like marcel carne, reed relied on collaborators to the detriment of defining a individual personality.thats why after his golden period his form disappeared.
Odd Man Out is amazing as far as I’m concerned.
Liamallen, it’s interesting that you bring up Carne, while the only film I’ve seen by him is Children of Paradise, I can’t help but recognize that there seems to be a distinct similarity between the two auteurs. The most obvious being that both made three recognized films, and then fizzled out.
Also, empty is the last thing I would describe Odd Man Out as being guilty of. The film is chock full of small moments of poetry.
The Fallen Idol’s probably one of my favourite films ever— but I can understand what you mean about it feeling empty. I find that it’s incredibly strong in the depiction of the butler’s wife; she’s truly frightening, and you feel the same fear for her that the child does. But I find that the idea of the Baines as an fallen idol, or a hero turned into a murderer, is suggested intellectually more than shown or felt in the film. I find that he never looks really exciting and wonderful (as he would to the boy in the beginning of the film) or frightening (after the death of the wife).
But in general. I find Reed’s films visually remarkable, compelling, and a pleasure to watch.
I think that’s the problem I had with The Fallen Idol. The film is meant to be seen through the child’s eyes, and yet instead of seeing Baines as the child would see him, we see him for what he really is. Reed asks us to take on two different POVs and it doesn’t quite work out.
Yes I think that’s exactly it. But it’s still a great film, especially that scene where they play hide and go seek— what amazing visuals! and the english prostitute is really a laugh. :)
I couldn’t agree more. The lighting and camerawork is so stunning! And I just realized I spelled feel as fell in the thread title. I wish I could edit that :/
I definitely need to see more of his work to form a solid opinion, but so far I like him quite a bit. Of the three films I’ve seen The Third Man is one of my all-time favorites, I enjoyed Odd Man Out very much (and made a case mock-up for it in the Fake Criterion Cover thread), and thought Night Train to Munich was decent, but didn’t really meet its potential.
Fallen Idol is going on the Netflix queue…
The Third Man is easily one of my all-time favorites, but I haven’t seen any of his other films. That’ll change tonight as I’m seeing Odd Man Out on the big screen. :)
You are lucky M I
“Outcast Of The Islands” is another to check out. It has been forgotten, for some reason, but it is part of Reed’s extraordinary “run” that included “The Third Man,” and “The Fallen Idol.”
Don’t have time to weigh in now, but wanted to keep this topic in play. Thoughts later.
To elaborate on what I said about Reed’s films feeling empty. I love how Reed has such a masterly control over the space in his films, yet that space which he has so much control over always lacks something, whether it be physical or emotional. I feel like once you pull back a few layers of his style there’s really nothing there.
The Third Man and Night Train to Munich are both fantastic. The Fallen Idol has its moments.
Outcast of the Islands is a fascinating film, with turbulent British emotions stirred in the tropics and a perfect physical casting for the daughter of Wendy Hiller and Robert Morley. It should be on this site
For many years, Reed was greatly overrated, and then for a long time underrated. Some recent dvd releases are adding to a current reassessment of his work that should even things out a bit.
Liam is on the right track: if Hitchcock and Powell belong to an auteurist strain of British cinema, then Reed belongs to a sort of “tradition of quality” strain—psychological realism and, apparently, a relative dependency on collaborators, particularly screenwriters (it’s hard to imagine Reed’s films without, for example, Graham Greene, but also Robert Krasker, and of course many still seem to want to believe that The Third Man was secretly engineered by Welles).
Reed does indeed seem to be in the midst of something of a reevaluation. No long ago it seems he wasn’t well known in the US beyond The Third Man, and now that seems to have broadned to include The Fallen Idol and Odd Man Out, plus the recently Criterioned Night Train. No one has mentioned Girl in the News , made the same year as Night Train, which I think is pretty good as well.
Got back from Odd Man Out about an hour ago. This movie had it all. I can’t think of one department in which it was lacking. Though I’ve only seen The Third Man and Odd Man Out, I’d have to disagree about Carol Reed feeling empty. There’s so much humanity to his work and his characters are so fully portrayed. I’ll have to see more of his work to really give a more informed opinion, but right now he’s making his way towards the top of my favorite directors from that era. His photography and use of location is out of this world.
I also saw a good noir called Brighton Rock that was written by Graham Greene. It seems like a movie that deserves a lot more attention than it has. Even here on Mubi, there’s only 14 fans of it. Richard Attenborough is great in it. Had one of the best endings I’ve seen in a while.
By the way, in Odd Man Out, what happens to the third accomplice? I know the two stayed behind at the older woman’s house, but I can’t seem to remember what happened to the one that chose to leave as soon as they got there.
Fallen Idol was decent, but nothing special.
Our Man in Havana is a joke.
Night Train to Munich could have been really good, but instead its just corny.
The Third Man is a classic because it stars Orson Welles, has a great score, and Carol Reed copied Welles’ style.
The man is a hack, and I refuse to watch anything else by him.
I watched The Fallen Idol a few months back and it left little to no impression on me, aside from my mild bemusement at Ralph Richardson’s uncanny resemblance to Kevin Spacey.
Netflix just added Night Train to it’s lib. I’m going to check it out soon….
Annabel Morley plays Robert Morley and Wendy HIller’s daughter in “Outcasts.” She is his real child.
“The Stars Look Down,” an earlier film than his more famous works, is pretty impressive.
I just re-watched The Third Man, and I enjoyed it more on my second viewing than I did my first. It no longer feels empty for me, but instead I feel it lacks a certain edge. I never felt like any of the characters were in danger, and everything sort of just felt like a fun adventure. Even the scene where Martins is shown Lime’s victims lacked an emotional punch for me. I felt like Odd Man Out had more of an emotional edge, and I felt like Mason’s character was in constant danger.
However I can’t deny Reed’s visual sensibilities, every shot is amazing, I’m a big fan of chiaroscuro black and white and The Third Man delivers in spades.
… and nobody’s yet mentioned Oliver!, which I find to be amusing
Is that right, Howard- it was Morley’s daughter!? I must have misread the casting!! Little wonder there was a likeness then, ha.
Kenji, she is R. Morley’s kid, for sure. It makes it even funnier.
Zachary George Najarian-Najafi
I’ve seen Odd Man Out, The Fallen Idol, and The Third Man, and for me Reed remains a somewhat polarizing filmmaker. I love Odd Man Out, but I recognize it’s many flaws, The Fallen Idol just doesn’t excite me, but it has its moments, and The Third Man is somewhere in the middle for me. Reed’s films seem to lack some kind of core to them, they’re visually stunning, well acted, and well scripted, but they feel empty, I’m not exactly sure how to describe it, but it’s especially showing in The Fallen Idol. Some weekend I need to go back and re-watch all three of these films and see if my opinion changes.
However I do feel he is also underrated, as a filmmaker he was innovative, and his films have more good qualities than bad.
But yes citizens of Mubiland, how do we feel about Carol Reed?