The Third Man (1949) (Not Rated)
Directed by Carol Reed
Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard
Daddy Says:
Yes, we don't just watch action movies and romantic comedies at our house. I try to get my family to watch one of the cinematic classics once in a while.
The Third Man begins with Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), an unemployed pulp-novelist, arriving in post-WWII Vienna at the request of his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Upon his arrival he finds everything is wrong when he's told that Harry was struck down by a car and killed, and is being buried this very moment. Holly goes to the cemetery to confirm and gets questioned by a British inspector (Trevor Howard), and sees a mysterious and beautiful girl (Alida Valli) whom he will discover was Harry's lover.
Holly begins to suspect that Harry wasn't killed in an accident, so much as he was murdered and like one of his pulp fiction characters begins to investigate on his own. He is told originally that two men carried Harry's body out of the road, but someone else says that there were not two, but three men who carried it. Who was this mysterious third man? And are the police correct when they say it's better off for Harry Lime to be dead, since they claim he was a black marketeer who sold watered-down penicillin to hospitals and caused hundreds of children to die.
I listed Orson Welles as the lead in The Third Man, but he's really only in the movie for a short time. But even when he's not on-screen, every other character talks about Harry Lime so much it feels like the entire movie is all about him. I'm sure if you've heard of this movie before you've heard about his great "cuckoo clock" speech, which I'm told he wrote himself. It's a wonderful speech, but the entire scene that precedes it is just as good. Watch his face as he smiles to his friend's face, but grows deadly serious when Holly turns away.
Other things worth mentioning are the cinematography and the editing. Many of the scenes are shot with the camera tilted slightly one way or the other. It's become quite common to use this type of camera work to show disorientation (although it's been replaced these days with mostly shaky handheld camera work), but this is one of the first films to use it really well. As for the editing, watch the scene where Holly agrees to be the inspector's "decoy duck", how every shot alternates between an empty street and someone watching out for Harry Lime to appear. The suspense builds and builds until a large shadow is cast upon the side of a building from around the corner. As the person appears, we see it's just a balloon salesman and the music changes to show the tension relieved. It's really wonderful work.
As for the music, I'm sure my daughter will give you her opinion of it. I thought the zither score worked well. There's no other movie out there that sounds like this one. And any time I hear a zither being played, I immediately associate it with this classic film. Ladies and gentlemen: my first five-star rating.
Rating for The Third Man. *****.
Daughter Says:
The Third Man is definitely an old movie. It's in black and white, which happens to be my least favorite way to watch a movie other than in another language. At least I didn't have to read the movie. Other than being black and white, the basis of the film was rather good. I liked the shadows of the scenery. It gave the place an eeriness to it. Which makes sense because the place has been through some rough times. The way the movie was shot was really breathtaking. I like the different angles it gave me to each scene. Okay, maybe black and white isn't such a bad idea.
Now to the bad parts. The music drove me up the wall. What in the world were they thinking creating a instrument like zither. Wait a minute the word zither is stupid to begin with. People are so strange. Anyway, that annoyed me beyond belief. Other than that annoying thing in the background there was the acting. Well I wouldn't blame the actors so much as to say it just didn't flow all that well. The way the words were it just was kind of awkward to me. Maybe it's just me.
I'll give The Third Man this much, I liked the ending. The tunnel scene was really cool, and the final ending was very funny (in it's own way). But to refer to it as a classic, well I don't know about that. The Wizard of Oz is classic, but this for me just doesn't compare.
I'll let you make the real decision, but for now here is my rating for this movie.
Rating for The Third Man: ***.
Directed by Carol Reed
Starring: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard
Daddy Says:
Yes, we don't just watch action movies and romantic comedies at our house. I try to get my family to watch one of the cinematic classics once in a while.
The Third Man begins with Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), an unemployed pulp-novelist, arriving in post-WWII Vienna at the request of his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Upon his arrival he finds everything is wrong when he's told that Harry was struck down by a car and killed, and is being buried this very moment. Holly goes to the cemetery to confirm and gets questioned by a British inspector (Trevor Howard), and sees a mysterious and beautiful girl (Alida Valli) whom he will discover was Harry's lover.
Holly begins to suspect that Harry wasn't killed in an accident, so much as he was murdered and like one of his pulp fiction characters begins to investigate on his own. He is told originally that two men carried Harry's body out of the road, but someone else says that there were not two, but three men who carried it. Who was this mysterious third man? And are the police correct when they say it's better off for Harry Lime to be dead, since they claim he was a black marketeer who sold watered-down penicillin to hospitals and caused hundreds of children to die.
I listed Orson Welles as the lead in The Third Man, but he's really only in the movie for a short time. But even when he's not on-screen, every other character talks about Harry Lime so much it feels like the entire movie is all about him. I'm sure if you've heard of this movie before you've heard about his great "cuckoo clock" speech, which I'm told he wrote himself. It's a wonderful speech, but the entire scene that precedes it is just as good. Watch his face as he smiles to his friend's face, but grows deadly serious when Holly turns away.
Other things worth mentioning are the cinematography and the editing. Many of the scenes are shot with the camera tilted slightly one way or the other. It's become quite common to use this type of camera work to show disorientation (although it's been replaced these days with mostly shaky handheld camera work), but this is one of the first films to use it really well. As for the editing, watch the scene where Holly agrees to be the inspector's "decoy duck", how every shot alternates between an empty street and someone watching out for Harry Lime to appear. The suspense builds and builds until a large shadow is cast upon the side of a building from around the corner. As the person appears, we see it's just a balloon salesman and the music changes to show the tension relieved. It's really wonderful work.
As for the music, I'm sure my daughter will give you her opinion of it. I thought the zither score worked well. There's no other movie out there that sounds like this one. And any time I hear a zither being played, I immediately associate it with this classic film. Ladies and gentlemen: my first five-star rating.
Rating for The Third Man. *****.
Daughter Says:
The Third Man is definitely an old movie. It's in black and white, which happens to be my least favorite way to watch a movie other than in another language. At least I didn't have to read the movie. Other than being black and white, the basis of the film was rather good. I liked the shadows of the scenery. It gave the place an eeriness to it. Which makes sense because the place has been through some rough times. The way the movie was shot was really breathtaking. I like the different angles it gave me to each scene. Okay, maybe black and white isn't such a bad idea.
Now to the bad parts. The music drove me up the wall. What in the world were they thinking creating a instrument like zither. Wait a minute the word zither is stupid to begin with. People are so strange. Anyway, that annoyed me beyond belief. Other than that annoying thing in the background there was the acting. Well I wouldn't blame the actors so much as to say it just didn't flow all that well. The way the words were it just was kind of awkward to me. Maybe it's just me.
I'll give The Third Man this much, I liked the ending. The tunnel scene was really cool, and the final ending was very funny (in it's own way). But to refer to it as a classic, well I don't know about that. The Wizard of Oz is classic, but this for me just doesn't compare.
I'll let you make the real decision, but for now here is my rating for this movie.
Rating for The Third Man: ***.
I am offended! I watch classic movies, too!! I LOVE "Gone with the Wind" and it doesn't get anymore classic than that, my husband!! LOL!! This movie is NOT a classic and one watch is more than enough for me. Though now I have watched it twice. UGH!! I love Orson Welles' voice and he was handsome in his own way, but I have yet to see a movie of his that I liked.
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