Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11822 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-11-07
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.77:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 91 minutes

Synopsis
Based on a short story by Graham Greene, the plot revolves around a young boy who wrongly believes the man he idolises is guilty of murder. He sets out to influence the police investigation...

Customer Reviews

Wonderful and entertaining movie!

Entertaining movie centred around a child and his adoration of 'Baines' - the man responsible for his father's house played by Raph Richardson.

This should be a good lesson as to when to tell children to speak the truth and when to tell a lie as both can have dire consequences... There's a touching scene in this when a Policeman has to coax the child to come to him as he runs away after witnessing a possible murder, and there's also a wonderful opportunity to see a young Dora Bryan excelling as a woman of 'loose' virtue with compassion!

The innocence of such children as 'Philip' have long since left us, and so such films would not work today.

Clock Watching
Carol Reed's "Fallen Idol," which I first saw as a child, withstands the test of time. Even though I didn't understand the adult implications of the plot then, I have never forgotten the story (still associating it with the little wooden-seated movie house where my father took the family every week to see British films). I was not disappointed; I found it just as absorbing--and even more compelling--half-a-century later.

The screenplay is, needless to say, excellent. Working closely with Carol Reed, Graham Greene rewrote his original short story, "The Basement Room." In "Fallen Idol," which takes place at a foreign embassy in London, Greene is actually revisiting the topic of a child's-eye-view of spying, loneliness, betrayal by an idolized adult, and the overhearing of frightening things that are not properly understood (Compare "Fallen Idol" to his haunting three-page story, "I Spy," about another small lonely boy who witnesses betrayal and is frightened of things that happen in the dark.). Greene was to collaborate successfully again with Reed on "The Third Man," and--from the sublime to the ridiculous--on "Our Man In Havana."

Expertly directed by Reed, the child Philippe--played by Bobby Henrey, a non-actor--is so natural and believable that one might say that he is ably assisted by Ralph Richardson and Michelle Morgan (with Jack Hawkins in the minor role of a detective who lends his chiming watch to the boy in order to distract him). The cinematography is also superb. The moody black and white renders the melodramatic story, which in color might seem overwrought, plausible. The music of William Alwyn, who also scored Reed's "Odd Man Out," further contributes to the stark ambience of the film.

One of the delights of British cinema of the era was the non-sequitur, as when the clock-maker interrupts the police interrogation of Baines, the Butler, in order to wind one of the gigantic embassy clocks. Just when Reed has wound the plot to its tightest point, he introduces the clock-winder, who serves as a moment of understated comic relief (Part of Reed's genius was knowing when to use moments of humor to lighten the tension.) And yet, references to clocks and watches seem to serve a more subtle purpose in Reed and Greene's scenario, to emphasize both the slowness of time in the mind of the boy and the literal "watching" of something frightening that he shouldn't have seen.

This film may not be for everyone (For instance, my son, who likes action flicks in wide-screen surround-sound color, would probably hate it.), but it is certainly recommended for the discerning viewer who likes a time-tested suspense film, which can be not only watched, but also taken at more than mere face-value.

Archetypal child's view thriller made with such style by a classic partnerhip
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.