Remembering Carol Reed! | Cinema Distraction Movie Blog

Carol Reed was born in Putney, Southwest London, England on the 30th of December 1906.
He was an English film director and producer.

Carol was the son of actor-producer Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his mistress, Beatrice May Pinney, Pinney later adopted the surname Reed.

Carol was educated at the prestigious public school “The King's School”, Canterbury, Britain's oldest public school and is believed to be the oldest continuously operating school in the world due to education on the Cathedral grounds being uninterrupted since 597CE.

Carol Reed originally pursued an acting career.

In his late teens, he joined the theatrical company of the then-famed British writer and playwright Edgar Wallace.

Reed became Wallace's Personal Assistant in 1927. Reed became involved in adapting Wallace’s work for the screen during the day while he worked as a stage manager in the evenings.
This job ended in February 1932 when Edgar Wallace suddenly died.

Reed was then hired by Basil Dean to work for his company ATP

(Associated Talking Pictures)
Carol Reed joined ATP as a dialogue director, He then became a second-unit director and was later promoted to assistant director. While working for ATP Reed was involved with making such films as “Autumn Crocus”, “Lorna Doone”, “Loyalties” and “Java Head”.

As with many English directors of the time, Carol got his first break as a solo director making “Quota Quickies”.

His first film was “Midshipman Easy” (1935) Reed later said of the project,
"I was indefinite and indecisive", I thought I had picked up a lot about cutting and camera angles, but now, when I had to make all the decisions myself and was not just mentally approving or criticising what somebody else decided, I was pretty much lost. Fortunately, I realised that this was the only way to learn – by making mistakes."

Legendary writer Graham Greene was working as a film critic for The Spectator in 1935, he was much more forgiving regarding “Midshipman Easy”, commenting that Reed "has more sense of the cinema than most veteran British directors".

Greene then wrote of Reed's comedy “Laburnum Grove” (1936), "Here at last is an English film one can unreservedly praise". He spotted Reed's potential, describing the film as "thoroughly workmanlike and unpretentious, with just the hint of a personal manner which makes one believe that Mr. Reed, when he gets the right script, will prove far more than efficient."

Carol Reed's career did step up a level when did get “the right script” with the film
“The Stars Look Down” (1940), this film was adapted from the A. J. Cronin's novel of the same name and the film features Michael Redgrave in the lead role.
Graham Greene wrote that Reed "has at last had his chance and magnificently taken it.

He observed that "one forgets the casting altogether: Reed handles his players like a master so that one remembers them only as people."

During the early years of the Second World War Reed directed a slew of films working with film producer Edward Black that were released through the British subsidiary of 20th Century Fox.
The best known of these films are probably “Night Train to Munich” (1940), with Rex Harrison; “Kipps” (1941), with Michael Redgrave; and “The Young Mr. Pitt” (1942), set during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

In late 1942 Reed served in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps where he was granted the rank of Captain and placed with the film unit where he made the training film, “The New Lot” (1943), It was made to show recruits and told the experiences of five new recruits entering military service. It had a script written by Eric Ambler and Peter Ustinov, with contributions from Reed himself, It was later remade as “The Way Ahead” (1944).

Carol Reed is best remembered for the three films he made after the conclusion of the Second World War,

“Odd Man Out” (1947)

This film stars James Mason as an IRA leader who is injured during a bungled fundraising robbery. He is now a wounded fugitive who must embark on a dark odyssey through city streets, bleeding, abandoned and increasingly delirious he desperately searches for shelter, aid and an escape route from the British authorities.

The film was very successful in the UK and Europe but failed to make much of a splash in North America. It ranked eighth at the British box office in 1947.
“Odd Man Out” was the first recipient of the BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film at the 1947 ceremony.

After the success of “Odd Man Out” Reed landed a contract with film producer and all-round movie mogul Alexander Korda.

Korda made a very wise decision and introduced Carol Reed to novelist (and ex-film critic for The Spectator) Graham Greene.
I can only imagine that the two were delighted to meet and they went on to collaborate on two motion pictures together.

"The Fallen Idol" (1948)
Also known as “The Lost Illusion” it is a mystery thriller starring Ralph Richardson, Bobby Henrey, Michèle Morgan, and Denis O'Dea.

It follows the young son of a diplomat in London, who comes to suspect that his family's butler, whom he idolises, has committed a murder. It is based on the 1936 short story "The Basement Room", by Graham Greene.

This film earned Carol Reed an Oscar nomination for Best Director and a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination for Graham Greene. It also won the second-ever BAFTA for Outstanding British Film. Which is an incredible feat considering Laurence Olivier’s “Hamlet”,
David Lean’s “Oliver Twist” and “The Red Shoes” by Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger were also nominated.

Carol Reed’s next project was another Graham Greene story and it so happens to be one of the best films ever made “The Third Man” (1949). (I will cover this film in my next blog)

After “The Third Man” Reed directed “Outcast of the Islands” (1952)
This film was based on a novel by Joseph Conrad and unfortunately, this film is considered by some to mark the start of Reed’s creative decline.
To be fair he had just made “The Third Man” which would be the peak of any filmmaker's career so to build on that would have been pretty tricky for anyone.

