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The Fallen Idol | 
 enlarge | Director: Carol Reed
Actors: Ralph Richardson, Michele Morgan, Dora Bryan
Studio: Optimum Home Entertainment
Category: DVD
List Price: £15.99
Buy New: £4.99
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Avg. Customer Rating:  4 reviews
Sales Rank: 21563
Format: Pal
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Parental Guidance
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 91
Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.3 x 5.4 x 0.6
EAN: 5060034571490
ASIN: B000B8TJ9Y
Theatrical Release Date: 1948
Release Date: November 7, 2005
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: BRAND NEW SEALED & IN STOCK. Despatched from England SAME/NEXT working day. All our CDs and DVDs are GENUINE. Buy with confidence!
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| Customer Reviews:
Archetypal child's view thriller made with such style by a classic partnerhip July 26, 2008
Much imitated child's view thriller that involves the viewer all the way. Has echoes of The Third Man, the next movie by this writer director team, about it, in terms of style and photography. Reed tries out those distinctive camera angles to very good effect here, and the set is brilliantly used - height - without giving too much away is emphasised to great effect, by using the set and some clever camera angles. This is another of those films that just looks made for black and white and shows it once again to be a potentially very arty medium to work in. Lovely camera work and direction and then we have the screenplay by GG. Very fine indeed, subtle as ever while having tremendous style and great impact where it's needed. The little touches of wry humour give real character to this film and help make it a class above the run of the mill features of the period. It feels quite small and neat and even modest in its remit, but this is a perfect match for the effect the film makers want this to achieve - it is a film about the small world of a child, and how his views are totally dictated by those things he knows he saw and heard - of course without understanding the larger ways of the adult world. It is handled beautifully, it is not too ambitious or expansive and focuses just on what it needs to, to get the result it's after. Simple but clever, and RR shines with a performance full of his trademark charisma. Has to be one of the ten best British movies ever made, and I can think of only a few others that would be as helpful to a film making student for learning their craft. A true classic it is.
A magnificent film, directed by Carol Reed and written by Graham Greene June 12, 2007
9 out of 9 found this review helpful
Phillipe, the 8-year-old son of the ambassador, bored and lonely, has been left in the charge of Baines, the embassy butler, and his wife. The ambassador has gone to bring back his wife, who has been ill for several months. Phillipe (Bobby Henrey) idolizes Baines (Ralph Richardson), who talks to him, tells him stories, takes him for walks and pays attention to him. Baines' wife (Sonia Dresdel), however, is a shrew. She has little patience for Phillipe, she runs the housekeeping side of the embassy with an iron hand, and she is unshakeable in her commitment to the cold, loveless marriage she has with her husband. She doesn't know, quite yet, that Baines and Julie (Michele Morgan), a secretary in the embassy, have been meeting secretly each week for months, just for tea or a private walk. They love each other but seem to find no way to break free of his marriage. And then Mrs. Baines, after an hysterical argument when she discovers Julie, is found dead at the foot of the grand stairway in the embassy. Phillipe thinks Baines killed her and is determined to protect him. His lies make things much, much worse.
This is a marvelous film, full of irony and subtlety. Phillipe is too young to grasp the meaning of much of what he sees and hears. He unexpectedly interrupts a meeting between Baines and Julie in a tea shop. She is telling Baines she will be leaving; that their relationship is hopeless. Baines is trying to find someway for her to stay, if even for just a day or two more. Suddenly there is Phillipe, happy to find Baines, climbing onto a seat next to them, having a pastry, observing what Baines and Julie are saying to each other so quietly and intensely, and believing when Baines says they are talking about a friend and that Julie is his niece. Something is happening, he knows, but he simply doesn't register how desperately they want to talk to each other without pretense.
Phillipe tells fibs, especially to protect McGregor, his small pet snake, from Mrs. Baines' anger. When she accuses him of telling lies, Baines tries to protect Phillipe by saying that there are lies and there are lies...that some lies can simply be a kindness to protect others. Mrs. Baines finds ways to trap Phillipe into admitting he met Baines' "niece." When she dies, Baines tries to find ways to use lies...or at least not the full truth...to protect Julie. Phillipe lies to the police in an effort to protect Baines. The conclusion of the film is a masterpiece of amusing irony when we realize the truth might be more dangerous to Baines than Phillipe's lies.
Carol Reed directed The Fallen Idol in 1948. The year before he gave us Odd Man Out. In 1949 came The Third Man. Then Outcast of the Islands in 1952. That's four incredible films, one right after the other. And don't forget Our Man in Havana in 1959. The Fallen Idol, The Third Man and Our Man in Havana were collaborations with Graham Greene. These movies are not just literate and often amusing, they're thoughtful and often uneasy. And all are stunning to look at.
The Fallen Idol gives us two great performances, or rather one great performance and one performance great despite itself. Ralph Richardson as Baines is as understated as the character. We're witnessing a character full of emotion and longing, yet so carefully proper and repressed it hurts. Baines relationship with Phillipe is genuine, yet in many ways it's based on lies and made-up stories. This is one of Richardson's best performances. As Phillipe, Bobby Henrey does a masterful job, but that's because of the patience and skill of Carol Reed and the cleverness of the film editor. Henrey was a nonprofessional who got the part because Reed thought he looked exactly like the kind of young boy Phillipe would look like. As a person who worked on the film with Reed said later, Henrey couldn't act and "had an attention span of a demented flea." Reed took infinite pains to gain Henrey's friendship and confidence. He would walk the boy through the part, usually standing in for Richardson when Richardson would have been off camera feeding Henrey lines. He shot miles of film with Henrey, and then spliced the bits and pieces together into coherent reaction shots. You'll note that Henrey has almost no scenes that go for more than a word or sentence before there are cutaways. Even so, the result is a great film portrayal of a little boy, Phillipe, who can be irritating, impatient and willful, and yet touching in his determination protect his friend, Baines.
If you have an all-region DVD player, the Criterion region 1 release of The Fallen Idol includes an excellent booklet with three essays on the film and a fine 2006 documentary, A Sense of Carol Reed, with interviews from other directors. The Criterion DVD transfer is excellent.
Don't Forget McGregor! September 13, 2006
2 out of 5 found this review helpful
I have seen many good reviews written about this excellent movie, but, unfortunately none of them mention McGregor. "Who is McGregor?" I hear you ask. McGregor is the little snake and the pet of the little boy Philippe, who is cruely killed by the evil Mrs Baines (McGregor, I mean, not Philippe).
As such, the little chap plays an vital role in preparing the way for the 'karmic reversal' that results in Mrs Baines' death and our willing acceptance of this deeply karmic act. Without McGregor the whole movie would grind to a halt.
Before his untimely death McGregor has his 'moment in the Sun' as he captivates us with his wriggling antics, eating cake, and snuggling down in his little cubby hole behind the loose brick. Some actors have got that mysterious, inexplicable 'X factor' and McGregor is definitely one of these.
Where is the American DVD? April 30, 2006
12 out of 29 found this review helpful
The Fallen Idol is by all accounts a terrific film. I would buy an NTSC DVD version if there were one. I can't find it, or Night Train to Munich, or many other Carol Reed pictures. There is a Korean DVD of Odd Man Out; I am curious but yellow.
I understand the audio was pretty muddy in the VHS releases of this film. I wonder if that's been fixed here?
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