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" The Third Man "

Posted by Bambi B (A) on May 20, 2008 at 15:49:20

In Reply to: Let me tell you, some films are real good, but " The Third man " is-- posted by patrickU on May 20, 2008 at 11:13:25:

patrickU,

"The Third Man" has long been one of my all-time favourite movies, "Seven Samurai", being another that approaches all-round perfection.

For those who don't know this one, it concerns cowboy Western novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) who arrives in immediate post-war Vienna to write for a charity of his old school chum Harry Lime (Orson Welles). But, Martins learns that Lime was killed when hit by a car, and decides to look into the suspicious death when the eye-witness accounts vary- the caretaker of Lime's apartment building saw three men carry the accident victim to the pavement- intead of the offical two men, hence the titular "third man". While Martins is looking around he's approached by Trevor Howard, who tries to convince Martins that Lime was a dangerous clack-marketeer, whose medicinces have injured and killed children, and in the meantime falls for Lime's somber girlfriend, played by Valli. But, Martins discovers more than he wanted to know and is caught up in a dark intrigue.

A powerful theme of how loyalty to an old friend can blind one's judgement. As you mention, every part was superbly cast, plus war-ravaged Vienna is a fantastic character itself. This movie could never have been as sublimely, depressingly beautiful except in black and white and could never be remade as the cast could never be equalled- Trevor Howard's nonchalant keen-eyed Major, Howard's laconically efficient sargeant Payne, the ghostly Dr. Winkle, "That's 'VEEn-kel', and I can have no opinion, the injury vould have been the same", the ruined Count witht he Cheshire cat smile, the intensely loyal Valli, the sinister Romanian Pepesco, the cheerfully ammoral Welles- all unrepeatable. - This movie has the most beautifully photographed sewer system ever!

Don't wait to see "The Third Man" too long as you may have to reset your lifetime movie watching clock back to "0".

Then, for another treat of intrigue and black comedy, watch another of Carol Reed's masterpieces, "Our Man in Havana" with Alec Guiness, Burl Ives, and Noel Coward in which Guiness, as a Havana vacuum cleaner salesman is caught in Cold War/Cuban Revolution espionage maneuvering.


Cheers,

Bambi B

PS> Patrick, il y a seulement deux jours nous avons parle du "Hobson's Choice". Et voyance delicieuse ! ce film a ete montre la nuit derniere sur TCM. -Avec grand plaisir pour moi !

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