The Fallen Idol (film)


The Fallen Idol is a 1948 British film directed by Carol Reed and based on the 1936 short story "The Basement Room", by Graham Greene. The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, and won the BAFTA Award for Best British Film.

Plot

The film is told through the naive eyes of a diplomat's young son, Philippe, who idolises his father's butler, Baines. Baines has invented a heroic persona to keep the boy entertained, and often tells him stories of his exotic and daring adventures in Africa and elsewhere, stories such as putting down a native uprising single-handedly, killing a man in self-defence, shooting lions and so on.
In reality, the butler has never been to Africa and is stuck in a loveless marriage, while dreaming of happiness with a younger woman. After Baines has an argument with his betrayed wife, she accidentally falls from a landing to her death. However, Philippe believes that he has seen Baines murder her. The boy desperately and clumsily attempts to protect his hero when the police investigate, but his efforts only lead Baines deeper into trouble.
, Ralph Richardson and Michèle Morgan in The Fallen Idol

Cast

The cameras began turning on the film on the bright, sunny morning of Wednesday, 17 September 1947, with the first location scene to be filmed being that of Bobby Henrey running across Belgrave Square in London.
The Fallen Idol marks the first notable film Carol Reed made at Grosvenor Crescent, Belgravia, in London as a filming location — the other being Reed's acclaimed movie Oliver!, filmed 20 years later at the same site. Coincidentally, it was a film featuring a similar seven-year-old precocious boy.

Reception

The Monthly Film Bulletin called the film "outstanding."
It was one of the most popular movies at the British box office in 1948. According to Kinematograph Weekly the 'biggest winner' at the box office in 1948 Britain was The Best Years of Our Lives" with Spring in Park Lane being the best British film and "runners up" being It Always Rains on Sunday, My Brother Jonathan, Road to Rio, Miranda, An Ideal Husband, Naked City, The Red Shoes, Green Dolphin Street, Forever Amber, Life with Father, The Weaker Sex, Oliver Twist, The Fallen Idol and The Winslow Boy.
The Fallen Idol was included at number 48 on Time Out'' magazine's list of the "100 best British films", which polled critics and members of the film industry. It was described as "one of the finest British films about children, about the ways they can be manipulated and betrayed, their loyalties misplaced and their emotions toyed with."

Awards