TCM at 10pm: Carol Reeds THE FALLEN IDOL (1948) was justly held up - TopicsExpress



          

TCM at 10pm: Carol Reeds THE FALLEN IDOL (1948) was justly held up as one of the high points of the British Tradition of Quality throughout the 40s and 50s. Ralph Richardson takes top honors as the beleaguered butler trapped in a hopeless affair with a very moody Michele Morgan. But the storys point of view is that of the diplomats son, played with little-boy precocity by Bobby Henrey. Sonia Dresdel plays the vindictive wife and later victim, while Denis ODea and Jack Hawkins hover ominously around the embassy, trying to trap the butler into a misstep. Grahame Greene himself, scripting for a larger audience than his usual readership, collaborated on opting for a conveniently happy ending as compared to the despair in his original short story about guilt and retribution. Nonetheless, Robert Kraskers hyperpolished cinematography and Reeds own formidable gifts for generating suspense make this a timeless and elegant exercise in web-spinning complexity both in word and boldly angled images.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 23:15:11 +0000

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