The Fallen Idol (1948)

Director
Carol Reed

Main cast
Ralph Richardson; Michèle Morgan; Sonia Dresdel; Bobby Henrey; Denis O'Dea

Genres
Drama, Mystery, Thriller

Description
The film is told through the naive eyes of a diplomat's young son, Phillipe, who idolises his best friend, the diplomat's butler Baines. Baines has constructed a heroic persona, full of exotic adventures, that fascinates the boy.


Similar movies

Lassiter is a handsome jewel thief operating in London in the late 1930s. One day he is arrested and told that if he wishes to avoid prison, he must break into the heavily guarded German Embassy in London and steal millions in Gems. Written by John Vogel
An autistic boy witnesses his parents' double murder. Richard Dreyfuss as a controversial therapist, seeks to probe the child's mind in order to solve the case.
A judge falls from the roof of the Federal Courthouse. A woman is murdered. Between them and the three sons of the judge there is a connection that will be investigated by a woman judge who is determined to discover the truth.
U.S. Marshall John Kruger erases the identities of people enrolled in the Witness Protection Program. His current assignment is to protect Lee Cullen, who's uncovered evidence that the weapons manufacturer she works for has been selling to terrorist groups. When Kruger discovers that there's a corrupt agent within the program, he must guard his own life while trying to protect Lee's.
Refusing to give into police investigators' questions of suspicion, due to the seal of confession, a priest becomes the prime suspect in a murder.
Johnny Barrett, an ambitious journalist, is determined to win a Pulitzer Prize by solving a murder committed in a lunatic asylum and witnessed only by three inmates, from whom the police have been unable to extract the information. With the connivance of a psychiatrist, and the reluctant help of his girlfriend, he succeeds in having himself declared insane and sent to the asylum. There he slowly tracks down and interviews the witnesses - but things are stranger than they seem ...
In this adaptation of Umberto Eco's best-selling novel, 14th-century Franciscan monk William of Baskerville and his young novice arrive at a conference to find that several monks have been murdered under mysterious circumstances. To solve the crimes, William must rise up against the Church's authority and fight the shadowy conspiracy of monastery monks using only his intelligence -- which is considerable.
A private eye shadows a female serial killer of men all over the U.S. without her knowing as he, strangely enough, occasionally acts as her guardian angel.
In 1902 London, unhappily married Philip Marshall meets young Mary Gray, who is unemployed and depressed. Their deepening friendship, though physically innocent, is discovered by Philip's wife who threatens him with exposure and scandal, driving him to kill her. Thereafter, fortune seems to smile on Philip Marshall; but does fate have a surprise in store?
In the run-up to the 1972 elections, Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward covers what seems to be a minor break-in at the Democratic Party National headquarters. He is surprised to find top lawyers already on the defense case, and the discovery of names and addresses of Republican fund organizers on the accused further arouses his suspicions. The editor of the Post is prepared to run with the story and assigns Woodward and Carl Bernstein to it. They find the trail leading higher and higher in the Republican Party, and eventually into the White House itself.
A child psychologist, Hollis who's marriage collapsed after she learned she was barren, bonds with Luke Winfield, who witnessed his father's murder at the hands of rain-slicker wearing killer with a cargo hook. Along the way she befriends Detective Bass as he investigates a series of homicides, each with the same M.O. As Hollis gets closer to Luke she discovers some trouble family secrets ensuring she is next to be slain.
After driving husband Martin to infidelity and catching him with another, mentally unstable author Jade returns to her New Zealand home. The plan is to write a book based on the town's history, helped by the local school teacher and her college thesis protégée, and visit her father Christopher. As her editor later explains, her suspicions concerning ever more locals stem from a pathological mental condition. However, more then just paranoia comes with the horse riding incident which killed her ma, an obsessive guilt matter for her and Christopher.
Selena is a big-shot reporter in the city who has long distanced herself from her roots in a small town in Maine. She finds herself compelled to return, however, after her mother is accused of murdering the wealthy woman for whom she worked as a maid. Selena has a very bad relationship with her mother, and their visit is incredibly tense, particularly since she strongly suspects that her mother is guilty. As the days go by, however, Selena's investigative skills lead her to some surprising revelations about her own past and her mother's motivations. While Dolores may be a hard woman, she did not become so overnight. As she learns more about what has contributed to the make-up of her mother's armor, her own dissipates
