Review of The Fallen Idol (1948) by Blind P — 25 Nov 2010

There are times when one is enjoying a well crafted film that a factor of extreme annoyance intrudes and detracts from the entertainment factor.

Meet Bobby Henrey.

The child featured, from whose perspective we see all, was such an irritant to watch that I found myself actually saying "shut the fuck up!" repeatedly as the film closed. It was so bad that I almost hated the film itself.

How could I hate it, however, when there was such skill in setting and design? When the adult actors performed with such aplomb? When the pace was crisp, and tale based on logical progression?

From today's perspective this tale of adultery would lose the shock factor and empathy that it may have garnered during its release year. Such stories are the stuff of network TV now, and the paths are well worn.

You cannot fault this if you plan to be fair, as you must attempt to judge a work by the era it was released in. If not, then the "you got me" "no wound" gunshot deaths of the early days would be a terrible detraction from a sense of realism, as example, and I am never bothered by such.

No, it just comes down to entertainment for me, and this is always a subjective evaluation. If the lead character is so nauseating I can't bear to watch, it impacts on my entertainment values and so it did here. I couldn't go so far as to give "the splat", though for me I didn't like it too well.