Born in London on December 30, 1906, Reed intended to become a farmerand after graduating from King's School at Canterbury was sent by his family to the U.S. for on-the-job training at a large chicken farm. But his love of the theater (he was one of the several illegitimate children of the famed actor-producer Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree) prevailed and after six months he returned home to begin a career as an actor. He made his London debut in 1924 with Sybil Thorndyke's troupe and after a long succession of mainly minor roles he began working for Edgar Wallace in 1927 as an advisor on the adaptation of the writer's mystery novels to the stage and as an actor and stage manager in the resultant productions.
Turning to film in the early '30s, he began as a dialogue director and assistant to producer-director Basil Dean and graduated to director with Midshipman Easy in 1935. His early features were mainly modest-budget ventures for local consumption, but his reputation grew steadily thanks to such films as Bank Holiday (1938), The Stars Look Down (1939), Night Train to Munich (1940), Kipps (1941), and The Young Mr. Pitt (1942). During World War II he was assigned to the British army's film unit, for which he directed a propaganda short A Letter from Home (1941), and a training short for new recruits, The New Lot (1942). As a result of the success of the latter film, he was commissioned to direct a feature-length fictional film along a similar theme, The Way Ahead (1944). It remains one of the most memorable films of the war effort. In 1945 he co-directed, with Garson Kanin, The True Glory, an Oscar-winning compilation documentary recording the progress of the war in Europe from D-Day to VE Day.
Reed's reputation reached its peak in the late '40s and early '50s, when he directed five of his finest films: Odd Man Out (1947), a meticulously conceived and richly executed chase melodrama about the final hours in the life of an Irish revolutionary; The Fallen Idol (1948), a keenly observed drama of the adult world seen through the eyes of a child; Outcast of the Islands (1952, starring Trevor Howard), a fine adaptation of Joseph Conrad story about moral corruption in the South Seas; and The Man Between (1953), an intriguing drama set in postwar Berlin; and of course The Third Man (1949), the Reed masterpiece often listed among the great films of all time.
The second and third of these films, based on material by Graham Greene, were particularly successful, receiving unanimous critical praise. Reed's best work was characterized by a keen sense of locale and atmosphere, a sharp eye for small but revealing details, a sympathetic treatment of characters, skillful plot development, and a civilized, warm but restrained tone. From the mid-'50s, Reed's reputation went into a steady decline, as his films, some made for Hollywood studios, grew larger in scope and budget, obliterating his gifts for detail and atmosphere and magnifying dramatic and technical flaws. In 1962 he began directing Mutiny on the Bounty but was soon replaced by Lewis Milestone. In 1968, however, he won an Academy Award as Best Director for the musical Oliver! The film won a Best Picture Oscar as well. He died in 1976.
Rialto Pictures
