The Return of the Pink Panther Intro

The animated introduction by Richard Williams. Arguably the best animator of his time, and among the best of all time. He is one of the few animators out there who stuck with 24 frames instead of 12 per second.

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Pink
• Panther
• Richard
• Williams
• Blake
• Edwards
• Peter
• Sellers

[rclaughlin]

Remember the point in the Panther's dance routine where he sweeps the cane across the screen? That would have looked awful at 12 frames a second.

[explodinghaggis]

@rclaughlin Agreed!

[battybuddy]

Glad to see he did 24. I can't imagine something like this even being POSSIBLE with 12 frames.

[jimmyj1969]

The best intro, the best music theme variation and the best Pink Panther movie ever!

[stevethemeave45]

If I were to see the flashing scene at 3:28 my eyes could hurt.

[ALPHAHXCORE]

@explodinghaggis for great 2D animation a smart use of both twos and ones can make for a real fluid but also very snappy animation. with that said richard williams is undoubtedly great.

[explodinghaggis]

@LiimLsan Excellent! Thanks. Ya... when I got this video (from my school's library) a few years back, youtube did not even exist yet! The idea of acquiring the original film, or the documentary was near impossible. I remember watching both back then... simply "wow."

Oh ya... and Lantz. Yeesh.

[LiimLsan]

@explodinghaggis The documentary was named after the working title of Thief and the Cobbler, The Thief Who Never Gave Up.

The 'unfinished version' can either be found by searching for the workprint or by searching 'Thief and the Cobbler - Uncobbled Cut.'

Both can be found easily on youtube.

Twos actually make your eye sore after a few minutes...you ever watched more than three Lantz Cartoons in a row? It's painful.

[LiimLsan]

@LuckyIrishLass You know who was William's teacher for this scene? Art Babbitt.

same guy what animated Goofy, the wicked Queen, Geppetto, the dancing mushrooms, Frankie, Mr. Magoo, King Nod, etc. and basically can take credit for inventing the very concept of life drawing in animation.

If I could have picked ANYBODY to teach me about how to do this, it'd be him. ^^

[rpvarela]

@Quasarion Thank you for that. =)

[Quasarion]

@rpvarela First is Scarface (or some gangster), next is a Texas cowboy, Groucho marx, and some effeminate ballerina type (excluding the ones you mentioned).

This is the most fluid PINK PANTHER opening sequence to date. Awesome work by Richard Williams and his crew, as well as Mancini himself, whose music captures the charm and suaveness of the Pink Panther.

[rpvarela]

I wonder what all the characters the panther imitates are (starting on 2:24) I recognized charles chaplin's "the tramp", mickey mouse and frankenstein's monster, but I don't know about the others.