The Fallen Idol (1948)

IMDb plot summary: A butler working in a foreign embassy in London falls under suspicion when his wife accidentally falls to her death, the only witness being an impressionable young boy.
Directed by Carol Reed. Starring Ralph Richardson, Michèle Morgan, Sonia Dresdel, and Bobby Henrey.

(Spoilers ahead.)

My biggest complaint with noir is how often it all feels the same. The same characters, beats, twists, and stakes over and over again. This one goes for a more unique spin -- it tells it all through the story of a child. Since noir so frequently looks at cynicism and loss of innocence and idealism, it seems only right to see it through the eyes of a child. Even when things work out in the end as far as the narrative goes, the child's worldview has been shaken, and that lingers through the "happy ending" plot events. It's an interesting effect, and one that pushes this up into the top half of my chart.

How it entered my Flickchart:
The Fallen Idol > Gattaca
The Fallen Idol > We're No Angels
The Fallen Idol < Boyhood
The Fallen Idol < Grave of the Fireflies
The Fallen Idol < My Name Is Bruce
The Fallen Idol > Brooklyn
The Fallen Idol < The Ten Commandments (1956)
The Fallen Idol < The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
The Fallen Idol > Hoodwinked!
The Fallen Idol < Gone Girl
The Fallen Idol > Rudyard Kipling's The Jungle Book
Final spot: #673 out of 2907.