Word: director
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Dates: during 1940-1949
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State of the Cinema. For Boss Jack Warner, the triumph was edged with irony. It was no secret that Warner had allowed Johnny Belinda to be made only over his protests and that he had parted company with its director, Jean Negulesco, when the picture was finished. It was also well known that Warner had thoroughly disliked Treasure of the Sierra Madre, had held up its release and later parted company with Director Huston. At the presentation, Jack Warner had to listen to a pointed slight in Huston's acceptance speech: "If this [the Oscar] were hollow...
...Korda released it last year in London, was a tremendous hit. Most of the enthusiastic raves were for a nine-year-old, towheaded actor named Bobby Henrey. The rest of the praise went to Author Graham Greene (The Heart of the Matter), who supplied a fascinating story, and to Director Carol Reed (Night Train), who for sheer virtuosity outdid himself. Most of the uproar, it turns out, was solidly justified...
...Director Reed has brilliantly followed suit. As the emotional tensions mount, it is Felipe who hears, half hears, guesses at and finally misunderstands their meaning. When Mrs. Baines accidentally falls to her death, Felipe is certain that Baines has killed her; his lies to protect his friend all but cost Baines his neck. Ironically, Baines is saved by a piece of evidence that only Felipe knows is worthless...
Idol has many achievements to its credit: handsome, visually exciting sets, carefully pitched performances by Richardson and Michele Morgan, and assorted humorous bits of British character acting. But its outstanding achievement is Director Reed's handling of Bobby Henrey. To establish the child's-eye view of the story, he has turned his cameras loose in Felipe's own waist-high world, bounded by embassy balustrades and the butler's well-creased pants. To sharpen the effect, the sound track, like a child's half-focused attention, sometimes catches only half the adult talk...
...Director Reed also does well with his interpretation of the physical Bobby Henrey. For once, a child movie actor is made to act with all the awkward, sham-Dling, sleepwalking unawareness that normal children have when they are not caught in the glare of klieglights or an adult eye. The result is a subtle, absorbing drama of natural child behavior. A brilliant tour de force as entertainment, Idol could also be a useful object lesson on how to restore he Hollywood child to childhood...