The Fallen Idol (1948)

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The Fallen Idol has suffered neglect in recent years, its quiet murmur drowned out by the melodramatic reverberations of its predecessor and successors the Odd Man Out and Third Man. The other two are played out in full view on the stage of a politically divided city, and photographed by Robert Krasker, master of skewed angles and dramatic shadows. By comparison, The Fallen Idol, shot by the cooler, more fluid Georges Perinal.

Exterior locations apart, almost all the film is set in the formal, comfortless expanses of a huge London embassy. Reed makes masterly use of the vertiginous space right from the opening; the ambassador's neglected eight year old son, Felipe, peers down from the uppermost landing at the servants as they are presided over by the boy's idol, Baines the butler, and move like chess pieces over the checkered hallway below, Staircases – the grandiose double curve of the interior, the jagged outside fire escape, the intimate basement stairway leading down to Baines' pantry, define the film's emotional boundaries, offering vantage points for spying eyes but also unreliable perspectives

Extract from Philip Kemp The Power and the Glory in Sight & Sound August 2006