It took Anna 10 years to recover from the death of her husband, Sean, but now she's on the verge of marrying her boyfriend, Joseph, and finally moving on. However, on the night of her engagement party, a young boy named Sean turns up, saying he is her dead husband reincarnated. At first she ignores the child, but his knowledge of her former husband's life is uncanny, leading her to believe that he might be telling the truth.
Phoenix cop Ben Shockley is well on his way to becoming a derelict when he is assigned to transport a witness named Gus Mally from Vegas. Mally turns out to be a belligerent prostitute with mob ties and incriminating information regarding a high-placed figure.
A young Brooklyn boy witnesses the brutal murder of his mother and grows up obsessed with finding her killer. Thus begins his life as a quiet, straight-A student by day and a self-appointed hero at night. But what is a real hero? And who decides what is right or wrong? As the boundaries blur, Sean's dual life wears on his psyche and his two worlds careen dangerously close to colliding. Like a graphic novel you can't put down, Boy Wonder challenges morality, distorting perceptions of what is right and what is justified, as it races to its shocking conclusion.
Frances and Richard Myles (Joan Crawford and Fred MacMurray) are newlyweds honeymooning in Europe on the eve of World War II. Unexpectedly, they find themselves commissioned by the British secret service to secure the plans for a new secret weapon masterminded by the Nazis (involving magnetic mines). The trail leads them to Innsbruck where they arouse the suspicions of a Gestapo chief.
JUNG Jin-soo, a South Korean intelligence agent, comes across an unidentifiable operative, a 'ghost,' while surveilling a North Korean weapons deal in Berlin. The mystery figure is a North Korean secret agent, PYO Jong-seong, whose information cannot be found on any intelligence database. Jung quickly goes after Pyo to unveil his identity and gets himself embroiled in a vast international conspiracy. In the meanwhile, another North Korean operative, DONG Myung-soo, is dispatched to Berlin with a secret agenda to purge Pyo and take control of the North Korean embassy. Dong sets a trap to frame Pyo's wife, RYUN Jung-hee, for treason and tightens the noose around Pyo's neck. Pyo surveils his wife with hopes of clearing accusation against her but he plunges into deeper confusion when he discovers her secret.
A sheltered Amish child is the sole witness of a brutal murder in a restroom at a Philadelphia train station, and he must be protected. The assignment falls to a taciturn detective who goes undercover in a Pennsylvania Dutch community. On the farm, he slowly assimilates despite his urban grit and forges a romantic bond with the child's beautiful mother.
Paola (Lucia Bose) is the beautiful and jealously-guarded younger wife of a shady factory owner, Enrico Fontana (Massimo Girotti). In order to investigate her romantic history he hires a private detective, which ironically brings Paola back into contact with former lover Guido, with whom she resurrects a lost passion. Dogged by the suspicions of their respective mates, they are drawn closer to each other in the face of adversity, and begin to plot Enrico's demise. But when the challenge of being together falls away, will the passion start to wane? A masterpiece of intensity and finely-wrought emotion.
Beautiful Carmen Colson and her ironworker husband Wayne are placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing an "incident". Thinking they are at last safe, they are targeted by an experienced hit man and a psychopathic young upstart killer.
She was an eyewitness to murder. He was the cop she thought she could trust. But, when they fell in love, she discovered that no one is... "Beyond Suspicion." Morality, justice and obsessive love are combined in this chilling psychological thriller loaded with deception, double twists and double-cross
A corrupt businessman commits a murder and the only witness is the girlfriend of another businessman with close connections to the Chinese government, so a bodyguard from Beijing is dispatched to help two Hong Kong cops protect the witness.
When astronaut Spencer Armacost returns to Earth after a mission that nearly cost him his life, he decides to take a desk job in order to see his beautiful wife, Jillian, more often. Gradually, Jillian notices that Spencer's personality seems to have changed, but her concerns fade when she discovers that she's pregnant. As Jillian grows closer to becoming a mother, her suspicions about Spencer return. Why does it seem as if he's a different person?
London, 1886. Soho shopkeeper Verloc is paid by the Russian Embassy to spy on an anarchist cell. The Russians demand that Verloc orchestrates a bomb attack that will be blamed on the anarchists and provoke a British crackdown
Ray, a construction worker trapped in an unhappy marriage, pursues an affair with his neighbor, Carla. Carla's husband, Greg, is a mobster who keeps large sums of drug money in their home. With this in mind, Carla comes up with a plan: She and Ray will steal Greg's money, burn down her house, convince Greg the money was lost in the fire and then run away together. Carla's scheme, however, doesn't go off as planned.
Detective Superintendent Jane Tennison's investigation of the murder of a Bosnian refugee leads her to one, or possibly two, Serbian war criminals determined to silence the last witness to a massacre a decade before.
