357 The Fallen Idol

[zachhh]

This is probably the film I'm most wanting to pick up out of this deplorable crop of new OOPs that I didn't already have...anyone know the best price out there? Amazon is at $27 for some stupid reason, and it's already OOS at Criterion's site.

it's on dvdempire for 21.95. plus you can get free shipping =D>

[Matt]

It's out of stock at DVD Empire (I bought the last copy yesterday morning). Check DVD Price Search for other good prices.

[zachhh]

it's not sold out at Best Buy or Amazon yet

[domino harvey]

I feel for the future generations of Criterion fans whose lives will be deprived of two straight hours of "BAINES! BAINES!"

[knives]

Two straight hours of "BAINES! BAINES!" is one of my favorite movies in the collection, thank you very much.

[mfunk9786]

BAINES! talking about his run-ins with the negroes just won't feel the same without the wacky C.

[dad1153]

Saw "The Fallen Idol" last weekend, the first (and so far only) Criterion disc from the Canal Plus rights massacre I've purchased. Though Reed directed and Greene wrote it this feels more like a Hitchcockian thriller than something from the makers of "The Third Man" (although sneaking the 'I know your daddy' line past the censors back in '48 deserves =D>). Even Richardson's Baines feels more like a typical Hitchcock innocent guy who gets in over his head than a Greene-penned character, but it's the framing device of his relationship with the kid that gives Ralph's performance an edge. "Fallen Idol" milks the good child performance of Bobby Henrey for all its worth. Seeing events unfold through his eyes (along with the stuff Phillipe didn't see) builds suspense and tension around the unpredictability of what/when the whe kid will say or do based on his perceptions (good and bad) about the adults in his life. Denis O'Dea almost steals the movie as an inspector that doesn't like children (even though he's forced to question Phillipe) but all the actors are good. Michèle Morgan is particularly convincing in making Julie seem genuinely conflicted about having actual feelings for tubby middle-aged Baines. That's acting people! The Embassy staircase and top window may have no dialogue but they're characters in their own right (loved the way Reed frames them in the background through most of the third act). When Mrs. Baines (Sonia Dresdel) appears in close-up over Phillipe's bed and asks 'where are they?' in a creepy voice I literally shat my pants... and no, I'm not kidding (I wish I were ). Needless to say I'll never forget the word 'BAAAAAINES' as long as I live.

[Murdoch]

Caught this on TCM and I actually prefer it to the Third Man, it takes a simple story of mistaken murder and adds a fresh twist to it by shooting the film from a child's perspective, while building the tension brilliantly. Regarding the racism of Baines, it seemed to me to be used as a cue that something is off about him as well as a precursor to his fall from grace in the eyes of Phillipe. Baines may be perfect in Phillipe's eyes, but the murder he claims to have committed in "self defense" while in Africa shows he's really a deeply flawed and actually sinister person, and his fall from grace is a positive thing for Phillipe as he no longer idolizes someone who is essentially a racist possible murderer. And while Baines doesn't kill his wife he certainly seemed capable of it when he's holding her above the staircase and telling her "not to make me angry," I was sort of hoping he would be charged with her murder as a sort of poetic justice for his crime(s) in Africa.

The film does a great job showing a child's inability to penetrate or comprehend the adult world as all the action takes place largely outside of Phile or due to his misunderstanding of the adults: he's like a spectator as he tags along with Baines and Julie at the cafe and zoo, both of them barely acknowledging his presence; he exposes Baines' affair due to his confusion over Mrs. Baines' questions and fails to keep the secrets he's told by the adults because of the contradictory advice he's given; the police question him with the utmost interest only to ignore his pleads once the key evidence is discovered.

Bobby Henrey may have been annoying in the movie, but that's how kids are. They call people's names over and over to get their attention, and they yell even louder when they're ignored. He does a perfect job acting like a kid (although watching this I can see where that old adage "never work with kids" comes from, you're ears will start to bleed).

[Mr Sausage]

A lovely and touching film, and a suspenseful one in totally unexpected ways. I too prefer it to The Third Man.

Bobby Henrey may have been annoying in the movie, but that's how kids are. They call people's names over and over to get their attention, and they yell even louder when they're ignored. He does a perfect job acting like a kid (although watching this I can see where that old adage "never work with kids" comes from, you're ears will start to bleed).

