L'affaire du singe rouge

This very British film was a "B" picture given headlines because of the title song which was a massive hit in both the Uk and in the States.

Only read below if you want to know about The little red monkey.

The little red monkey was in fact a very very small/tiny adult russian spy who because of his size could enter small areas thought safe agains five foot plus size humans.

He was only called "The Midget" in the film and he was played by Leonard franks.

This was the basis of the movie.

If you ever get to watch this film, do not expect too much and you will not be disappionted.

The music is freely on line to download from various sites in the UK. Just type in "the little red monkey" into a search engine and up will pop lots of links.

Richard Conte is to film noir what Joel McCrea, Randolph Scott or Audie Murphy are to the Western: reliable lead without ever attaining superstar status. In this film, as ever, Conte delivers a competent performance well backed up by strong direction from Ken Hughes, and a quiet performance of immense quality by Russell Napier, playing the part of Superintendent Harrington in a typical but highly perceptive British stiff upper lip show.

At stake is the Cold War, espionage and the brain drain from the USSR to the USA, with the action happening on British soil. A monkey keeps appearing at murder scenes but in the end it is not the monkey that is icing the scientists. Pity, I have always wanted to see an animal take shots at human beings with cross hairs to even out the contest a little bit.

Lovely Rona Anderson plays the love interest - perhaps a little too eagerly to seem convincing.

Highly professional cinematography by James Ambor. Fair script by Eastwood and Hughes. I enjoyed it well enough to recommend it.

Richard Conte is the visiting American actor for this decent enough British-made thriller. He, "Locklin", is charged with ensuring the safe transfer of a defecting Soviet nuclear scientist "Dushenko" (Arnold Marlé). Simultaneously, a spate of murders is occurring in London and Scotland Yard (Russell Napier) initially baffled, soon discovers that there is a connection and so he and "Locklin" have to work together to thwart the daring plot - starting with just a monkey's paw print for a clue! It's a bit formulaic this, there is a journalist (Colin Gordon) in on the search too; a kidnap and some good old fashioned thumb-screw techniques as the baddies try to elicit the location of their prey. At times it can look little better than a filmed radio play, but at just over the hour, it doesn't hang about. The writing and the acting do their jobs, and though we know pretty early on who is who, it's still quite an enjoyable cold war drama.

THE CASE OF THE RED MONKEY, aka LITTLE RED MONKEY, is a fun little mix of murder mystery and spy thriller of the 1950s. This is very much a film of its era, complete with a title and theme tune taken from a popular tune of the era and a Cold War backdrop. When nuclear scientists are being murdered in London, it takes a US special agent in the form of Richard Conte to track down the killer. The addition of the monkey to the plot is a novel and offbeat twist, and there's enough disparate elements from action to romance to spy shenanigans and the like to keep it bubbling away merrily from beginning to end.

The usual brilliant scientist with a Cherman accent is in Great Britain, about to be sent to the US. Scotland Yard thinks it has matters well in hand, but it takes American Richard Conte from the State Department to make things come out right, when he is not romancing Rona Anderson.

It's pretty standard B movie fare, except for the score, which consists of half blaring, sprightly organ music and half overly romantic piano tinkling. There are a trio of spies with East European accents talking about how their plans and executions are flawless -- they aren't --and some sharp photography by Josef Ambor. I found it unengaging.