Rating: 
Summary: On my list of favorite overlooked films.
Review: April 16, 2002Yeah, that's right, 'The Third Man' is on my personal list
of favorites that are commonly overlooked. Okay, so maybe this film isn't completely forgotten, but I
have a buddy who cried bloody murder when he heard the
American Film Institute ranked it in the forties on their
list of all time movies, and I have to agree with him. In
the shadow of Welles's own directorial efforts, 'The Third
Man', sits sometimes like a red-headed stepchild. It's no small trick making a movie that is quaint, charming,
dramatic, and utterly perfect all at the same time. Writer
Graham Greene provided the film that first quality, Orson
Welles the second, and Sir Carol Reed the third. As for
being utterly perfect, who or what in the heck can ever
arrange for that last commodity to come to a film? It
just happens. Like 'Casablanca', 'Chinatown', 'The Godfather', 'Lawrence
Of Arabia' . . . . . . and 'The Third Man.'
Rating:
Summary: A Wellesian film that Welles didn't direct
Review: Reportedly Orson Welles replied to people who asked if he'd "really" directed The Third Man that Carol Reed didn't need his suggestions. Yet this feels very much like Welles in many ways. First of all there's the subject matter--like Citizen Kane, this film deals with money and power, shattered idealism, and an elusive figure everyone knows *of* yet few people know. Like Kane, the cinematography is striking (though in a different way) and an integral part of the plot. Like Kane, the music is memorable and tells much of the story, yet again in a different way. Like Kane, the film was greeted coldly by many critics on its initial release and had to be shelved for many years before people realized it was a masterpiece. And last but not least, like Kane, it stars the great Joseph Cotten. The Third Man benefits enormously from being shot in post-war Vienna (in record time by using three crews simultaneously). You can taste the atmosphere. The locations are a "star" as much as any of the human players. Selznick wanted Reed to film on Hollywood back lots, and he wanted Jimmy Stewart to star. He objected to the zither music. He objected to the canted shots. (William Wyler reportedly gave Reed a level to put on his camera after seeing The Third Man!) Most of all, Selznick wanted a happy ending, where Holly gets the girl. But without Reed's vision, the film would have been a typical glossy Hollywood film now seen at 2 am on local UHF channels if at all. Reed gave Welles one of the great entrances in screen history. Welles gave Reed a hard time when he refused to work in a sewer and returned to England, forcing Reed to build a sewer set there just for Welles' part. Welles says he only wrote the scene on the ferris wheel, but leave it to Orson to give us the most memorable dialogue in a movie filled with memorable dialogue. Then there is the issue of The Woman. Often she will make or break a film like this, and here Alida Valli (or "Valli" as she preferred to be billed in the film...maybe it's an Italian thing that started long before Madonna) is the perfect choice, brooding and un-glamorous and yet all the more alluring because she's un-glamorous. It's easy to see how impressionable Holly would fall for her. It's harder to see why she would still defend Harry, but love is not always logical. Or is this just selfishness? There doesn't seem to be room for love in postwar Vienna... Criterion has done a loving restoration of The Third Man. While not up to the standard of the Citizen Kane DVD (which is not done by Criterion, incidentally) it is superb considering how poorly prints of this film have been handled over the years. Criterion performed many computer-repairs of tears and splices that make once-damaged scenes play perfectly. The gray scale is finally restored! (So many prints of this film are stark and grainy black and white and nearly unwatchable.) There are some extras, such as footage of Anton Karas performing on his unique instrument, documentary footage of the real Vienna sewers, the original trailer, the rerelease trailer, the alternate American opening, and fascinating production photos and commentary. Once again Criterion hits a home run.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful Treatment of Vienna 1947 -Orson Stands Out!
