BBD Comments:
‘The Third Man’ is one of those films that is so legendary you know you have to see, yet somehow I have dodged it all these years. What a pleasure it was then to finally screen it in the Back Yard. Not only does this pick re-establish Wiener’s street cred after the lackluster aftertaste of ‘The Frisco Kid,’ it served as an effective coda to our misogyny trilogy. While ‘The Third Man’ is not a rumination on misogyny, it is about violence and conscience, and after three weeks of ambiguous endings, we finally are treated to a film whose outcome is as certain as it is unhappy. Best of all, I had never seen ‘The Third Man,’ and like ‘City of God’ and ‘Kung Fu Hustle,’ I was delighted to finally see it in our incomparable setting.
‘The Third Man’ stands as tribute to the favorite of Sir Hitchcock’s cinematic techniques - The MacGuffin. Hitchcock used this term to describe the thing that puts a story into motion but has no further value or meaning. In ‘Vertigo,’ we could argue that Carlotta is the MacGuffin. She supposedly has enchanted Madeline and Scottie follows Madeline for that reason. But we never learn anything about Carlotta, or Madeline for that matter, and her presence in the film only serves to drive the story. ‘The Third Man’ is a film whose title character is a MacGuffin. At the outset Holly seeks the third man to find out more about the fate of his dead friend and the action of the story is in motion. Whether the third man is dead and buried, alive and kicking, or a lie to begin with is rendered totally irrelevant when Orson Welles makes one of the greatest screen entrances I have ever seen. The MacGuffin has served its purpose, and we are off and running.
One of the many joys of this pick is its location. Setting this story of moral ambiguity amidst the actual rubble of Post War Vienna is incredible. Vienna seems to still be bleeding from the wounds of World War II and the impact of that global conflict echo throughout this otherwise intimate film. Another joy is the photography, ‘The Third Man’ is hauntingly captured by Robert Krasker, and the rich darkness of his imagery infuses the story with an unseen dread lingering in the shadows. The shots are all off kilter and unbalanced and the camera searches for its bearings much as Holly does for his. Far from the staid and plodding craft some might associate with cinematography from the era, ‘The Third Man’ is pulsing with energy and mystery, and the two great chases in the film stand up to, and perhaps defy, comparison with the legendary subway chase from ‘The French Connection.’
Carol Reed’s deft direction of Graham Greene’s magnificent, if theatrical, script result in a film that not only stands the test of time, it is more relevant today than it may have ever been. Wiener’s criticism of ‘Network’ had been that everything Chayefsky predicted has already come to pass essentially neutering the film’s relevance, and compared to ‘The Third Man,’ I can see his point. While Greene saw in the aftermath of war hardened and desensitized opportunists, he hardly predicted them. Nor does he root the film in any sociopolitical revelation. It remains poignant in that it doesn’t try to shock us with Lime’s callous disregard; rather it patiently investigates it and even lets him eloquently argue his point of view. ‘The Third Man’ asks its audience what is the value of a human life, and Greene unflinchingly lets us know that for some that cost is cheap. Today we live in a world where pharmaceutical companies routinely behave as Harry Lime does here, and ‘The Third Man’ illuminates the true inhumanity of this behavior, and meaningfully punishes the perpetrator who has lost his way.
Amid the thrilling and repeated searches for Harry Lime, Joseph Cotten’s Holly meets and falls for Lime’s girl, Anna. She is dedicated to her “deceased” love, and the lovely and elegant Valli crafts Anna as a woman as shattered as Vienna itself. By the film’s end, Anna is no longer susceptible to the romantic notions of American idealism and sets off to finally find her own path. Joseph Cotten is even more effective as Holly. The book signing where the famous American author proves himself completely ignorant about literature is wonderful, and effectively moves the story and its complex theme along. Cotten always plays such staunch idealists, and is excellent in that milieu, but with ‘The Third Man’ the plot drives him to such an extreme test of his ideals that we are unsure how he will carry on alone at story’s end.
Enter Harry Lime. And what an entrance it is. Orson Welles brings such joy to this charming villain. He is so light and airy with his work in this film. Lime is not the heavy and meticulous character Welles weaves when he is directing himself, but the carefree, mellifluous work of a master craftsman with a singular purpose. Welles famously wrote the quote that precedes these reviews, but aside from that his only work on the film was acting. I wish he’d had more roles like these to play, for it is such pleasure watching him at his peak.
Having now seen ‘The Third Man,’ I will certainly have to see it again. I have steered clear of any overt structural analysis here as I imagine Wiener will carry that water this week. ‘The Third Man’ is an astonishingly good film, and made for an excellent Movienight. I am glad to have Wiener back, and back in top form with this pick. I look forward to next week when Coolbaugh presents his tenth pick, and Movienight achieves the small milestone of forty Official Selections.