One of the keys to this movie's success, for me anyway, is the way it avoids sentimentalizing the child lead. He can be sympathetic and likeable in the way a lonely child often is, but can also be infuriating and exasperating in the way that children, ignorant and self-concerned as they are, tend to be. The scene at the zoo is the perfect example of the way kids--very innocently--try to monopolize your attention because they simply don't understand why they shouldn't. Yet the movie saves the kid from being too irritating by always letting you know that his desire for attention is fueled by a real loneliness and sense of neglect. He just wants someone to love him. The final shot of his face as he descends the stair-case to greet his parents says everything.

Baines may be perfect in Phillipe's eyes, but the murder he claims to have committed in "self defense" while in Africa shows he's really a deeply flawed and actually sinister person, and his fall from grace is a positive thing for Phillipe as he no longer idolizes someone who is essentially a racist possible murderer.

I don't put much into the racist element of this. I think that's being somewhat oversensitive to what is just a well-observed cultural point. Baines' racism is the unthinking, non-virulent kind inherited from basic cultural discourse and probably wouldn't even strike the man as being racist. Indeed, he could even be horrified at the idea of it being racist if you brought it up to him. Such stuff were received ideas totally unconnected to actual feeling, picked up unthinkingly, discarded as easily when out of fashion.

In the end, the story of how he killed a man is part of the "fall" in that it is bathetic. The story was exotic and made Baines sound interesting to the child--and vaguely sinister and secretive to us--and yet it turns out, somewhat pathetically, to be a naive kind of story he invented to wow a child (and, indeed, you see immediately how cliched and commonplace it actually is). Baines' fall in the child's eyes is more complex than the fall of a moral paragon into immorality, ect. It's also about an idealization being revealed as a normal, somewhat uninteresting man who tried to cultivate a child's respect by telling him a hokey tall-tale about exotic Africa. For me, the movie is partly about discovering that your idol is actually quite banal, and has been all along, and that the things that seemed so grand about him are actually rather petty.

[matrixschmatrix]

I agree, Sausage, and I think that's one of the reasons the movie is much stronger than the original Greene story- the more melodramatic ending, in which Baines dies and Phillipe is forever a broken man as a result, is more overtly heartbreaking, but the movie as it stands does an amazing and almost unique job of getting across something that's a literally universal part of growing up. I've heard complaints that the ending is weakened somehow, leavened out of fear the audience couldn't deal with the darkness of Greene's original, but I think this version is subtly, touchingly heartbreaking in its own way.

There's a Pauline Kael essay in which she defends Reed's Oliver!, and mentions that she'd always thought him marvelous with child actors- I think this movie alone could prove her point. It never feels hokey, or Disney-fied, and I think the film as a whole stands as a part of the small but elite category of movies that are about children and centered on children but are not, fundamentally, for children- I would put it alongside The 400 Blows and Where the Wild Things Are as really exquisite explorations of how the world works for a child.

[Jean-Luc Garbo]

Finally, I watched this tonight and was relieved that Phile wasn't nearly as obnoxious as I'd feared. Indeed, the short Reed doc on the disc makes me wonder at his ability to get such a good performance from the boy. Still prefer the likes of Celia to this one, but it was quite good and definitely takes a place on my list of children in films. I really enjoyed the last half hour as Ralph Richardson stepped out even more strongly with his performance. (I liked him more than I thought as a lot of what he did reminded me of various Nigel Hawthorne performances.) The tense, lucidly shot scenes with the cops drew me in quite effectively and gave me a greater respect for Reed as a craftsman. Easily, this was one of the better interrogation sequences I've seen in awhile. That last third of the film makes this quite a masterpiece. I was also quite amused by the scene at the station as the woman tries to draw Phil out. The exquisite transfer really impressed me so it's sad this won't see a BD edition from Criterion. I'n quite glad I picked this up when the OOP annoucement came.

[filmghost]

By the way, does anyone know if the Criterion is still available somewhere?

[Murdoch]

Amazon has a third party selling it through them for a decent price.

[filmghost]

Amazon has a third party selling it through them for a decent price.

Thanks!

[mfunk9786]

I can't help but imagine those overstocked DVDs sitting in a box in a faraway corner of Amazon's fulfillment house, screaming "BAINES!" at the top of their lungs.

[Ashirg]

Blu-ray is out in France - DVD Beaver compares

So Studio Canal can't license anything to other studios in US, but they licensed a bunch of titles out to Tamasa Distribution in France. Fuck you, Studio Canal!