Inspector Clouseau of the character. The film also introduces two of the series regular characters: his superior, Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), who is driven mad by Clouseau's blundering of the investigation; and his long-suffering Chinese man servant, Cato (Burt Kwouk), who is expected to improve Clouseau's martial arts skills by attacking him at random. Sellers stepped away from playing the character following this movie, but returned in "The Return of the Pink Panther" (1975) and its sequels. When the character returned for the film "Inspector Clouseau" (1968), he was portrayed by American actor Alan Arkin; Edwards was not involved in this production.
The Return of the Pink Panther of the Pink Panther' is a cheerful escape from all the things that ail us." Gary Arnold of "The Washington Post" called it "a frequently hilarious and generally satisfying return to comic form on the part of Peter Sellers, recreating the role of the hapless but dogged French sleuth." Penelope Gilliatt of "The New Yorker" wrote that Sellers was "working here at his best." The film holds a score of 89% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 18 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7 out of 10. The film had been released on VHS, Betamax, CED and Laserdisc in the