VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Bluebell Alcock Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Candida It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

dougdoepke Was there ever a more civilized treatment of infidelity than this British suspenser. Ralph Richardson's butler Baines is the very last word in polished civility and stiff upper lip no matter how extreme the provocation. Yet he's so unfailingly kind and considerate to the boy Phillipe that he's among the most admirable of transgressors. The bond between the lonely son of the French ambassador and the hen-pecked English butler is memorably touching and the emotional heart of the film.Director Carol Reed has basically a single set to work with. But it's a great one with the sweeping staircase, high domed ceiling, and checkerboard tiles, all keeping the eye entertained at the same time the sinister events unfold. Those events are driven by poor Sonia Dresdel who has the thankless role of the cruel wife and housekeeper Mrs. Baines that she plays to the hilt. You just know from the start that Phillipe's pet garter snake, MacGregor, is doomed in her bleak household. In fact, the screenplay has loaded the deck by making her such an unsympathetic figure. Who can blame Baines for his covert rendezvous with the lovely Julie (Michelle Morgan) when his shrewish wife remains in the empty embassy waiting to pounce.What really distinguishes the movie is its skill at viewing adult actions through the eyes of the child. Thus, instead of a conventional two-shot close-up of Baines and Julie in intimate conversation, Reed gives us a three-shot from the perspective of Phillipe as he watches them. We may know what's up with them, but we also share the boy's puzzlement over a world he has yet to grow into. We share that perspective throughout, which is not only an unusual one, but visually reinforces the touching bond between the child of the elite and the highly polished commoner. It also turns the emotional climax (not the dramatic) into a memorably revealing one-- a rite of passage, as it were.Anyway, in my little book, the movie qualifies as a genuine classic, placing Carol Reed in the same Pantheon as contemporary British masters Hitchcock and Michael Powell. Once you see it, you don't forget it.

demetrius11 Even though this is a well made movie regarding direction and cinematography, I found the plot to be lacking in depth, and the characters are not very likable. Not likable enough as to care what happens to them anyways. Philip, the little boy that is the protagonist, is one of the most annoying kids ever captured on film. He is exactly how Dennis the Menace would look if you were to put him in a film noir. I found my self thinking that I would never want to have kids on more than one occasion during this film ! As the entire plot revolved around the ill-mannered little devil, i found it to be very very thin. I wouldn't bother watching this film if I knew what it was about. Much better "film noir" movies out there...

pontifikator An intelligent film from Carol Reed and Graham Greene, starring Ralph Richardson as the butler in the French embassy in London. The screenplay by Greene is based on his short story "The Basement Room," and the script is excellent, requiring some attention to catch all the details that are later lied about.The gist of the story is that young Phillipe (Bobby Henrey) is the only, lonely child of the ambassador, and he's taken under the wing of Baines, the embassy's butler. Baines fills the impressionable youngster with tall tales of derring do and shootings in the wilds of Africa. Phillipe adores Baines. Mrs. Baines (Sonia Dresdel), however, is a harridan and our villainess, requiring strict behavior from her ward.The problem is that Baines's tall tales take on a sinister aspect as we find out more about him and his relationship with his "niece." Baines is discovered by Phillipe who has no clue; at Baines's request, Phillipe agrees to keep the knowledge of the niece's existence secret. Based on the short story, I believe the boy is seven, but the actor was nine when the movie was made. In either event, Phillipe is no match for Mrs. Baines nor any other adult, so his attempt to keep his secrets are soon found out, and his attempts to protect Baines are branded as lies.Mrs. Baines, of course, meets her end in an accidental fall from a window ledge. However, it appears that Baines pushed her down the stairs, and the police are called to investigate. Phillipe lies to protect Baines, and the police soon find out about the niece and other goings on, which exposes Phillipe as a liar. It turns out that had everyone told the truth from the beginning, the suspicions would not have been aroused.Graham Greene is an excellent author, and I recommend his works. Since this is a Greene script, there are many turns of expectations and many amusing moments that are snuck in to take us unawares. (My favorite line: "Oh! I know your father, dear!") What makes this movie really work is the ending. Phillipe finally decides to tell the truth, but by doing so, he'll destroy Baines, although he doesn't know it. His attempts to get the police to listen to him are both tense and funny. It's a great ending to the movie. Greene also gets lots of characters in the movie in small parts; watch (and listen) for the charwomen and the clock winder. It's all very British.The movie was made in 1948 by the director of "The Third Man," which premiered the following year. Unlike Harry Lime's Vienna, Phillipe's London is untouched by war and corruption. (Both movies were scripted by Graham Greene and had two of the Korda brothers on the crew.) The camera work is great, and we get a wonderful view of (I think) Belgravia from the upper floors of the embassy. The movie is subtle, and attention is rewarded. The themes are adult, and the use of the child for perspective makes the movie work much better than a straight telling of an affair of the heart.The short story is considerably different from the film, and I recommend reading it after you've seen the movie. It's freely available online if you search for "The Basement Room." Phillipe has a much darker side in the story.

moonspinner55 Graham Greene adapted his short story "The Basement Room" about a youngster in London, the son of the French Ambassador to England, whose friendship with the manor's butler is tested after the butler's wife, the no-nonsense chief housekeeper, dies under suspicious circumstances. Ralph Richardson (resembling a jowly Kevin Spacey) is fine in the lead role, yet his character doesn't allow for a great many dimensions. The rest of the film follows suit: it is straightforward storytelling without mystery. After a lively beginning, it's rather disappointing (and exhausting) to have the proverbial inspectors called in, manipulating the lad into spilling what he knows. One can easily pick up all the nuances the picture has to offer within the first sixty-minutes of its running time--the second and third acts being predictable, obvious, and melodramatic. ** from ****