'The Fallen Idol'

FOR a brief but dazzling three-year period, from 1947 through 1949, Carol Reed was the director to beat in the English-speaking world. Two films of that period, "Odd Man Out" and "The Third Man," have been widely admired, but the third, 1948's "The Fallen Idol," has been more difficult to experience.

By Kenneth Turan

April 7, 2006