The Return of the Pink Panther by his boss, Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), who despises him to the point of obsession, but the French government forces Dreyfus to reinstate him. Clouseau joyously receives the news after fending off a surprise attack from his servant Cato (Burt Kwouk), who had been ordered to do so to keep the Inspector on his toes, and duly goes to Lugash. Upon examining the crime scene in the national museum — in which he wrecks several priceless antiquities — Clouseau concludes that the glove implicates Sir Charles Lytton (Christopher Plummer), alias "the notorious Phantom," as the thief. After several
A Shot in the Dark (1964 film) bomb that had been planted by Commissioner Dreyfus. Having witnessed the explosion, and realizing that he has failed again to kill Clouseau, Dreyfus is reduced to an animalistic fury and is taken away. Finally, Clouseau and Maria celebrate the clearing of her name with a long and passionate kiss—which is swiftly interrupted by another sneak attack by Cato. Sellers was attached to star in the adaptation of Harry Kurnitz's Broadway hit before the release and success of "The Pink Panther", but was not pleased with the script by Alec Coppel and Norman Krasna. Walter Mirisch approached Blake Edwards and asked