Review of The Fallen Idol (1948) by Lewis P — 29 Oct 2010

I got this one out of curiosity because I'm a huge fan of Carol Reed's other noir masterpiece The Third Man and I've heard that this one is in fact better than that. I was skeptical after watching it, so I checked online and discovered that barely anyone has ever made that claim.

Ralph Richardson delivers a tense and spectacular portrayal of a butler for the French embassy in Britain who is suspected of murder. The film is shown from the perspective of the spoiled son of the French ambassador, and Carol Reed's filming-style makes it as if you are spectating on the drama as it unravels from the son's point of view; such as when the butler is referring to his mistress, he calls her his "niece" and then looks at the ground nervously. Graham Greene also should be given some credit for this too.

Both The Third Man and The Fallen Idol are written by famous author Graham Greene and they both share superb dialogue and a riveting storyline.

Carol Reed provides some great direction and camera angles, but it's nothing compared to The Third Man. I think the problem is that The Third Man just got so intense and visually magnificent as it came towards its climax, whereas this was semi-predictable and lacked suspense.

In the last thirty minutes or so Ralph Richardson started acting like Orson Welles in The Third Man; where he would seem as if he's hiding some immense secret or suppressing a violent rage, and as the film ended there was no official clarity to his anxiety.

The film's central character is the French ambassador's son, and it actually took me a while to realize he was the French ambassador's son; which explained his atrocious habit to slur every other word.

The Fallen Idol is nowhere near The Third Man, but it benefits from Graham Greene's crafty script and a strong lead from Ralph Richardson. 86/100.