Carol Reed

The Fallen Idol

The Fallen Idol

The Fallen Idol was the first of three masterpieces to result from the legendary meeting of director Carol Reed and writer Graham Greene, who together would also create The Third Man and Our Man in Havana. Elegantly balancing suspense and farce, this tale of the fraught relationship between a boy and the beloved butler he suspects of murder is a delightfully macabre thriller of the first order and a visually and verbally dazzling knockout.

Film Info

  • United Kingdom
  • 1948
  • 95 minutes
  • Black & White
  • 1.33:1
  • English
  • Spine #357

Special Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • A Sense of Carol Reed, a 2006 documentary featuring interviews with director Carol Reed's friends and collaborators
  • Illustrated Reed filmography
  • Original press book
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: new essays by film critic Geoffrey O'Brien, author David Lodge, and Reed biographer Nicholas Wapshott

    New cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang

Purchase Options

Collector's Sets

Collector's Set

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

Essential Art House: 50 Years of Janus Films

DVD Box Set

50 Discs

$650.00

Out Of Print

Special Features

  • New, restored high-definition digital transfer
  • A Sense of Carol Reed, a 2006 documentary featuring interviews with director Carol Reed's friends and collaborators
  • Illustrated Reed filmography
  • Original press book
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
  • PLUS: new essays by film critic Geoffrey O'Brien, author David Lodge, and Reed biographer Nicholas Wapshott

    New cover by Lucien S. Y. Yang
The Fallen Idol
Cast
Ralph Richardson
Baines
Michèle Morgan
Julie
Sonia Dresdel
Mrs. Baines
Bobby Henrey
Phillipe
Denis O'Dea
Inspector Crowe
Jack Hawkins
Detective Ames
Bernard Lee
Detective Hart
Credits
Director
Carol Reed
Screenplay
Graham Greene
Producer
Carol Reed
Cinematography
Georges Périnal
Editing
Oswald Hafenrichter
Art director
Vincent Korda
Art director
James Sawyer
Music
William Alwyn

Current

The Fallen Idol: Through a Child’s Eye, Darkly
The Fallen Idol: Through a Child’s Eye, Darkly

What it is like to see this Carol Reed film for the first time as an adult it is hard to imagine; seen in childhood, it was like a door swung ajar to reveal an adult world not yet suspected.

By Geoffrey O’Brien

Graham Greene in Boston

Repertory Picks

Graham Greene in Boston

This month, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts is hosting the series Words in Motion: Graham Greene as a Screenwriter, celebrating the British author’s important contribution to the medium.

Michael Korda’s Top 10
Michael Korda’s Top 10

Author Michael Korda (Charmed Lives: A Family Romance) writes: Few things are more challenging than picking ten favorites out of such a long list of distinguished films.

Monte Hellman’s Top 10
Monte Hellman’s Top 10

I’ve fulfilled a dream to become a part of the Criterion family. Criterion has helped to preserve not only the films I grew up with but also the ones I’m now trying to keep up with. Picking ten is worse than trying to choose between my wives, my