Dempsey Cain is an honored cop, a loving husband and father, and mentor to his handsome younger brother. Then a drug dealer's bullet paralyzes him for life and Dempsey's world is shattered. Suddenly, his wife and brother seem to care less about him than for each other, and a million-dollar insurance.
As the Iranian revolution reaches a boiling point, a CIA 'exfiltration' specialist concocts a risky plan to free six Americans who have found shelter at the home of the Canadian ambassador.
An American woman, trapped in Islamic Iran by her brutish husband, must find a way to escape with her daughter as well.
This compelling story vividly recreates Hollywood's infamous 'Blacklist Era'. The witch-hunt has begun and director David Merrill (De Niro) can revive his stalled career by testifying against friends who are suspected communists. Merrill's ex wife (Bening) shares a whirlpool of scandals that draws them closer togheter while his chances for ever making movies again slips further away...
Newly arrived to a remote desert town, Catherine and Matthew are tormented by a suspicion when their two teenage children mysteriously vanish.
Nick Hume is a mild-mannered executive with a perfect life, until one gruesome night he witnesses something that changes him forever. Transformed by grief, Hume eventually comes to the disturbing conclusion that no length is too great when protecting his family.
Fictional account of what might have happened if Hitler had won the war. It is now the 1960s and Germany's war crimes have so far been kept a secret. Hitler wants to talk peace with the US president. An American journalist and a German homicide cop stumble into a plot to destroy all evidence of the genocide.
Viola and Nicola are going through a rough time. To overcome this crisis, they decide to spend a weekend in a remote cabin belonged to Nicola's parents. Just a couple of days together to heal their wounds, , but everything will take a turn for the worst, when a sneaking suspicion become pure madness. What was supposed to be a quiet trip will suddenly slip into a deadly nightmare.
In the late 1950s, British police officer Tony Aaron resigns from the force after sleeping with Hazel, wife of the man whose house he was supposed to guard. In his new job as a fake private investigator, he helps couples get divorces by photographing Hazel having "affairs" with the husband. When she is murdered during a job, Tony begins having an affair with the dead man's mistress, Angeline, while trying to prove his innocence.
A frustrated man decides to take justice into his own hands after a plea bargain sets one of his family's killers free. He targets not only the killer but also the district attorney and others involved in the deal.
A DEA agent provides former Marine Tim Kearney with a way out of his prison sentence: impersonate Bobby Z, a recently deceased drug dealer, in a hostage switch with a crime lord. When the negotiations go awry, Kearney flees, with Z's son in tow.
A witness to a mob assassination flees for her life from town to town, switching identities, but cannot seem to elude Milo, the chief killer out to get her.
A group of boys are marooned on an island after their plane crashes. With no adult survivors, they create their own "micro-society". Ralph is elected "chief", and he organises shelter and fire. Jack, the head of the choir takes his boys hunting for food (wild pigs). A bitter rivalry develops between Jack and Ralph as both want to be in charge. The "hunters" become savage and primal, under Jack's rule, while Ralph tries to keep his group civilised. The growing hostility between them leads to a bloody and frightening climax.
A kidnapped boy strikes up a friendship with his captor: an escaped convict on the run from the law, headed by an honorable U.S. Marshal.
A police detective's investigation of a prostitute's murder points to his best friend.
Chan, an articulate senior detective nearing the end of his career, is taking care of the daughter of a witness killed by ruthless crime lord Po. Martial arts expert Ma is set to take over as head of the crime unit, replacing Chan who wants an early retirement.
Conflict arises in the small town of Holly Springs when an old woman's death causes a variety of reactions among family and friends.
In Queens, Mike Keegan is celebrating with his wife Ellie, his son Tommy and friends his recent promotion to detective in a precinct in Manhattan. Meanwhile, in a fancy club, the socialite Claire Gregory witnesses the murder of the owner of the place by the powerful mobster Joey Venza. Mike is assigned to protect her in the night shift in her apartment in Manhattan. When Venza threatens Claire, the contact of Mike with Claire gets closer and conflicts him, dividing between the love for his family and the heat passion for Claire and the fascination for her world.
Set in 19th-century New York, this mystery begins when a Frenchwoman shows up at the home of one of Napoleon's former marshals. The alcoholic man is badly crippled and slowly dying, but this doesn't stop the forthright lady from pushing him to change his will to include his estranged grandson so that he can help out the struggling French Republic. Unfortunately, the dying man's conniving housekeeper and butler, already planning murder to get the money themselves, overhear her and begin plotting her demise.
A troubled hedge fund magnate, desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire, makes an error that forces him to turn to an unlikely person for help.
