Review: Venetian Bird

 Richard Todd plays a P.I. sent to Venice to track down an Italian freedom fighter to be rewarded for his efforts during WWII. Everyone keeps telling Todd that the man died in an air raid. Todd is convinced there’s more to it, and the increasing amount of dead people who turn up during his investigation only furthers his suspicion. Eva Bartok plays an art restorer, Walter Rilla plays Bartok’s suspicious employer, Sid James is an Italian undertaker (!), Margot Grahame is an old acquaintance of Todd’s, and George Coulouris is a local cop.

 

Also given the rather drab title of “The Assassin”, this 1952 British mystery-thriller is a little similar to the well-regarded “The Third Man”. I actually think it’s about on par with that Carol Reed film, but bear in mind I find “The Third Man” slightly overrated, whereas this might be a tad underrated. Directed by Ralph Thomas (who did a very fine job on 1958’s “A Tale of Two Cities”), this is a solid film, though I might suggest it’d be even more solid if I didn’t get a tad lost in the sea of rather similar-sounding Italian surnames. Also, it might’ve helped if it had a warmer or more compelling leading lady than Ms. Eva Bartok, who is a tad wooden and icy for my liking. She’s OK, but just OK. Still, the always terrific Richard Todd, an excellent supporting cast, and lovely Venice scenery take the film quite a fair way.

 

Richard Todd really was an underrated actor. He sounded like Richard Burton, but was more traditionally handsome and capable of playing either side of the fence effortlessly. In support we have such familiar faces as veteran European character actor Ferdy Mayne (who has worked with everyone from Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Christopher Lambert, to Roman Polanski), Miles Malleson (supposedly dubbed, but I actually think that’s incorrect), the always fine George Coulouris, and especially a scene-stealing Walter Rilla all doing rock-solid work. There’s also a cute appearance by a girl named Janice Kane as the charming Ninetta, and you haven’t heard Sid James as an Italian undertaker before and it’s quite a trip. Good performance, but it’s quite a trip hearing him put on an accent that’s very much not like his own inimitable one.

 

Solid European mystery with nice locales, and mostly excellent performances, particularly from Richard Todd and Walter Rilla. It’s not without flaw, but this one deserves to be better known. Based on a Victor Canning novel (Alfred Hitchcock’s “Family Plot” was also based on one of his novels), Canning himself wrote the screenplay.

 

Rating: B-  

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