In 1953 he made “The Man Between” which tends to be dismissed as a rehash of The Third Man. Virginia Graham wrote in The Spectator at the time saying,
"makes no startling impact, such as we have learned to expect from its director, on either the mind or the heart".

Carol followed that up with the curios film

“A Kid for Two Farthings” (1955),
This was Reed's first colour film, set in the East End of London in the early 1950s and it is a form of an urban fairytale and captures a whimsical slice of social history. The film does suffer from stereotyping Jewish people but it features a 23-year-old Diana Dors which is very good to see. This film has been recently remastered by Studiocanal who have re-released it on Blu-ray as part of their Vintage Classics series.

“Trapeze” (1956) was Reed's first venture into the then relatively new CinemaScope (wide screen process) It was largely shot in Paris and was made for the American Hecht-Hill-Lancaster Productions company and it was also a box-office success.

“Our Man in Havana” (1959) reunited Carol Reed with Graham Greene who had adapted his 1958 novel of the same name.

The film is a British spy comedy shot in CinemaScope and stars Alec Guinness, Burl Ives, Maureen O'Hara, Ralph Richardson, Noël Coward and Ernie Kovacs.

The film takes the action of the novel but amps up the comedy aspects of the story.

Set in pre-revolutionary Cuba, Guinness plays James Wormold, a vacuum cleaner salesman who is recruited by the British Secret Intelligence Service to be their Havana operative. Wormold then goes about making this new opportunity as lucrative as possible.
This is Reed’s third project working with Greene and it is so good and so funny.
“Our Man in Havana” is a must-see for any film fan who enjoys “Ealing Style” comedies and the quality of this film alone makes it wrong to dismiss Reed’s post “The Third Man” output.

In 1962 Carol was contracted to direct a remake of “Mutiny on the Bounty” by MGM, but when Marlon Brando was cast as Fletcher Christian, Brando insisted on “creative control” and the two men argued incessantly. There were also issues with the set of the ship The Bounty and weather at the locations caused delays. Reed left at a relatively early stage of production and was replaced by Lewis Milestone.

Carol Reed’s next film was “The Running Man” NO! Not that one!
This is a 1963 British-American neo-noir drama starring Laurence Harvey who plays a man who fakes his death in a glider accident and then runs into trouble when an insurance investigator starts taking a close interest. The film also featured Lee Remick and Alan Bates.
It was adapted from the 1961 novel “The Ballad of the Running Man” by Shelley Smith.
The film was shot in Spain, for ten weeks, and at Ardmore Studios in Ireland.
The film was not a financial success. In Hollywood, an urban legend arose claiming the film was a flop because it was in cinemas when JFK was assassinated and featured actors named “Lee” and “Harvey”.

"The Agony and the Ecstasy" (1965) This was made in the United States, It was another box-office failure.

Reed’s fortune was about to change with a slightly more successful project…

"Oliver!" (1968)
A British period musical drama film based on Lionel Bart's 1960 stage musical of the same name, itself an adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1838 novel Oliver Twist.
made at Shepperton in Surrey, was financially backed by Columbia.
A significant fact about this production is that Carol Reed cast his Nephew, actor Oliver Reed in the role of Bill Sikes which massively elevated his profile going from Hammer horror films, B movies and TV films to landing leading roles in “The Assassination Bureau” and “Woman in Love”.
Carol Reed went on to win the Academy Award for Best Director for “Oliver”.

Yes, the man who made “The Third Man” won an Oscar for a gaudy musical… beggars belief!

Carol Reed directed two more films in his career,

“Flap” (1970)

shown in the UK under the title

“The Last Warrior”

is a Western starring Anthony Quinn, Claude Akins and Shelley Winters. Set in a late 1960s Native American reservation, it is an adaptation of the novel “Nobody Loves a Drunken Indian” by Clair Huffaker. I can only imagine this film is now problematic.

“Follow Me!” (1972)

This is a British comedy-drama film starring Mia Farrow, Topol and Michael Jayston. The film is based on the stage play “The Public Eye” by Peter Shaffer and Shaffer wrote the script. The film was released in the United States under its original stage title “The Public Eye”. This film boasts a score composed by John Barry. The film was edited by legend Anne V. Coates who was the woman who edited “Lawrence of Arabia” among many other classics and went on to edit “The Elephant Man” (1980)
In all honesty, before writing this I had never heard of “Follow Me!” and based on what I have read I'm really keen to see it.

“Follow Me!” was Carol Reed’s final film and at the age of 66 he retired.

In his career, Reed directed 32 films, He was nominated three times for The Best Director Oscar winning once, He won the 1949 Grand Prix award at the Cannes Film Festival for “The Third Man”, Reed won the BAFTA award for Outstanding British Film in 1948, 1949 & 1950.
In 1952, he became the second-ever British film director knighted for his craft.

Carol Reed died from a heart attack on the 25th of April 1976, aged 69, at his home at 213 King's Road, Chelsea, where he had lived since 1948.
He is buried in Kensington Cemetery, Gunnersbury, West London.

A blue plaque has been placed on his former home in his honour.

Recommendations, (Info correct at time of posting)
Must see Carol Reed movies,

“The Fallen Idol” (1948)

This film is not included with any subscription streaming service.

It is available to rent via Prime Video or Apple TV for £3.49