ThiefHott Too much of everything

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Kimball Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

mark.waltz Russian intrigue has a famous Russian scientist in hiding in London, protected by secret agents as Russian agents scheme to find him and kill him. A red monkey is seen escaping from the scene of a murder, and if that doesn't give foreign agents an alibi, nothing else can. American agent Richard Conte comes to London to get involved in the solving of the case and gets himself more than he bargained for with the presence of the lovely Rona Anderson. It's pretty dry, with the organ and piano score making it seem like a TV drama rather than big screen. This is a rather slow cold war melodrama that takes some patience to get into, although the monkey fingerprints are very cute. While the new wave style of filmmaking worked for novice directors like Kubrick and Aldrich, some experimental works seemed just odd. Moments of comedy add to a frantic finale that shows this to be a film with multiple personalities.

malcolmgsw Around 60 years ago I remember the title number being played on the radio.Lyrics were added and it was sung by Jimmy Edwards.The film is rather less memorable being a fairly routine spy thriller starring an ageing Richard Conte as the parachuted in fading American star for the benefit of the American distributors.The DVD has some interesting trailers and an alternative beginning.This is far longer and much less puncture than the actual beginning.There is an intrepid reporter trying to ferret out a story,ignoring the fact that the government would quash any story with a D notice.Still this film was very topical at the time with the defection of Burgess and MacLean.

howardmorley The Burgess, Maclean and Philby spy drama of the early 1950s inspired Merton Park Studios to produce this cold war'B' drama about a midget Russian spy who controls a red monkey and who with his spy colleagues go about bumping off nuclear scientists in Britain.Actor Russell Napier is upgraded from his Scotland Yard inspector role which he performed in the acclaimed Edgar Lustgarten 1950s TV crime series.Another user review above has written a detailed synopsis of the plot so I won't repeat it.There is a very catchy tune "The Little Red Monkey" played on the organ which was popular at the time and which accompanies this film.Rhona Anderson who plays Russell Napier's niece threw herself I thought too willingly at Richard Conte, the American State Department agent who is helping British security to transport Livchenko to the U.S.to gain political asylum along with his nuclear secrets.At about one hour duration this 'B' movie keeps the attention of the viewer and I awarded it 6/10.

robert-temple-1 This is a mid-fifties British B picture (aka LITTLE RED MONKEY, the original title, which is on the DVD) for which they brought in the American Richard Conte as a visiting FBI agent, to fetch a Russian scientist defector to America. The script was co-written by Ken Hughes (1922-2001), who also directed it, and whom I knew rather well. Ken was never a highbrow when it came to literature, though his taste in art was good because of his obsession with the paintings of Delvaux, of which he had a gigantic example on his wall above his sofa. (It is now in a national museum somewhere.) I must say, Richard Conte makes just about the least sentimental lover in the history of the cinema. The way he treats the girl who falls in love with him is so rude and inconsiderate that one wonders about his orientation. Never mind. The British police and secret service bungle spectacularly throughout this tale, making mistake after mistake, taking no basic safety or security precautions, and the attempt to look after a major defector is portrayed as an utter farce. A bit too close to real life. It reminds me of the dealings between MI6 and Gaddafi. What is there about the word 'incompetence' that the British security experts do not understand? They presumably have their noses buried too deep in dodgy dossiers, of which there has been a spectacular example recently, something to do with the number 70,000. Hahaha. Well here they go again in this film, letting everybody get killed, with the almost equally hapless Yank finally saving them, more or less by chance. The monkey of the title really exists and climbs up buildings and opens windows for entry by humans to commit dastardly deeds. There are other elements revealed at the end which I shall duly keep top secret, something which no one in the film seems to know the meaning of.