Venetian Bird

Venetian Bird is a 1952 British thriller film starring Richard Todd, Eva Bartok and John Gregson, and directed by Ralph Thomas. The screenplay was adapted by Victor Canning from his own 1950 novel of the same title. It was shot at Pinewood Studios and on location in Venice. The film's sets were designed by the art director George Provis. It was released in America by United Artists where it was titled The Assassin.

Box and Thomas decided not to use colour shooting the film as they felt that it would not suit the genre.

Plot
British private detective Edward Mercer (Richard Todd) is employed to travel to Venice and locate an Italian who is to be rewarded for his assistance to an Allied airman during the Second World War. Once he arrives in Italy, however, he becomes mixed up in an assassination plot enveloped in a great deal of mystery. Central to it is whether Renzo Uccello (John Gregson) actually died a few years earlier in World War II or not.

Cast

 * Richard Todd as Edward Mercer
 * Eva Bartok as Adriana Medova
 * John Gregson as Renzo Uccello
 * George Coulouris as Chief of Police Spadoni
 * Margot Grahame as Rosa Melitus
 * David Hurst as Minelli
 * Walter Rilla as Count Boria
 * John Bailey as Lieutenant Longo
 * Sid James as Bernardo
 * Martin Boddey as 	Gufo
 * Michael Balfour as Moretto
 * Sydney Tafler as Boldesca
 * Miles Malleson as Grespi
 * Eric Pohlmann as Gostini
 * Raymond Young as 	Luigi
 * Ferdy Mayne as Tio
 * Jill Clifford as 	Renata
 * Eileen Way as 	Woman Detective
 * Toni Lucarda as 	Nerva
 * Janice Kane as 	Ninetta
 * Meier Tzelniker as 	Mayor of Mirave

Production
Michael Balcon initially rejected the idea of a film based on Canning's novel because it was set in Italy and dealt with Italians, not Britons. Betty Box appealed to Earl St John, who overruled Balcon. Italian censors required that the script clarify the political struggles in post-war Venice that were portrayed in the novel.