Simon is a nine-year-old autistic boy who has cracked the government's new "unbreakable" code. This skill renders the new billion-dollar secret code vulnerable, especially if enemies of the United States should learn of Simon's abilities and capture him. Program chief Nick Kudrow orders the "security threat" eliminated, but Kudrow hasn't counted on renegade FBI agent Art Jeffries (Bruce Willis).
Senator Walter Chalmers is aiming to take down mob boss Pete Ross with the help of testimony from the criminal's hothead brother Johnny, who is in protective custody in San Francisco under the watch of police lieutenant Frank Bullitt. When a pair of mob hitmen enter the scene, Bullitt follows their trail through a maze of complications and double-crosses. This thriller includes one of the most famous car chases ever filmed.
After her mother is killed by a car bomb, a 17-year-old girl lives a reckless and decadent lifestyle. She begins having sex with a boy who works at a local ski resort. He falls in love, and she tells him of her suspicions that her strict father was responsible for her mother's death and wants him to help her out of her situation. He must decide whether she's telling the truth or using him to her own ends.
This terrifying prequel attempts to trace the murderous roots of the cannibalistic killer. The film follows Lecter from his hard-scrabble Lithuanian childhood, where he witnesses the repulsive lengths to which hungry soldiers will go to satiate themselves, through his sojourn in France, where as a med student he hones his appetite for the kill.
Nazi hunter Ezra Lieberman discovers a sinister and bizarre plot to rekindle the Third Reich.
In this highly speculative historical thriller, Colonel Franz Ritter (George C. Scott), a former hero pilot now working for military intelligence, is assigned to the great Hindenburg airship as its chief of security. As he races against the clock to uncover a possible saboteur aboard the doomed zeppelin he finds that any of the passengers and crew could be the culprit.
Wealthy, sheltered Joan Fontaine is swept off her feet by charming ne'er-do-well Cary Grant. Though warned that Grant is little more than a fortune-hunter, Fontaine marries him anyway. She remains loyal to her irresponsible husband as he plows his way from one disreputable business scheme to another. Gradually, Fontaine comes to the conclusion that Grant intends to do away with her in order to collect her inheritance...a suspicion confirmed when Grant's likeable business partner Nigel Bruce dies under mysterious circumstances. To his dying day, Hitchcock insisted that he wanted to retain the novelist Francis Iles' original ending, but that the RKO executives intervened. Fontaine won an Academy Award for her work.
Lionel Twain has invited the five greatest detectives to a "dinner and murder." How can they resist? Included are a blind butler, a deaf-mute maid, screams, spinning rooms, secret passages, false identities, and more plot turns and twists than are decently allowed.
A lawyer is asked to come to the police station to clear up a few loose ends in his witness report of a foul murder. This will only take ten minutes, they say, but it turns out to be one loose end after another, and the ten minutes he is away from his speech become longer and longer...
Gumnaam is a 1965 Indian suspense thriller film directed by Raja Nawathe, starring Manoj Kumar, Nanda, Pran, Helen and Mehmood. Eight people are trapped on an island when their plane abandons them. They find a large mansion whose butler is expecting them. Then one by one, they die...
Teenaged Nancy Thompson arrives unexpectedly at her mothers county villa. She discovers that her mom has died a violent death.The police investigate and believe the she killed herself by cutting her throat with a piece of broken of glass.Nancy meets and becomes friends with Gina who was her mothers best friend and who has a special relationship with her stepfather.Soon the older man turns his roving eye toward this young beauty as suspicion about the suicide starts to come to light.
When William Conroy (Rob Lowe), a former college professor, is sentenced to life in prison for vehicular manslaughter it seems his life is over. But when a fellow inmate tells him that in the past two years fourteen inmates have died at the prison, and then turns up dead the next day, Conroy realizes he is in more danger than he ever imagined. Conroy's suspicions are confirmed when the van carrying the inmates crashes. Seizing the opportunity, Conroy flees the scene and elicits the help of his lawyer. What the two discover is a grisly murder ring set up within the prison walls that incriminates those at the highest levels of the correctional system.
The Iron Curtain is based on the actual 1945 case of Soviet cipher clerk Igor Gouzenko, (Dana Andrews), who, after careful training, was assigned to the U.S.S.R. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada in the midst of World War II. Eventually, Gouzenko defected with 109 pages of material implicating several high level Canadian officials, outlined the steps taken to secure information about the the details of the nuclear bomb via numerous sleeper cells established throughout North America. The scandal that resulted when details of this case were publicized by American columnist Drew Pearson in early 1946 involved Canada, Britain and the United States.

© Valossa 2015–2024