Highly Overrated But Still Good

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This is an immemorial conundrum for a middle-aged married man in our monogamous society: whereas his wife becomes more and more embittered and insufferable, out of a stroke of luck (or desperation), he finds a possible new lease on life with a younger, beautiful woman, the strategy of bailing out from a dead-end marriage often goes awry when running afoul of a misery-needs- company retaliation from the deserted and begrudged. This is what happens in Carol Reed's THE FALLEN IDOL, adapted by Graham Greene from his short story THE BASEMENT STORY.In London, Mr. Baines (Richardson) is the butler of the ambassador of an unspecified francophone country, whose wife (Dresdel, snarky, fierce and uncompromisingly obnoxious) also works in the embassy, but he is chastely enamored with a younger colleague Julie (Morgan), when the latter gently hands him her ultimatum, Mr. Baines decides to reclaim his freedom, only Ms. Baine is anything but a soft touch, she will fight her corner until her last breath, but is her falling to her death is an accidental windfall for Mr. Baines or his crime of passion? In the eyes of an audience, the whole act is plain as day, but through the lens of our main subject, a young boy Philippe (Henrey), the son of the ambassador who is left alone in the palatial residence, Greene's mordant tale points up a child's innocence getting embroidered with the falsehood of the adult life, and who is the titular "the fallen idol"? It is Mr. Baines, an avuncular father figure to Philippe and entertains him with his tall-tale adventures in Africa, which doesn't necessarily mean it is true. After incidentally discovering Mr. Baines' assignation with Julie, whom he refers to Philippe as his niece (the jumping-off place of a concatenation of lies which would perniciously compound Philippe's inchoate worldview), Philippe is subjected to an untapped territory of keeping secrets, firstly from the idolized Mr. Baines, then from a harpy Ms. Baines, until he has been caught between defending a murderer (at least from his perspective, no one would blame him for his conviction) and grappling with the horrific happenstance, although, the film dramatically blurs the moral line by depicting Ms. Baines as an utterly unpleasant creature (she is the one dispatches Philippe's pet snake, an apt symbol of the reptilian treachery among adults), so much so that no one is supposed to feel sorry for her upshot, a broad stroke emanates a ghost of misogyny albeit conveniently enhancing the credibility of Philippe's dithered reaction. Yet by and large, the film is a cracking allegory taps into a grey area and ushered by a convincingly elicited child performance as our undivided focal point from a young Henrey, who is not exactly an acting prodigy and the end result should be equally attributed to Mr. Reed's patient guidance as well as to this boy's expressive reaction shots. Ralph Richardson, establishing an impermeable veneer of decorousness and presence of mind nonetheless, carefully carries an undertow of cravenly helplessness writs large in the latter part before a rushed revelation saving the day. As for Michèle Morgan, as svelte as an indubitable attention-grabber, her part is thinly written and largely sidelined. Against the grain of an arresting Bildungsroman, THE FALLEN IDOL potently accentuates Reed's directional prowess and his impeccable knack of frame composition and handsome chiaroscuro, the shots of a nocturnal street-scape tellingly anticipates his defining pièce-de-résistance THE THIRD MAN (1949). For all its aesthetic inclination and profound perspicacity, when in the end Philippe exasperatedly hollers that it is him who upset the vase, one feels unable to refrain from thinking that here is a step too far of Reed's indoctrination, a conspiratorial contemplation in silence might have worked better under this circumstance.

A butler working in a foreign embassy in London falls under suspicion when his wife accidentally falls to her death, the only witness being an impressionable young boy.Carol Reed is one of those names that people don't know. Sure, film buffs know, but the general public not so much. And this is a shame because I would argue that "The Third Man" is possibly the greatest movie ever made. "Fallen Idol" is not quite on that level, but not terribly far behind.What really makes it great is the kid. I can't say he's the best actor or the most enjoyable character to watch. But it is interesting to see the world through his eyes. Can he distinguish fantasy and reality? And if not, when his word is all that can save (or convict) his friend, what is he going to tell the police? It is a very clever story.

After seeing this film for the second time, I am upgrading my review of it. The one fault this film has is a problem in many older British films -- segments of it have a slow pace. There are definitely parallels here to Hitchcock's style of directing and type of story. However, Hitchcock would have kept the pace up throughout. The film is based on a short story by Graham Greene, and was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Direction and Screenplay.The film highlights a positive relationship between a butler and the young son of a diplomat. The boy idolizes the butler (hence the title). But, the butler (Ralph Richardson) is involved in an affair that he is hiding...but not too well...which the boy stumbles upon. The butler's wife...well, you sort of hope she will meet a bad end...and she does...falling to her death from a window while trying to catch her husband's infidelity. The boy sees part of the incident and jumps to the conclusion that it was murder...while it really was an accident. Of course, he wants to protect his idol, but only manages to make things worse...a sort of "oh what a terrible tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive" situation.Ralph Richardson is superb here, as are the two women -- his wife (Sonia Dresdel...who will remind you a bit of Gail Sondergaard) and his mistress (Michele Morgan). The only other actor here that most Americans will recognize is Jack Hawkins, who does nicely as the inspector investigating the death. However, special note should be made of the young actor who plays the boy -- Bobby Henrey, who does much better than most of the child actors of that era.I highly recommend this film! It's a good "page turner".

'The Fallen Idol' is in theory a good and interesting film. The final result can be disappointing. At least on an early impression. This is a complicated movie to rate and judge. It's not confusing or inconsistent but it's complex and doesn't always make sense. Nevertheless, it can grow on you with time.Visually it is one of the best-looking films in black and white. The plot is interesting although it could be better worked at times. This film is often said to be "hitchcockian" for its film-making and "suspense". There is some suspense but nothing all that "hitchcockian". And that's where lies one of the weaknesses of this film: it definitely could use more true suspense, more darkness, more terrifying moments.The film takes place in London, in a fancy big house with a french little boy named Phillipe, the butler Baines and the butler's wife Mrs Baines. Phillipe idolizes the butler, but can't stand Mrs. Baines. And rightfully so, she's a horrible person. She is mean for Phillipe (she even slaps him) and she hates MacGregor (Phillipe's little pet snake). MacGregor is a cute name for a little snake and, even though I never think of any snake as being cute, I think MacGregor is a cute snake. Phillipe is very fond of his beloved MacGregor and very loving towards him. Mrs. Baines is so cruel that she burns poor innocent MacGregor alive! So it's not like she doesn't deserve her fate, even if accidental.Phillipe witnesses Mrs. Baines's accidental death, but thinks he saw Baines intentionally murder her. Phillipe is a strange little boy. On one hand, he's utterly cute and adorable. On the other hand, he's not annoying but he often has erratic behaviors and seems to be a very confused and immature boy and has the bad habit of stubbornly lying. He doesn't seem to have a stable personality. That may be in part due to the abuse he suffered from Mrs. Baites. Or perhaps he was already born with some kind of personality disorder. He also runs away like crazy after witnessing Mrs. Baines's death as if he was terrified but acts as if he wasn't. He lies to the police and his clumsy attempts to protect his idol almost put Baines in trouble. Phillipe is a complicated character, definitely not an easy one to evaluate. He seems like a child who is losing his innocence and hides his emotions as much as possible.Actors do well in their roles: Ralph Richardson as Baines, Michèle Morgan as Baines's lover Julie, Sonia Dresdel as Mrs. Baines and Bobby Henrey (who really is french) as Phillipe.This should definitely be on Top 250.