听 One of the gems of 40s British cinema, The Fallen Idol was the first collaboration between director Carol Reed and screenwriter Graham Greene, who went on to make superb film noir The Third Man.
Skilfully adapted from Greene's novella The Basement Room, The Fallen Idol is the story of lonely eight-year-old Phillipe (Bobby Henrey), caught up in a bewildering world of grown-up deceptions. The son of the French ambassador to London, Felipe is neglected by his parents and hero-worships the embassy butler Baines (Ralph Richardson), who tells him fabulous stories about big-game hunting in Africa.
But when Phillipe stumbles upon an affair between his hero and secretary Julie (Mich猫le Morgan), he comes to believe that Baines has murdered his hectoring wife (Sonia Dresdel).
Reed orchestrates several gripping set pieces including a game of hide and seek played out against a thunderstorm and a pyjama-clad Phillipe fleeing through the rain-slicked London streets at night.
Cinematographer Georges Perinal's monochrome photography elegantly shows the gulf in perceptions between adults and children, and sexual symbolism abounds, not least in the fate of Felipe's pet snake, despatched by the malevolent surrogate-mother figure of Mrs Baines.
In the end, though, the film rests on an impressively understated and affecting central performance from Richardson.
