A Carol Reed tri-umph

I broke away from inputting books into my new Library database to watch three Carol Reed films over three nights. Although I have watched his most famous output - The Third Man (1949), which has been called the greatest film of the 20th century - I had not seen any of these three. Reed was the illegitimate son of the famous theatre actor and theatre manager Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree.

Sir Carol Reed (1906-1976)

Born in 1906, he was educated at the King's School, Canterbury. His career began to develop with The Stars Look Down (1940). He made his most highly regarded films just after the Second World War. He was only the second British film director to be knighted (1952) for his craft; the first being Sir Alexander Korda (1942).

  

                     1947                                         1948                                         1952

Odd Man Out - set in Belfast (although the city is never named) - is the story of Johnny McQueen, the leader of an illegal organisation (The IRA) who shoots a man dead during a raid. On the run, himself badly injured, Johnny hides in a variety of down-and-out places. Reed, unlike Hitchcock, much preferred to be out on location and he uses the city's derelict and seedy backdrops to excellent effect. James Mason is compelling as Johnnie. Kathleen Ryan plays his long-suffering girlfriend (the Irish actress herself was to have a chequered career, dying aged only 63) and there are strong supporting roles from a mainly Irish cast. Robert Newton gives his usual over-the-top cameo as Lukey, a crazed artist who desires to paint the death in Johnnie's eyes. The ending is rather stylized - almost Christ-like - but the film keeps it grip on you and deservedly won the 1st BAFTA  Award for the Best British Film of the year.

The Fallen Idol also won the same BAFTA for the following year. It tells the story through the eyes of seven year-old Philippe and (although, apparently, the boy had the attention span of a gold fish) Carol Reed exhibits his known skill of getting the best out of a child actor - this time one with no previous acting experience. Ralph Richardson, as the butler who has seemingly murdered his housekeeper wife, brings intelligence and under-stated realism to his role. It was interesting to catch Jack Hawkins, Geoffrey Keen and James Hayter in bit-parts. Reed had parted company with J. Arthur Rank (whom James Mason, apparently, was not keen on) and was now productively linked with Sir Alexander Korda (Producer) and Graham Greene (writer).

The Man Between perhaps is unfairly compared to The Third Man. Reed collaborated again with James Mason - a world weary Ivo Kern, who has retained more decency than Harry Lime could ever muster. His love for the young English schoolteacher Claire Bloom leads him to try one last misguided trip across the Berlin east-west divide (no Wall yet). As with post-war Vienna, Reed ensures all the misery of a bombed-out city is shown in stark realism. But no concert zither as the sound track!

The Special Features with each DVD are a bonus: a James Mason 1972 interview with The Fallen Idol; interviews with the young boy (as a 70+ year-old) Robert Henrey and Assistant Director Guy Hamilton with The Fallen Idol; and an interview with Claire Bloom on The Man Between.

I must watch The Third Man again soon - for the umpteenth time.

1949