The Pink Phink (1964) is an animated short film directed by Friz Freleng and produced by De Patie Freleng Enterprises. It was the first cartoon in the long-running Pink Panther animated series, and the debut cartoon for DePatie-Freleng.
The Pink Panther wanders into a house where Big Nose (a short, mustachioed fellow) is working as a house painter, painting the house blue. The Panther takes exception to this, first bothering Big Nose, and then undoing Big Nose's work by painting over all his blue with pink. A paint war ensues.
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. It was the first Oscar-winning debut short from an upstart cartoon studio, a feat that hasn't been accomplished since.
Tropes:
- Agitated Item Stomping: After the Panther tricks Big Nose into painting the exterior of the house pink by pouring paint into his shotgun, Big Nose throws his gun to the ground and angrily jumps up and down on it.
- Artistic License – Biology: Big Nose finally buries all the Panther's pink paint in the ground. This causes all the trees and grass and flowers to grow pink. Of course, this is due to Rule of Funny.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: The Pink Panther and Big Nose look a little different from how they appear in the rest of the series. The Panther, in fact, is closer in design to how he appeared in the credits to the live-action film.
- Instrumental Theme Tune: Uses the Henry Mancini theme that had been composed for the 1963 live-action film.
- Mime and Music-Only Cartoon: Establishing a precedent that would be set for almost all (but not quite all) the cartoons in the series.
- Mouse Trap: Big Nose sees the Panther's tracks and thinks he's dealing with a large mouse. So he gets a giant mousetrap, but the Panther sneaks up from behind and trips him, causing the trap to snap on the seat of his pants. As he walks away with the trap behind him, a mouse runs up and takes the cheese on the trap.
- Real Men Wear Pink: And they paint houses that color, too.
- Smoking Is Cool: When the Panther first strolls into frame he's smoking a cigarette, with a cigarette holder no less.
- Wall Bang: The cartoon ends with Big Nose, having inadvertently turned everything pink, banging his head on a mailbox.
- Wallpaper Camouflage: When the Pink Panther steps in front of his pink wall, he completely disappears.
- White Void Room: For most of the cartoon, whatever Big Nose and the Pink Panther are trying to paint is presented with a White Void Room background.
