Adapted from the Graham Greene story The Basement Room, director Carol Reeds The Fallen Idol is told almost completely from a childs eye view-but it isnt a childrens story. Young Bobby Henrey idolizes household butler Ralph Richardson. Therefore, when it seems as though Richardson might be implicated in a murder, Bobby does his best to throw the police off the track. The boy succeeds only in casting even more suspicion upon Richardson. As the story progresses, Henreys hero worship is eroded by Richardsons shifty behavior, and even more so when the boy discovers that the butlers boasts of previous heroism are just so much hot air. The ending of the film differs radically from Greenes story. While it would seem that director Reed was merely paying homage to the happy ending philosophy (hardly likely, given the doleful climaxes of such films as Odd Man Out and The Third Man), the director had very solid reasons for altering the story: he was more fascinated by the concept of the boys imagination nearly sending his idol to the gallows, rather than having the butler entrapped by facts. And though the ending is happy for the boy, the butlers fate is much more nebulous. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide