Summaries

Synopsis

In the fictional country of Lugash, a mysterious thief seizes the Pink Panther diamond and leaves a white glove marked with a gold-tinted "P". The diamond was kept on display at the national museum of Lugash. The Pink Panther comes the dynasty of Emperor Akbar and had been in Lugash for over 1000 years. It is the largest and most famous diamond in the whole world and is irreplaceable and priceless.

The diamond was protected by a modern security system, and yet the thief managed to defeat it easily. Presumably the thief was part of a tour group, when the guide demonstrated the security features to the group, which included laser activated motion sensors, light activated shutters near the diamond, and a pressure activated shutter mechanism, anytime the Pink Panther is lifted from its base, without the system being switched off.The thief is discovered in the museum during the theft but manages to avoid the guards and escapes through a zip line on the roof that was connected to the building next door.

With its national treasure once again missing, the Shah of Lugash requests the assistance of Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) of the Surete, as Clouseau had recovered the diamond the last time it was stolen.

Clouseau has been temporarily demoted to beat cop by his boss, Chief Inspector Charles Dreyfus (Herbert Lom), who despises him to the point of obsession. Clouseau is his bumbling best as he misses a bank robbery right in front of his eyes as he engages in a verbal joust with a blind beggar right in front of the bank asking him to get a license to play a musical instrument in a public place for the purpose of commercial enterprise. Turns out the beggar was the lookout for the robber gang and was distracting Clouseau.

But after the request, 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 keep the Inspector on his toes, and duly goes to Lugash.As soon as Clouseau is back on the force, there is an assassination attempt on his life, when a mysterious person hands him a bomb inside his apartment. It's a miracle that Clouseau survives, but Cato lands in the hospital.

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 catastrophic failures (as a pool boy, an electrician and so on) to stake out Lytton Manor in Nice (which he nearly demolishes), Clouseau believes a mysterious assassin is attempting to kill him.Charles, meanwhile, has retired from his life of crime, and had nothing to do with the robbery of the Pink Panther. Charles decides to travel to Lugash to uncover the identity of the impostor.

He follows Sir Charles' wife, Lady Claudine (Catherine Schell), to a resort hotel in Gstaad in search of clues to her husband, where he repeatedly bungles the investigation. Actually, Claudine had recognized Clouseau in disguise & was just playing with him by pretending that she was travelling to Gstaad to conduct a deal on the diamond.

Meanwhile, Sir Charles is teased about the theft by his wife and realizes he has been framed. Arriving in Lugash to clear his name, Sir Charles barely avoids being murdered, Sir Charles barely avoids being murdered and sent to the Lugash secret police by his associate known as the "Fat Man" (Eric Pohlmann), who explains that with the leading suspect dead, the secret police will no longer have an excuse to continue purging their political enemies.

Escaping to his suite, Lytton finds secret police Colonel Sharki (Peter Arne) waiting for him, who implies the Fat Man's understanding is correct, but reminds him the diamond must be recovered eventually. Pretending to cooperate, Sir Charles is unable to hide his reaction when he recognizes his own wife in disguise on the museum's security footage. He avoids another plot by the Fat Man and his duplicitous underling Pepi (Graham Stark) and escapes from Lugash, secretly pursued by Sharki, who believes Sir Charles will lead him to the diamond.

Still in Gstaad, Clouseau, who unwittingly has been on the trail of the real thief (Claudine) all along, is suddenly ordered by Dreyfus over the telephone to arrest Lady Lytton. When Clouseau calls back to clarify the order, however, he is told that Dreyfus has been on vacation.

Sir Charles, who in the meantime has chartered a private flight out of Lugash, arrives at the hotel and is first to confront his wife. Lady Claudine admits she stole the jewel to spark excitement in their lives. but not before the Colonel gets there first.Colonel Sharki shows up, but just as he prepares to kill them both, Inspector Clouseau barges in. Sir Charles explains things to Clouseau, and Sharki is about to kill the three of them.However, Dreyfus has followed Clouseau and is outside the hotel room with a rifle - Dreyfus is in fact the "mysterious assassin" who has been trying to kill Clouseau all this time - and just as Dreyfus shoots at Clouseau, the Inspector ducks to check if his fly is undone, and the shot kills Sharki instead. The other three take cover, while Dreyfus, insanely enraged by his latest failure to kill Clouseau, goes berserk until he is arrested.

For once again recovering the Pink Panther, Clouseau is promoted to Chief Inspector, while Sir Charles resumes his career as a jewel thief (Lady Claudine's fate is not mentioned).

At a Japanese restaurant in the epilogue, Cato unexpectedly attacks Clouseau again and triggers a massive brawl, naturally destroying the premises.Dreyfus is committed to a lunatic asylum for his actions, where he is straitjacketed inside a padded cell and vows revenge on Clouseau.

The animated Pink Panther appears and films his antics and concludes the credits with a smoke ring.