Little heart in need
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | Little heart in need |
| Original title | The Fallen Idol |
| Country of production | Great Britain |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1948 |
| length | 95 (original) 90 (German version) minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Carol Reed |
| script |
Graham Greene (screenplay); Lesley Storm , William Templeton (dialogues) |
| production | Carol Reed |
| music | William Alwyn |
| camera | Georges Périnal |
| cut | Oswald Hafenrichter |
| occupation | |
| |
Little Heart in Need is a 1948 British drama film directed by Carol Reed, mostly from the point of view of a little boy. It is based on the story The Basement Room (1936) by Graham Greene , who also wrote the script. Ralph Richardson plays "an amorous misguided butler who bitterly disappoints his infinite admirer, his master's son, in Carol Reed's chamber play drama."
action
London , shortly after World War II . Baines is a thoroughly correct person, a distinguished and discreet butler in the service of his master, an ambassador. The little ambassador son Felipe, whose father is very busy and whose mother has already been away from London for a few months for health reasons, is almost on Baines' lips. He admires him for his (alleged) great deeds, which he adorns about and which he wants to have experienced in the most exotic places in the world. Not so much that Baines is just a show-off - rather, he tries to entertain and impress the easily impressed boy who has grown dear to him in this way. That these are fictitious fairy tales seems meaningless to the servant.
The reality is far less exciting. Trapped in a loveless marriage to the domineering Mrs. Baines, Baines has started an affair with the beautiful, young embassy secretary Julie. When the boy watches the two of them having an intimate rendezvous, Baines is able to save the situation again and explains to Felipe that the young lady is his niece. Mrs. Baines forces Felipe to tell her about the secret meetings of her husband, after which she pretends to leave for Sunday to observe the affair between Baines and Julie. Finally, at the landing there is a violent argument between the couple. A few seconds after the argument ended, Mrs. Baines fell to her death trying to watch her husband and Julie from a dangerous spot on the staircase gallery that Felipe had always warned her about. Felipe notices parts of the tragic scene and concludes from it that Baines murdered his wife. He escapes from the embassy and is picked up in his pajamas by a police officer on the streets of London.
First of all, the doctor Dr. Fenton sees the death of Mrs. Baines in an accident, but he begins to doubt when Felipe, who has been brought home, appears completely disturbed and nervous. During the subsequent police investigation, Felipe begins to lie to the police - a little awkwardly - for the sake of the butler. Baines also swindles towards the police and leaves Julie out of his story because he does not want to expose her to the police. But these clumsy and contradicting swindles lead the police to believe that Baines caused the death of his wife - especially since her injuries are too serious for a normal fall. In the end, the lovers have to confess to the police about the affair, but the investigators are only convinced of the butler's innocence when they find the dangerous spot on the staircase with the footprints of Mrs. Baines.
Baines is then released from suspicion of murder, but little Felipe is still carried away by the events because he now wants to tell the truth and none of the adults is listening to him. Finally, after a long absence, Felipe's mother comes home and is greeted happily by her son.
Production notes
Kleines Herz in Not was filmed from autumn 1947 and opened in British cinemas on August 19, 1948. Twelve days later the film was shown as a British festival entry at the Venice Biennale . The German premiere took place on December 23, 1949, and the film could be seen for the first time in Austria four weeks later. The UK grossing was £ 215,823. This made Little Heart in Need a huge box office success.
The French-born film debutant Bobby Henrey , who made a big impression on the film critics with his portrayal of little Felipe (Philippe), was just eight years old at the time of shooting. After that he only stood in front of the camera once (1950 for “Entführung ins Glück”).
The film, which Reed also produced, was made under the umbrella of Alexander Korda , who was also the line producer. Vincent Korda designed the film structures and Ivy Baker designed the costumes. Denys N. Coop was a simple cameraman under Georges Périnal's direction, the later James Bond director Guy Hamilton ( James Bond 007 - Goldfinger , James Bond 007 - Diamond Fever ) acted as Reed's assistant director.
synchronization
The German-language synchronization for the German cinema premiere was carried out by Berliner Synchron GmbH, with Georg Rothkegel responsible for the script and directing.
| role | actor | German Dubbing voice |
|---|---|---|
| Baines the butler | Ralph Richardson | Werner Hinz |
| Julie, his lover | Michèle Morgan | Charlotte cyclist |
| Felipe / Philippe, son of the ambassador | Bobby Henrey | Michael Günther |
| Mrs. Baines | Sonia Dresdel | Erna Sellmer |
| Inspector Crowe | Denis O'Dea | Otto Matthies |
| First Secretary of the Embassy | Karel Štěpánek | Franz Arzdorf |
Awards
- British Film Academy Award for best film
- Academy Award nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay (Graham Greene) and Best Director (Carol Reed)
- Golden Globe nomination for best foreign film
- Bodil film award for the best film
- best screenplay at the Venice International Film Festival
- best directed by the New York Film Critics Circle
and National Board of Review awards to Ralph Richardson and Graham Greene
Reviews
"... a small but very carefully executed melodrama written by Graham Greene, which has been wrongly ignored, ... at the center of which is the great disappointment of a boy whose idol, a seemingly perfect, impeccable butler (Ralph Richardson) something completely inexplicable to him, does what appears to be reprehensible and from one second to the next loses the favor of his underage admirer. The strip, told primarily from the child's point of view, fascinated with its clever actor management, a careful script and superb individual interpretations. "
"Little Heart in Need ... is a touching but by no means sentimental story and gives Carol Reed the material for the atmospheric compression that has always suited him."
“In his typical films, Reed describes the fate of the outcast, the lonely and the persecuted. His heroes fall into the twilight, become guiltless and are no longer sure of themselves and their deeds. Reed designed this twilight to be visually impressive with sophisticated lighting effects. And tension often arises for him from a dense atmospheric description that surrounds the hero with mysterious threats. "
“Carol Reed limited himself to a small cast and a strictly limited location: an almost deserted embassy. This gave him the effect of a miniature, detailed down to the last detail. Under his direction, the cast played restrained and remarkably homogeneous. Particularly noteworthy are the skillful direction and montage of Reeds, who particularly knew how to lead the inexperienced child actor Bobby Henrey as a lonely little boy, as well as Ralph Richardson's reserved but tight performance as the friendly butler, who is suspected of the murder of his wife because of that Child tries to protect him. "
"Excellent realization of the Grahame Greene story" The Basement Room "."
"An almost perfect piece of small-format cinema, built thanks to clever nuances of the art of acting and cinematic technology."
“The distress of the child, who initially considers his idol to be the murderer, ends with the painful disenchantment of his feelings. A sensitive psychological study and at the same time a gripping crime chamber play. Formally and dramatically above average. "
Individual evidence
- ↑ in the German and Spanish version
- ↑ in the engl. and franz. version
- ↑ Kay Less : The film's great personal dictionary . The actors, directors, cameramen, producers, composers, screenwriters, film architects, outfitters, costume designers, editors, sound engineers, make-up artists and special effects designers of the 20th century. Volume 6: N - R. Mary Nolan - Meg Ryan. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-89602-340-3 , p. 434.
- ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Movies | Little heart in need. Retrieved February 21, 2018 .
- ↑ Little heart in need. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .
Web links
- Fallen Idol at theInternet Movie Database(English)