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
A Shot in the Dark (1935 film) A Shot in the Dark (1935 film) A Shot in the Dark is a 1935 American mystery film directed by Charles Lamont. A college student (Charles Starrett) discovers his roommate’s body hanging from a window and calls the police. What at first looks like suicide turns out to be murder. While a police investigation is ongoing, more students are killed. "The New York Times" wrote, ""A Shot in the Dark", which pictures a trilogy of murders on a rural college campus, telegraphs its punches in a way that may seem insignificant to Chesterfield Productions, Inc., but is as good as