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Plot summary
Phillipe lives at the embassy in Belgrave Square while his mother stays in hospital and his father is often away. The butler, Baines, fills the boy's days with tales of his adventures in Africa, including a man he says he killed in self-defense and lions he says he fought, and Phillipe idolizes him while disliking the strict housekeeper, Baines's wife. One afternoon, with his father gone, Phillipe slips out alone and finds Baines in a tea shop with Julie, a typist from the embassy. Julie wants to end their relationship and has booked passage to the Continent. Phillipe does not grasp what their conversation means, accepts Baines's word that Julie is his niece, and agrees to say nothing to Mrs. Baines.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Fallen Idol (1948)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- By 30 June 1949 The Fallen Idol had earned £203,000 in the UK, £150,553 of which went to the producer, yet British Lion's records show the film had incurred a loss of £247,035.
SPOILER
The script departs significantly from the original 1936 story "The Basement Room": there Mrs. Baines dies while struggling with her husband in a jealous rage, the mistress is not a Frenchwoman, and the boy, there called Philip, does not deliberately lie to protect Baines.
