Ballon household: Benjamin Ballon and his wife Madame Ballon, Henri Lafarge the head Butler and his wife Madame Lafarge the Cook, Miguel Ostos the Head Chauffeur, Maria Gambrelli the third maid, Pierre the second Chauffeur and his wife Dudo the head Maid, Georges the Gardener and his wife Simone the second Maid, Maurice the second Butler. Affairs: Monsieur Ballon and Maria, Maria and Miguel, Henri and Dudo, Madame Ballon and Henri, Pierre and Simone. Who killed who: Madame Ballon accidentally shot Miguel because she suspected her husband of having an affair with Maria and wanted to kill him. Madame LaFarge killed Georges because he threatened to break up with her. Simone killed Dudo to eliminate her because she was in the way of her affair with Pierre. Monsieur Ballon killed Henri because he was having an affair with his wife. Blackmailers: Georges blackmailing Monsieur Ballon (Seen leaving Maria's room). Maurice blackmailing Madame Ballon. (Seen leaving Maria's room).
—Bert Weissensee



When rich M. Ballon's spanish driver is found shot dead, Inspector Jacques Clouseau is the first official on the scene. All evidence suggests Maria Gambrelli, the maid, to be the murderer. But Clouseau, being attracted to the beautiful girl, is convinced that she is hiding something. So, he has her released from jail and tries to follow her secretly. Things do not work out the way the inspector wanted and people keep being murdered, and each time innocent Maria seems to be the killer. But with someone important wanting Clouseau and nobody else to cover this case, his tolerance-challenged boss Charles Dreyfuss is close to losing his mind when casualties keep turning up. And Clouseau keeps on causing trouble without knowing it...
—Julian Reischl



The famous French detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau, investigates the murder of a man at a country house. The owner of the house always seems to know more than he should, and although the evidence continually suggests that the maid Maria committed the crime, Clouseau always does the opposite expected of him, much to the disgruntlement of his superior, Dreyfus.
—Graeme Roy



Inspector Clouseau is called to a country house where a murder was committed and finds that every clue points to the beautiful maid, Maria. As the bodies accumulate, each set of clues always points to Maria, and Cluseau continues to release her and escort her around town. The famous scene in this film is the murder in the Nudist Camp which causes the Inspector and Maria to attempt an escape through Paris without clothes.
—John Vogel



Inspector Jacques Clouseau investigates the murder of Mr. Benjamin Ballon's driver at a country estate.
—nufs68





SYNOPSIS

Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers) is called to the country home of millionaire Benjamin Ballon (George Sanders) to investigate the murder of his chauffeur, Miguel Ostos. The chauffeur was having an affair with one of the maids, Maria Gambrelli (Elke Sommer), and attacked her in her bedroom after she broke off with him. Miguel was shot and killed in her bedroom and Maria was found with the smoking gun in her hand, but claims no knowledge of how it got there as she maintains she was knocked unconscious. All evidence points to Maria as the killer, but Clouseau is convinced of her innocence because he has developed an immediate attraction to her. Realizing Clouseau has been inadvertently assigned to a high profile case, Commissioner Dreyfus (Herbert Lom) has him removed and personally takes charge of the investigation.

Dejected, Clouseau returns home. He is awakened in the early hours of the morning by an apparent attempt on his life by a Chinese assassin. When the phone rings, the life or death struggle ceases and it becomes apparent that his assailant is his valet, Kato (Burt Kwouk), to whom Clouseau has given instructions to attack him when he least expects it to keep his senses sharp. The Inspector is reinstated to the Ballon case and immediately orders Maria Gambrelli's release from prison, as he is convinced she is shielding the real killer, who Clouseau suspects is Ballon himself.

A series of additional murders of the Ballon staff follows. Each time the evidence points to Maria, who is continually arrested, only to have Clouseau release her again despite the growing number of murder charges laid at her feet. One of which involves, both Clouseau and Maria being arrested after fleeing from a nudist colony... without their clothes.

Clouseau's actions embarrass the Sûreté in the press, but Commissioner Dreyfus is unable to remove him from the case because Ballon has exerted political influence to keep the unorthodox and seemingly incompetent detective assigned to the investigation. As Clouseau continues to bungle the case, Commissioner Dreyfus becomes increasingly unhinged and suffers a nervous breakdown that reduces him to a delusional psychotic. He stalks Clouseau in order to assassinate him, but accidentally kills a series of innocent bystanders instead and adds further notoriety to the case.

When Clouseau confronts the Ballon household to unmask the murderer, it is revealed that Ballon, his wife (Tracy Reed), and three members of the staff are all guilty, as each of them has killed at least one earlier victim due to crimes of passion or subsequent blackmail attempts. Only Maria is innocent of any crime. As a massive row breaks out between employers and staff, the lights are cut (an arrangement Clouseau had made with his assistant), and the guilty take the opportunity to pile into Clouseau's car and escape. They are all killed when the car is destroyed by a bomb that had been planted by Commissioner Dreyfus. Having witnessed the explosion, and realizing that he has failed again to kill Clouseau, Dreyfus is reduced to an animalistic fury and is taken away. Clouseau and Maria celebrate the clearing of her name with a long and passionate kisswhich is swiftly interrupted by another sneak attack by Kato.