In this thriller with a twist, the great Ralph Richardson portrays a kindly butler who is falsely accused of murder. The only person who can save him is a small boy, who unwittingly makes the innocent man appear guilty. Graham Greene adapted his own short story into an award-winning screenplay.
As a portrait of the sometime destructiveness of innocence and as a sharp fresco of post-war Britain, this movie is a little masterpiece, an idol that has never fallen.
... one of the great films of innocence lost and a powerful portrait of the powerlessness of children in the adult world, where they are so often ignored or discounted.
Watching The Fallen Idol is like setting off one of those milelong mazes of dominoes, with ramps and loop-de-loops and sheer drops. First, every element is ingeniously set up; then, everything falls into place.
This earlier pairing between the two masters is another well-crafted and thought-provoking film. And it makes you wish that Reed and Greene had teamed for more than just three films.
Reed and Greene build unbearable tension, with the nifty trick of showing events both as they happen and as little Philippe interprets (and occasionally misinterprets) them.
Lies, sometimes, are an act of kindness. Many times I hasten to add. The imagination of a lonely child is ignited by a meek man in love. The man, as played by the extraordinary Ralph Richardson, is a mass of contradictions and yet we understand him. Married to a shrew and in love with Michele Morgan no less. Carol Reed
is not a director that comes immediately to mind when one lists the greatest directors of all time, but in my book, is right up there with the very best. No other director has been able to bring Graham Green to the screen with its spirit so gloriously intact. Guilt and fear as riveting entertainment. Suspenseful, funny and beautiful to look at. Go try to top that.
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