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The Fallen Idol" (1948)
* Excellent film with
superb performances by Ralph Richardson, Sonia Dresdel, Michele Morgan, Denis O'Dea, and one of the best, if not thee best, child performances by Bobby Henrey. Richardson, Morgan, O'Dea, and Henrey all turn in astonishingly natural performances. It's been awhile since I've seen a film that flows so effortlessly with natural, mostly subtle, genuinely graceful performances as these. I don't know if I'd describe Sonia Dresdel's performance as completely natural, it's just damn good. Dresdel is a tour-de-force expressing the full gamut of human emotion, most of it dwelling on the darker side of human emotion. Michele Morgan is so incredibly beautiful in this film. Her eyes, her voice, her face, the way she carries herself, her natural, earnest acting style that attracts you to her and makes you root for her. She is still alive today and is now 96 years old.
* All of the other actors and actresses in the film are great too. Bernard Lee, Jack Hawkins, Dora Bryan, etc. I love the actors who play the policeman who runs into Phile on the street and his boss, who is the Sergeant at the station. They too are just both so natural with nothing forced in their performances. They both, in different ways, express such warmth and gentle compassion.
* I don't know very much about the technical aspects of directing a film, I only know what my eyes love to see, and I loved watching almost every frame of this film. I've known about Carol Reed as I watched "
The Third Man" ten or twelve years ago and have seen about a half of "
Oliver." Neither of those films knocked my socks off. However, this one did. Carol Reed and cinema photographer Georges Perinal dazzle in this film. I love the way they vividly bring the embassy itself to life, in the daytime and at night, with its different size staircases (including a breathtaking spirally grand one), cool architecture, shadows, a little pet snake ( although at times he looks kind of plastic), awesome little balcony with the best view of all-time, etc. I also love the way they captured the nighttime London streets as Phile darts through them as he runs from the shock and confusion that he just experienced. This film is directed as good as any of Alfred Hitchcock's best, or William Wyler's best, and that is high praise indeed.
* This film surprised me in multiple ways. Characters I thought that may turn dark instead ended up exuding more light. A character who I knew leaned dark became a lot darker than I thought she would. I disliked this character but I felt strongly gravitated towards the wonderful actress who brought her to life, Sonia Dresdel. I wasn't expecting such a strong and altogether different style of performance from a child actor. The film is seen through his eyes, we're with him the whole way, even looking into the eyes of a cobra as it strikes at us. Initially I thought Michele Morgan (Julie) was nice looking but as the film goes on I pretty much fell in love with her. Her style, and the way that she carried herself, and her beautiful acting was like a magnet to me. The storyline took some surprising turns as well that I really appreciated. Also, I was surprised by all the lying in the film, lies everywhere, and yet understandable lies. Early on in the film Ralph Richardson (who was a world class actor) tells his wife that, "Some lies are kindness." He's absolutely right, I do believe that some lies are kindness, and sometimes, maybe most of the time, kindness is more important than the truth.
* I loved the final ten minutes of the film with the exception of the last two or three. The final two or three minutes don't ruin the movie at all, they're just annoying. It reminded me of the Milos Forman masterpiece, "
Amadeus," which is a phenomenal film with a pretty much disappointing final two or three minutes. The final two or three minutes, of both films, doesn't take hardly anything away from the magnificence of them, it just kind of disappoints you and makes you wish they ended it in a cooler way.
* On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest mark, I have to give this film a ten. A 10 is what it deserves.
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The Fallen Idol" (1948)
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