The Fallen Idol
Upstairs Downstairs - the British class system • Drama, Thriller, UR
Carol Reed followed the success of Odd Man Out (1947) with this adaptation of Graham Greene’s short story, The Basement Room. Young Felipe (a revelatory Bobby Henrey) is a son of a diplomat who is never around, who instead forms a friendship with his butler Baines (Ralph Richardson). Baines impresses the young child with tales of his heroic past in Africa and ongoing adventures – when, in fact, he leads a mundane life in a loveless marriage. After believing he witnesses Baines committing a violent act, Felipe does his best to protect his older friend from danger, in Reed’s emotional drama about the loss of childhood innocence.
Up Next in Upstairs Downstairs - the British class system
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The Nightcomers
Set in Victorian England, The Nightcomers follows two orphans - Flora and Miles - as they are left by their tutor in a mansion, under the care of the elderly housekeeper Mrs Grose, the governess Miss Jessel, and the groundskeeper Peter Quint. When Grose attempts to have the master of the house fi...
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The Song of the Shirt
The plight of women in the 1840s London rag trade is explored and deconstructed. Informed by experimental film practice and evoking a serialised Victorian novel, this unusual film investigates the effects of protectionist ‘philanthropy' in the sweatshop-style London clothes trade using contempor...