Review: First off, I'm a major Graham Greene Afficionado, and have read the short novel several times, seen the flick as many times too, but not in the last several years. The main point here is the awesome black and white cinematography of post WWII Vienna, the baroque buildings, narrow streets, sometimes shown tilted to seem even more strange and dreamlike. A dull, even insipid,and very naive (close to ugly, but not quite) American writer of westerns (Cotten's Martins) visits Vienna pay his last respects to an old buddy who supposedly has died. After meeting a hard-nosed Brit army man, and making a fool of himself, Martins realizes finally that his old pal might not be such a nice guy after all. After some mysterious happenings, and a lecture from the world weary Brit, Martins finally realizes he's made more than a fool of himself, and offers his services if in fact his old pal is really alive...Suffice it to say, Orson Welles (Harry Lime) steals the show with his appearance.Some Classic scenes: A ride to the top of a huge ferris wheel where Lime shows his true, very unpleasant, colors to Martins; An education in black market medical smuggling from the good Brit to the naive American; a tour through the sewers of Vienna near the end; and many others including the final fade out with Martins and the Valli (burnt out case of a woman) character. The only drawback may be the occasionally irritating zither theme in the background...Other than that, a classic study of the evil men are unfortunately capable of..You may find it depressing, but in fact it is based on real incidents in central Europe at the time.
Rating:
Summary: "Riveting, and beautifully crafted..."
Review: Riveting, and beautifully crafted, Carol Reed's 1949 classic thriller is a bona fide masterpiece. Featuring Joseph Cotton and Orson Welles, in one of his most memorable roles. There are so many things to recommend about this film, it's almost impossible to name all it's strengths. The film's tense, dreamlike atmosphere is accentuated by Anton Karas's amazing zither music score that will haunt you forever, although you'll never tire of it. The films greatest strength, however, is perhaps Orson Welles's electric performance as Harry Lime, who's delayed entrance is perhaps the greatest and most memorable in all of cinema.
Rating:
Summary: "A true masterpiece..."
Review: A true masterpiece, "The Third Man" is a genuine classic. One can only scratch the surface in describing how truly marvelous it is. The genuine menace, beautiful photography, and hauting zither score add an indescribable atmosphere. Welles makes his entrance a long while into the film, but his entrance is perhaps the greatest and most memorable in all of cinema. A perfectly realized, wildly entertaining Cold War spectacle!
Rating:
Summary: Flawless all the way around
Review: The Third Man is one of the most satisfying movies I've ever seen. I felt that way about it when I first saw it on a muddy tape, and over the years I've seen it a few times and loved it just the same -- but it took this DVD to make me realize what the movie really looked like. There never really was a good tape version of Third Man. The visual sludge on the last tape copy I tried was enough to make me cringe just watching it. The first accomplishment of this disk is that it brings the images back. Like the new DVD of Citizen Kane, The Third Man is dazzlingly well-restored. Every brick in those Vienna streets is sharply defined, every nuance of lighting and focus is there in a way none of my tapes came close to. After seeing this disc, I realized I'd always loved the story enough to live with awful copies. Bam! This has that visual crispness that you love in a great DVD. You appreciate Carol Reed's eye even more once you've seen the movie as he intended it. Don't even get me started on the extras. How about radio dramas in which Orson Welles plays Harry Lime in a slightly different character vein? The short story form of The Third Man, as written by Graham Greene, was really only a sort of developmental project for the movie -- and it's included here. We get another radio version, this complete, with Joseph Cotten performing the whole thing. There's some newsreel footage of the real Vienna sewer patrols who show up in the film's final sequence. The commentary soundtrack is very decent. In short, Criterion understands what makes you come back to a DVD and see it again; they get it. Want to see Anton Karas playing his zither at a party? You got it. This isn't just "We added the trailer," see? I'm not a film student, and I wouldn't know where to start in saying how wonderful this movie is. Maybe you can read the rest of the reviews here, if you haven't seen the thing, and get a sense of what the experts think. All I can say is, this is an intelligent, complex, satisfying movie, acted superbly. It evokes history in a genuine way. It respects you -- it knows it doesn't have to pander, to spell everything out. A whole bunch of scenes from Third Man have stuck with me forever: anyone who's seen it would know what you meant by "the kitten" or "the grate" or "the ferris wheel door." I'm at a loss. Get the thing.
Rating:
Summary: This movie was never widescreen!
Review: To the person below who claimed "The Third Man" was their favorite movie but was disappointed that the DVD wasn't letterboxed -- the film was made in 1948 before the widescreen format ever came into fashion. The original aspect ratio is 1.33:1, just like Criterion's DVD. Your criticism is misinformed.