Coolbaugh Comments:
I must have missed something here. With Wiener’s wonderful 30-minute preamble about all the conflicts, metaphors and relative take-aways, I thought I was in for something really deep, heavy and probably very old. I accept that it was, but for me, I simply flat out enjoyed the ride that was ‘The Third Man.’ In hindsight, I guess I could extrapolate something a bit more intellectual, however, I found this movie to be like a great roller coaster ride. It was fun, tense, carefully constructed and was, believe it or not, my first Orson Welles experience. No – I’ve never seen ‘Citizen Kane.’ Okay, that’s not entirely true. I think my dad made me watch it when I was 4…great intro to one of the greatest actors of all time…thanks dad.
The film is actually quite easy to follow, while the answers to the mysteries are not, and the balance between the two accentuates the crafty assembly and presentation of the search for what really happened to Harry Lime. It is draped across the landscape of a post WWII Vienna, still in literal shambles and rubble. Shot on location, the set simply exudes the confusion that endures through the hunt for the third man who either was, or was not at the scene of the traumatic accident. The cinematography was stellar, and the score and sound design was sano.
As I said, I don’t really know what the film was intending us to think about…I guess I can make an argument for “when to get involved, and when to leave things alone.” But that’s all moot, really, because in reality friends who care will always try to get involved if they think somebody’s done their boy wrong. I would hope they’d do the same for me. If you got some shit going on, you can’t blame your pal for watching your back…and at the end of the day, Harry understood that. And really, now, if Harry Lime really wanted to disappear, he’d have found a way out of Vienna…he’s obviously very creative.
So, ‘The Third Man’ was a wonderful film that I’m very happy was made. And I’m very happy I was able to see it, but most importantly, I’m happy it was selected to go up on the wall. Way to make a comeback, Wiener.
Nubs Comments:
Well lucky for us, ‘Battleship Potempkin’ was out of print forcing Wiener to audible and go with a classic that I have enjoyed twice before, ‘The Third Man.’ The first time I viewed this head-of-its-time noir thriller, my brother made me watch it to appreciate the wondrous lighting, shadows, and shot composition. The second time was just last year when I had returned home from Vienna and wanted to reminisce on my DVD player. I was quite content to see it again, when it was revealed on the Stucco. I’d have to say the third time was the charm for ‘The Third Man.’ Everything I’d appreciated previously all came together as is usually the case with multiple screenings of a well constructed story. I even got a little out of Wiener’s thirty-minute preamble.
What I most appreciated this time was the calculated portrayal of Vienna. Unlike some thrillers that, in an attempt to emulate this original, take you to some exotic or spectacular foreign setting to provide intriguing backdrop, Carol Reed actually makes Vienna a crucial character. Our tour through Vienna directly mirrors the storyline. Just like the character of Harry Lime, we like what we see on the surface of Vienna. The first half of the movie we are shown all of Vienna’s main tourist attractions, the theatre, the people all seem very pleasant and civilized. As we get to learn more about Lime and the city he exploited the screen reveals darker sides. The people are poor, and rightfully wary and scared to get involved. Reed also has its hero being chased by the angry mob over piles of rubble of a Vienna just recently pulverized by World War. The final chase scene is so beautifully poetic because we get to see the dark underbelly of this once charming city and the rat that now scurries around it’s foul, dung-lined sewers. Thanks Wiener, for facilitating my use of “dung-lined”.
Of course the lighting and direction need to get honorable mention here. The use of shadows throughout keep us on the edge of our seat wondering what we are really seeing. Carol Reed also made great casting choices of all the local characters that lead and mislead us. And the tension he creates with the ascent and descent in the Ferris wheel scene is breathtaking, even with Pat Towne’s unwarranted forecast of it. The only flaw comes from the producer’s billing of Orson Welles, though most viewers forget about it by the time he is revealed.
All this is just scratching the surface of this archetype of a well-made thriller. Yet, I couldn’t help wondering about some of what Wiener discussed in his pre-show lecture. One of the many things he begged us to consider was the film’s questioning of our moral responsibility to involve ourselves in the injustices of the world. It is definitely the theme of the movie. The more Holly involves himself in his friend’s unsolved mystery the more he endangers himself and the lives of the harmless girlfriend and porter whom he stupidly names to his killer. Even after he is given proof of his friend’s terrible crimes he wants to turn his head and return home to his safe environment. After he is forced to see the children whom have suffered, he acts according to his duty, even though he loses his best friend and the woman he loves. It seems an obvious metaphor for America’s involvement in Europe’s recent World War, however, like this movie the theme is timeless.
This stuck with me a couple of days, and to put into modern practicality I’ll tell you my story. On the Friday night after Movienight I was driving home late from work, unusually dead sober, and witnessed the car in front of me swipe a parked car and continue on. My instincts told me to follow the offender and take down the license plate. After confirming that he was not returning to the scene to do the right thing I sped home and grappled with calling the cops. Wiener and ‘The Third Man’s’ questions of moral obligation made it a tough decision whether to ruin one person’s life over an easily fixable fender bender. In the end, like Holly Martins, I thought of the victim, and ratted out the motherfucker. I worry/wonder what karmic consequences this may take upon my future but I think Graham Greene would agree with my actions, even though I presume Wiener would think I should have should have kept my mouth shut in case it was him driving.
Incidentally, if anyone reading this drives a, now dented, white Dodge station wagon, please know the above story was pure fiction.
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