A hapless orchestra player becomes an unwitting pawn of rival factions within the French secret service after he is chosen as a decoy by being identified as a super secret agent.The film was remade in English as "The Man with One Red Shoe", which makes me want to see that version -- I never really had an interest before. This version is quite good, and I especially love the score. It is whimsical and light, keeping the material fun.The topic of secret agencies against themselves sort of suggests a Kafka-type plot, but it never reaches that level. Because of the humor involved, it might be closer to compare this to a Peter Sellers film. Certainly more deserving of attention than it generally receives.

This comedy/mystery is simply delightful. You can call it a masterpiece of its genre(s) or you can just enjoy its great timing, hilarious physical comedy, its story that involves spies, murders, and a sexy blonde (Mireille Darc) in a dress you have to see to believe. Pierre Richar is excellent as the blond man of the title who one day became a "person of great interest" for two rival departments in the French secret service. As we know, it is very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room especially if the cat is not in the room and that's what the experienced employees of the secret service try to do - to find the sense in the routine activities of a man they are convinced is an important spy and who is in reality an absent-minded and oblivious violinist and the object of the practical jokes by his fellow musicians.If it is not enough, there is a soundtrack written by Vladimir Cosma and performed by the King of Pan Flute, a famous Romanian musician Gheorghe Zamfir. Cosma recalls that when he was composing the music for The Tall Blond Man, he was thinking of the movie "The Spy Who Came in From the Cold" and he wanted to use the elements of the Eastern European music. His idea to use the themes of Romanian doinas played by Zamfir was a stroke of genius. Once you hear the melodies, you won't be able to forget them.YES to the movie and YES!! to the soundtrack

An earlier comment was sophisticated slapstick, but while there are the occasional pokes in the eye -- the scene where an exploding cigar goes off and all the spies silenced weapons go "pfffht" (no blood, just lots of people falling over with silly expressions) is wonderful -- I think I'd instead classify this as sophisticated silliness. Reminds me of the old David Niven movies, except much less restrained.But I also want to point out that the movie ends with a quote: "Every person is entitled to the respect of his or her private life. Penal Code, Article 9." Indeed, the wry tongue in cheek is pointed squarely at the absurdities of the French intelligence community. I find looking at the movie in that light adds another bit of fun to identifying the "good guys" and the bad guys.Well worth your time.

It's been many years since I saw this one, but it just "tickled my fancy." The US remake with Hanks and Belushi was ok, but the original had more spark. (I think casting Hanks and Belushi was as close as we could get to the original with big name actors. It was like seeing your friends perform "Taming of the Shrew".) The physical comedy of the best friend makes this good story even better.