Rating:
Summary: A Masterpiece of Suspense
Review: Anyone who has net yet seen this cinematic masterpiece is in for a rare treat. "The Third Man" is both a brilliant achievement from the standpoint of superb black and white photography, with an Oscar being won in that category by cameraman Robert Krasker,and in dramatic storytelling with British fiction great Graham Greene delivering the premier screenplay of his notable career. The film captures the dark and suspicious Vienna underworld by night during the black market and rationing period following World War Two. American Holly Martens, played with an appropriate bumbling innocence by normally suave Joseph Cotten, leaves his middle class existence as a pulp fiction writer of westerns to fly to Vienna after an invitation from his longstanding friend, Harry Lime, played with a colorful ruthlessness by Orson Welles, to join him in a business enterprise. The film's first shock occurs at the beginning of "The Third Man," when Cotten is informed on arrival that Welles has been killed after being accidentally hit by a car. Cotten is suspicious from the beginning. His skepticism accelerates after talking to Welles' girlfriend, played with a sexy nonchalance by Alida Valli. Eventually he learns that Welles is very much alive. His anything but surefooted detective activities cause concern for British Army captain Trevor Howard, who fears that Cotten will be killed by Welles or another operative in his syndicate, which specializes in stealing penicillin, dilluting it, then selling it at enormous profits to hospitals. "The Third Man" exudes effortless suspense from the opening scene up to the film's dramatic end. British director Carol Reed was at the peak of his career when he did "The Third Man." Once your appetite has been sufficently enhanced by this film, make sure to also view two other Reed classics of the period, "Odd Man Out" and "The Fallen Idol." William Hare
Rating: 
Summary: Why not letterbox?
Review: This is my favorite movie, so I was disappointed to find that the
long-awaited (and pricey) DVD was in "full screen format," not
its original aspect ratio. This film is visually stunning and should have been released in letterbox. Pity.
Maybe the next media cycle. The audio reprocessing of the soundtrack is too brittle, with the background noise lowered too far --- it now sounds dubbed.
Rating:
Summary: They don't make them like they used too...
Review: After hearing so many great things about this movie, I decided one day to take the initiative and buy the Criterion Collection DVD of The Third Man. Since I hadn't seen the movie before (Except for clips on the AFI's broadcast of the most thrilling movies), some might call this a mistake. I call it a good, though not wise, investment. Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) goes to Post World War II Vienna to visit his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). After he arrives, however, he finds that Harry had been killed a few days before. Holly investigates into Harry's death, only to find himself entrapped in murder, racketeering and visits of friends from beyond the grave. He also finds that he has fallen in love with Lime's ex-girl Anna (Alida Valli). The Third Man is a rare perfect marriage of performances, cinematography and music. Cotten is excellent in his role as Martins, while the rest of the supporting cast (Especially Valli as Lime's ex-girlfriend and Trevor Howard as British Major Calloway) are just as good. The Oscar winning cinematography of Robert Krasker is superb in the way it brings to life the darkness of Vienna. It brings a sense of depth and realism to the movie. A viewer feels like putting their hand on screen and touching the water soaked walls. Could a similar feeling have been reproduced if the whole movie was filmed on soundstages? But what the movie is probably best known for is Anton Karas's Zither score. The themes of it are difficult to explain. Sometimes the music is happy and cheerful and other times we feel a sense of sorrow. Some thought of it as a mistake that the music of the entire movie should be done with one instrument. Today, it's unthinkable without it. Criterion has always been known for their quality and they don't disappoint with The Third Man. The picture has been digitally restored to where it looks as new as anything being made today. It might possibly be newer. The sound is perfectly clear. In fact you'll be adjusting the volume to lower the sound. The supplements are also excellent. First, there is a restoration demonstration, which will make one appreciate much more how much care Criterion put into this movie. Then there is vintage newsreel footage of the Vienna Sewer Police as they perform their duties in the film's famous sewer location and footage of Anton Karas performing "The Third Man theme" at a club (Reportedly in the same way he was found by director Carol Reed). There are production notes that cover many aspects of filming the movie and have some interesting trivia. There is also an interview with director Peter Bogdanovich and an alternate opening voice over for the American release. The main extra highlights though are two radio broadcasts: Orson Welle's presenting "A Ticket to Tangiers" from The Lives of Harry Lime and a radio presentation of The Third Man. Criterion has overall made an excellent DVD and should be applauded for it. Buy it, watch it, cherish it and listen to Welles' famous speech: "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."
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