Carol Reed and Graham Greene would do The Third Man next, which you may have heard of. I actually enjoyed The Fallen Idol more. With melodrama thicker than molasses, shadows darker than noir, and surprise farcical touches to match the harrowing suspense, this is a movie of Style. And the story of a child losing his innocence–through betrayals and knotted questions of moral responsibility–is full of both symbolic force and dramatic immediacy. Superior in its formal craftsmanship and literary in its thematic pursuits, The Fallen Idol is a great movie.
Or maybe I just liked hearing my (French) name shouted over and over again; the child is Philippe.
