Blake Edwards

All the ingredients for a great evening at the movies: lively music, eye-catching scenery, larger-than-life comic set pieces, suave men and beautiful women, and odd-man-out Clouseau, played to perfection by the one and only Peter Sellers.

10's tossed-off quality keeps it from greatness, but it also distinguishes Edwards' film from the great mass of contemporary comedies smoothed to a shiny, edgeless formula.

Plays dated these days, though what now seems like a pitch straight down the middle probably seemed more like a screwball fifty-two years ago.

Hasn't aged especially well. Still, on the strength of Grant and co-lead Tony Curtis, Edwards' film remains a diverting enough escape from reality.