A Shot in the Dark - 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray

Let this little factoid sink in a bit: A Shot in the Dark premiered a mere four months after The Pink Panther saw its wide release in U.S. theaters! Folks barely had a chance to catch their breath from the last outing before being thrown into what I consider the best entry in the franchise. Again, I’ll link to my old Pink Panther Collection review in a moment, but for right now, I’ll say I never get tired of this film. It’s easily my favorite film in the series (although The Pink Panther Strikes Again is a very close second). It’s one of those projects that could have gone entirely sideways and not turned out well at all, but in the end, it worked. 

Rushed into production, the original play was drastically rewritten by William Peter Blatty and Edwards to turn it into a Clouseau vehicle since Sellers was already attached to the project. In the process, Walter Matheau, who would have costarred, left the film (along with several other high-profile cast members). Then, to top it off, Sellers and Edwards were barely even speaking. Their relationship had deteriorated to the point of simply handing each other notes to communicate. Once the show was over, the pair vowed never work with each other again - despite this film becoming a massive box office success. It’d be years before they’d repair their differences to make The Party and then it took even more time before considering another Closeau follow-up. But in the process of this film, they'd set the template for future franchise installments with the arrival of Herbert Lom as Dreyfus and Burt Kwouk as Closeau's attack-driven manservant, Kato. 

Here’s what I had to say about the entire series back in 2017 

Vital Disc Stats: The 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray 
A Shot in the Dark takes its first stab at 2160p with a two-disc 4K UHD + Blu-ray release from Kino Lorber Studio Classics. The 4K is pressed on a BD100 disc with a Region A BD50 serving up 1080p and the bulk of the extras. The discs are housed in a standard black two-disc case with reversible insert art and slipcover.

Because it’s my favorite of the franchise, it’s even more painful to report that A Shot In The Dark didn’t hit the bullseye on 4K UHD. Make no mistake, this is far better than what we saw on the previous Blu-ray (and anything before that point). When it’s on point, it’s beautiful, and we see those signs of a fresh new scan and a subtle but welcome HDR-driven visual refresh. When it’s rough, it shows clear as day. First, though, I’ll start with the good news. Fine line details are sharper than ever, with plenty of attention paid to facial features, clothing patterns, and the impressive production design work. Film grain is nice and tight, finely rendered for a healthy cinematic veneer. The Dolby Vision grade is on point for this film without being overly aggressive. The film was always the darkest-toned of the film (not just content but in all aspects), so black levels and shadows are appropriately stronger without crushing. Colors are healthy and natural; primaries enjoy a lovely pop. Contrast might be a tad hot in places, whites maybe a little too strong, but I’ve seen this movie look nuclear-white-bright, so I’ll take this as something of a welcome middle ground. 

What sadly pulls back my praise is the condition of the source elements. Speckling and what look like small punctures or tears, and, in some instances, noticeable frame judder are present. This transfer was reportedly pulled from a new 4K scan of the 35mm negative. I can believe that for many sequences, others have the wear-and-tear appearance of a later-generation source. If it were just a little insignificant speckling, I could forgive that, but the sporadic frame judder is quite distracting and just brings the other discrepancies into focus. Again, I’ll grant my favoritism for this film colors my displeasure somewhat, but at the same time, in this day and age, when you can have some classics that are even older than this film look like they were newly shot yesterday, a little more restoration time would have meant the world here. Realistically, it's not the worst, and I imagine some folks may not be too troubled by it, but I just can't bring myself to give much leeway in the score and have to kick it back a peg. It's still quite good, but after seeing The Pink Panther, I was hoping for better.

As with its predecessor, A Shot in the Dark comes home with a DTS-HD MA 2.0 and 5.1 track. Again, the 2.0 is the default, and like the first film, I think it’s the better presentation. So much of the film is still staged like a chamber-room whodunit so outside of a few sequences, there’s not much use for a surround mix. Listening between tracks, the 5.1 again keeps largely to the Front/Center channels with only occasional dips into the surrounds. The nudist camp, the date sequence at the various restaurants, and the film’s climax pick up quite a bit and justify some of that 5.1 effort. But of the two, I felt like the 2.0 is the better-balanced experience. 

All of the extras here have been carried over from the previous Shout Factory Blu-ray set. Sadly, nothing new was produced on this one. See my linked review for more details about these archival materials. 

• Audio Commentary featuring Jason Simos
• Back to the Start: Origin of The Pink Panther with Walter Mirisch
• Blake Edwards and Julie Andrews on Disck Cavett Show
• Franchise Trailer Gallery:
• The Pink Panther
• A Shot in the Dark
• The Return of the Pink Panther
• The Pink Panther Strikes Again
• Revenge of the Pink Panther
• Trail of the Pink Panther
• Curse of the Pink Panther
• Son of the Pink Panther

Simply put, A Shot in the Dark is one of the funniest movies ever made, and it happens to be part of a franchise featuring some of the funniest films ever made! I grew up with this franchise on VHS, and if it was ever left to me to choose which of these films we’d watch, A Shot in the Dark was often it. I’m a whodunit fanatic, and much along the lines of something like Clue: The Movie, this film brilliantly pulls inspiration from a number of sources for a hilarious take on the classic murder mystery genre. Sellers was brilliant. Edwards was brilliant. The two may have hated each other while making the film, but they made hilarious cinematic magic. On 4K UHD, we’re given an overall greatly improved Dolby Vision transfer that easily outpaces the older Blu-ray, but needed a little more TLC in the restoration department to clean things up. With solid audio options and a decent selection of archival extras, I’m calling my favorite in the series Recommended on 4K.