<< I am going to start watching a lot of great, classic movies and would like to post some small reviews here in my blog to possibly introduce you to them, or hopefully re-introduce you to them. There are a lot of crappy movies out there getting publicity these days. This is just my way to try to talk about some more deserving films as well. >>

THE THIRD MAN

In a movie that seems to be best known for the appearance of Orson Welles, The Third Man is as much a non-auteur movie as you can get. While it is widely considered one of the greatest Film Noirs you will ever see, the film is very un-Welles like. The movie is equal parts direction (Carol Reed), writing (Graham Greene) and acting (Welles and to a lesser extent Joseph Cotton). When you see so many shots and visuals that would make the film seem to be an immaculate portrait by Reed, you hear the wonderful dialogue written by Greene, who owns this movie as much as – if not more – than Reed. When Orson Welles finally makes his first appearance after an hour has passed, it is an appearance that kicks off a wonderful performance that seems to take over the movie. With great directing, a crackling script and great performances all around, the movie rises above other Film Noirs of its era.

While the film is clearly a Noir masterpiece, it seems to step above the restrictions of the genre. There is the femme fatale in Anna, who pledges her allegiance to the man she loves, regardless of his moral ambiguities, and who betrays the man who possesses the purer heart. There is the camera work, with angles and shadows straight out of German Expressionism, filming some of the most beautiful and breathtaking shots you will ever see. The shadow of Orson Welles running down an alley is the only appearance you see in that specific shot, yet it is so dominant and beautifully lit that it holds a place as one of the greatest stills in cinema history.

Thanks to the appearance of American actors Welles and Cotton, the movie is sometimes viewed as American Film Noir, yet it is clearly, in its purest form a British Noir. The film focuses more on social problems than the detective stories you saw in American cinema at the time. The Third Man takes place soon after the World War, in a slightly bombed out Vienna. Holly Martins (Cotton) arrives to take up a job offer by his old friend Harry Lime (Welles) only to find his friend has died after being struck by a car. He attends the funeral and then is asked to leave Vienna by the police.

When he refuses and begins to investigate the death of his old friend, he uncovers a plot that might have included a mysterious third man who was at the sight of Harry’s death that the police know nothing about. The twists and turns of the movie are brilliantly placed, and when Holly finally comes face-to-face with Harry, the film moves up to an even higher level. The acting of Orson Welles was simply masterful, making up for the problems he created on set with his prima-donna attitude. He delivers some of the best lines of the movie in his short time onscreen. It is the dialogue that just seems to pulsate making the movie as great as any of the visuals. One of the most memorable lines is one improvised by Orson Welles:

“In Italy, for 30 years under the Borgias, they had warfare terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love. They had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The Cuckoo clock. So long, Holly.”

Joseph Cotton adds much to the proceedings in his role as the arrogant American who lets his conceit get in the way of clear thinking. When you see Holly at Harry’s funeral, he only recognizes Anna and does not notice the other faces noticing him. He seems to be a man who believes he is dominant and more intelligent than those around him. He talks down to law enforcement officials and has to be walked through the evidence like a child in order to convince him of the truth about his old friend. He bumbles his way through the film to the conclusion, shunned by everyone, including animals. When he is bit by a parrot while running from the criminals, it is a comic misstep that shows his ineptitude. As an author, he is pushed into speaking to a literary group. Since he is simply a pulp western novel writer, he is unable to answer questions regarding literature. His character is the perfect antithesis to the character of Harry Lime, the master manipulator.

The original idea was to cast James Stewart as Holly, and that would never have worked as the movie was shot. Stewart carried a strong personality and although he could do comedy and slapstick, he would not have given as oblivious a performance as Cotton did. At the beginning, he walked under a ladder, without even noticing. Things were told to him that he never acknowledged with any facial expressions. He was just the ignorant, arrogant character who walked through life unaware of what was going on around him. A line by Major Calloway said everything you needed to know about Holly Martins. Holly tells the major he is only an amateur fool, and that Calloway is a professional at it. Calloway simply looks at Holly and states:

“I don’t want another murder in this case, and you were born to be murdered.”

When Harry is eventually betrayed by his old friend Holly, the look on the face of Lime shows the hurt of a man whose trust has been shattered. Even Anna remains loyal to her lover to a fault, but Holly proves to be a man who cannot be trusted, despite being the protagonist of the story. The movie takes the amoral feel of Film Noir to an extreme as it shows the evil that Harry had committed, yet he still trusts and admires his old friend making him sympathetic in the final chase through the sewers on Vienna. We go from seeing the film through the eyes of Holly to sharing fear and entrapment through Harry’s eyes. We take the point of view of the antagonist, almost transposing him into a tragic antihero. Despite his wrongdoings, and all the deaths that were caused by his greed, we are satisfied when Holly prevents Harry from being detained. It is only through a simple look, the acting of Orson Welles, but I believe his demise sets up Harry Lime to be seen as a martyr betrayed by his Judas, before eventually being saved by him as well.

The visuals are dynamic and show a close kinship with Fritz Lang’s M. There are two scenes with a young boy, the first as his ball rolls into a room and we recall the scene with the first murdered child in M as her ball slowly bounces away. There is a scene where the young boy points to Holly and tells the crowd that he is guilty of the murder of a porter. The gathered mob begins to chase after Holly, who was only guilty of the old man’s murder based on his stupidity. It pays homage to the crowds in M which would begin the witch hunts for innocent men in relation to the murders. A man wanders the streets, selling balloons while the set-up of Harry is taking place, mirroring the blind balloon seller in M. Finally, in the last scene with Harry and Holly coming face-to-face, Orson Welles allows his eyes to bulge out of his head, looking eerily like Peter Lorre.

Despite the homage’s, The Third Man is a film comfortable in its own skin. There were some happy accidents that turned into some of the film’s greatest scenes. The shadowy Harry scenes were only shot because Orson Welles was late in arriving. Despite the accidents, or possible due to them, and thanks to the acting of Welles and Cotton, the direction of Carol Reed, and the remarkable dialogue written by Graham Greene, a spectacular masterpiece developed. Some of the demands of producer David O. Selznick almost doomed the film from the start and the American version omitted some important images and plot twists in the final product. Thankfully, Criterion has released the original vision of Reed which produced one of the greatest films in the history of cinema, Noir or otherwise