History of the Blues" concurs, writing "In terms of its intensity alone—its spiritual "ache"—there is nothing else from the period to compare to Johnson's 'Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground', on which his guitar takes the part