THE PINK PANTHER STRIKES AGAIN

GB / US
1976
1hr 43mins
Dir: Blake Edwards
Starring: Peter Sellers and Herbert Lom

Dreyfus’ insanity reaches a pinnacle as he tries to intimidate the rest of the world into killing Clouseau

The Pink Panther Strikes Again was the fifth film of the long-running series of comedy crime mysteries, but it is the only one of The Pink Panther franchise to feature a railway element that falls into this A-Z. The scene where Tournier evades the police on a train by being taken off by helicopter was filmed on the CIE’s Navan branch from Drogheda. The six-coach train was hauled by Metro-Vick 001 Class locomotive No.048, and both the locomotive and stock were given an approximation of the SNCF livery at the time by using water paints, though this had little effect on the loco. The coaches had stickers to represent ‘Paris, Limoges & Toulouse’ destination boards and even the helicopter had a French registration!!

A good low-level run-by of the train, hauled by Metrovick 001 Class No.048
The master bank robber Jean Tournier (played by John Sullivan) has evaded his police escort and made his way onto the roof of the train
The getaway helicopter gives chase
Tournier is about to escape. The helicopter is a Bölkow Bo 105 and its French registration of F-AWAX is a remarkable piece of continuity, though it is entirely spurious. It was in fact EI-AWB and was operated by Irish Helicopters (with thanks to Robert Banks for clearing this one up).