Carol Reed

 Carol Reed




Night Train to Munich (1940)

Odd Man Out (1947)

The Fallen Idol (1948)




RANKED:


3. Night Train to Munich (1940)


Carol Reed's film "Night Train to Munich" was not only a viable commercial political thriller when it was released in 1940, it was also an incredibly timely one. Dealing with Britain's war with the Nazis, the film details a British secret service agent's attempt to rescue an inventor and his daughter from the clutches of the Gestapo. Many draw comparisons from this film to Alfred Hitchcock's 1938 mystery thriller "The Lady Vanishes," including two of the exact same characters played by the exact same actor. Whether or not you see the similarities, "Night Train to Munich" dug right into the heart of Britain's opposition to the Nazi regime, especially since the film came out only less than a month after Germany's areal assault on British skies. 




2. The Fallen Idol (1948)


One of the many string of hits by Carol Reed during the post-war era in the United Kingdom was his 1948 film "The Fallen Idol." The film centers on a young boy who is confronted with the moral ambiguity surrounding the man he idolizes. After much secrecy, infidelity, and an unsolved murder case, the black-and-white lenses through which our young boy sees suddenly become blurred. Essentially a coming-of-age story, our child protagonist must come to more complex understandings of the people around him and in doing so, grows up a little. Perhaps things aren't as idealized as we would like to believe they are. A powerful notion, especially after the most black-and-white, good vs. evil-esque war that England just emerged from.





1. Odd Man Out (1947)


After the war, Carol Reed went on a string of films in the UK that would go on to be considered classics. The first of these string of films was 1947's "Odd Man Out." The film centers on an IRA member attempting to evade a police hunt as he trapes through the nighttime streets of Belfast while a bullet wound in his shoulder after an attempted robbery. What's interesting about "Odd Man Out" is how much the film changes its completions as it progresses. While it starts out a very realist thriller centering on an IRA member, it slowly morphs into a more expressionist piece about the nature of social responsibility, a philosophical rumination on the relationships between people, and our own relationship with death itself. "Odd Man Out" is now considered a hypnotic classic in British cinema and remains a testament to the prowess of Sir Carol Reed.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rio Bravo (1959)

Image
  Howard Hawks' "Rio Bravo" To conclude the filmography of Howard Hawks, I watched his 1959 western film " Rio Bravo ." I've got to say that I was expecting a lot more out of this picture based on all the praise for the film. That is not to say that I didn't like it, it was a fine time at the cinema (I was not at the cinema, I was at home). I can't say that I should have expected more, as I'm not entirely that big of a fan of Howard Hawks. Even his best film (to me), " The Big Sleep " is arguably one of the weaker film noirs that I've seen. " Rio Bravo " is a film that apparently is a response to 1952's " High Noon ," which was an allegory about Hollywood's blacklisting and McCarthyism. Howard Hawks and John Wayne felt the film was anti-American and instead made " Rio Bravo " to broadcast an alternative perspective in which the hero of the story doesn't shy away from justice. I personally ha...
Read more

King Kong (1933)

Image
  Merian C. Cooper & Ernest B. Schoedsack's "King Kong" There are many post-Depression American 'box office' films that I have seen in my film studies journey. Most of these post-Depression box office films don't typically sit right with me. The films I have in mind are the gangster and monster films that swept the nation in the early 1930s. These films typically were meant to placate an anxious American audience. However, the depth to their thematic intricacies leave something to be desired. Even without this depth, the 'entertainment' aspect of these films were not very entertaining to me. However, there is one film that utterly surprised me, 1933's adventure epic " King Kong ."   The story is well-known. A group of filmmakers travel to a remote island to take advantage of strange and interesting natural wildlife unknown to the outside world. There they meet an indigenous people, all terrified of a large, monstrous primate living on...
Read more

The Big Sleep (1946)

Image
  Howard Hawks' "The Big Sleep" After watching Howard Hawks' 1946 film noir " The Big Sleep ," I have to say that it is not one of my favorite film noirs. That being said, it was definitely the best Howard Hawks film I've seen thus far. It did not have the typical dark ending that permeates the whole film with bleak darkness, which probably made it a lesser noir for me. In fact, it felt more like a 'studio noir,' if that makes sense. I'm not going to go into the entire plot of the film, especially because the entire plot is incredibly convoluted. In fact, this was a major strike against the film at the time of its release. Many reported that they could not keep up with what was happening. I've got to say that, for myself, this was the case as well. I found myself having to rewind to figure out what exactly I missed or who was who. However, upon reflection, the convoluted plot may only add to the feverish intoxication of the film.  Because...
Read more