Rent The Fallen Idol (1948)

Fallen Innocence. - The Fallen Idol review by RP

Ralph Richardson is perfect as the Butler to a French Diplomat. The Butler and his wife keep the embassy house going and clean and tidy The Diplomats young son with little to do but keep little creepy crawlies as friends and pets, finds a friendship with the only adult that will give him the time of day. But the wife has little time for mess or the young boys pets. She seems to have little time for her husband either.

With the Diplomat away, the house relaxes. But while the boy wants to play, the Butler has formed a relationship with a young secretary. After a shocking accident the boy is torn between what he thought he saw and his friendship with the Butler.

A satisfying film with lots of actors popping up who are well recognised from old British films. Sonia Dresdel, who plays the wife, may occasionally break into being a pantomime villain but She does it well enough and all the cast make this a perfect Sunday afternoon type watch. The sort of film British studios once did so well. Very glad to see this again and still a great film.

British Classic. - The Fallen Idol review by Steve

Intelligent and very suspenseful adaptation by Graham Greene of his own short story, the first of three high quality collaborations with director Carol Reed. It's the story of a romantic, adulterous affair between the married housekeeper of the French embassy in London (Ralph Richardson) and one of the secretaries (Michèle Morgan).

Only events are seen and heard from the perspective of the ambassador's lonely child (Bobby Henrey) who idolises this gentle, wise employee, and hates his shrewish wife. But the adult world is a puzzle and the boy can't read the code. Through his eyes, we observe how people learn to deceive to shelter from emotional pain.

So when this naive witness tries to protect his father substitute from the charge of murdering his unloved wife, the child just incriminates him further, even though it was an accident. The final half hour, as the fate of the innocent man balances on the good intensions of the boy, is extraordinarily suspenseful. And brilliantly scripted.  

And the artistic photography is persuasive, and striking. This is one of the great British films, eloquently directed, with understated but moving... no, agonising performances from Richardson and Morgan. The crew all said Bobby Henrey was hopeless... but Reed actually pieces together an effective performance.

Whispers on the Staircase - The Fallen Idol review by griggs

Shadows and secrets creep through the corridors of The Fallen Idol. From the start, the camera lowers us to a child’s height, letting us glimpse an adult world just out of reach. What’s thrilling is how the smallest details—a whisper behind a door, a look held too long—swell into high drama when seen through a boy’s eyes.

The film plays like a thriller smuggled inside a childhood memory. Graham Greene’s story knows how to build unease from silences as much as words, and Carol Reed directs with the patience of someone who trusts the audience to piece things together

Ralph Richardson grounds it with quiet authority, but it’s young Bobby Henrey’s wide-eyed bewilderment that makes the tension sting. It isn’t grand spectacle but something smaller and sharper: the feeling that the world of grown-ups is dangerous, and that truth is slipperier than it first appears.