The Third Man

[kotte]

Redirect if me to the proper thread. Couldn't find it.

Stunning cinematography. This is how B/W should look.
Stunning actors.
Stunning director.

I often have problem with actors in old movies. They talk and movie so theatrically. In this, they rock. All of them.

[SoNowThen]

Agreed. Of my favorite movies, this is the oldest.

Love it!

I had to show a film to a group of highschool kids in this Movie Watching Club this guy I know puts on. I picked Third Man. All across the board, these kids whose favorite movies were all 1995+ really enoyed it. It's a better example than Casablanca, imo, of movies by committee.

[cowboykurtis]

i saw jon brion @ largo friday night -- jon busted into a 6 min. rendition of the thrid man score -- it was absolutely wonderful -- such a good show.

[Weak2ndAct]

My words can't do this movie justice.  It's just simply one of the best ever.  And that criterion dvd is a must-have for any collection.

[kotte]

Can you believe www.futureent.com don't have that? It's amazing. The best online DVD store and they don't have The Third Man.

[Weak2ndAct]

Bah, don't matter.  The dvd's available everywhere.  Just get it if you don't already have a copy.

[kotte]

Bah, don't matter.  The dvd's available everywhere.  Just get it if you don't already have a copy.

I know...but it's cheap and shipping is free of charge.

[Gamblour.]

As of this coming Christmas, this will be the second Criterion I own, the other being Seven Samurai. I remember when I first saw this movie...

I watched it, fell asleep. A few days later, I tried again, fell asleep at the EXACT same spot. A few weeks go by, I realize it's holding up my ability to rent more dvds (Netflix), so I finally sit down, and turn it on. Holy fleurking schnit, I was so blown away by how fucking cool this movie is. I think I've always been kinda freaked out by the happy-go-luckiness of the zither theme song, but whenever I hear it, I smile, I want it as my ring tone. It should be my next ring tone project, come to think of it, heh.

[cine]

One of my favourite films. I remember reading years ago about Ebert's opinion of Orson's intro to the film and how its one of the most memorable in all of the cinema. How right he is.
I remember when I first saw this that I was just hypnotized by Orson Welles and that smirk on his face when the room's light shone on his face. The photography is beautiful for the film and that scene on the Ferris wheel including Orson Welles's self-written monologue is one of my most favourite scenes. If I still had to choose an older great film, I'd choose Casablanca but The Third Man would be right up there. I bought this at HMV for $83 Canadian. That was a foolish move but at the time, I couldn't find it anywhere online. No matter to me - I love the Criterion and it's worth every penny... One of the greatest European films ever made ( GT)

[modage]

i liked this, but i didnt love it.  i dont know what my problem is, the story just didnt do it for me.  it seemed to be a little slow.  i liked the cool loopy guitar score though,  that was different.  and the orson speech and such.  i just dont know that i wanted to watch joseph cotten for 2 hours.  it needed more welles.

[samsong]

the most unusual of the noirs of the era, The Third Man's arguably the very best.  THE most cynical film ever made in my opinion, finding a balance between its subjectively portrayed dark material and what is the equivalent of a sarcastic smirk.  The end is almost unbearably sad, with one of the best balls out, hold the camera, long take shots of all time.  Orson Welles, absolutely brilliant.  Joseph Cotton gives a great performance here.  The mystery and suspense as well as the very sarcastic cynicism is underline by Anton Karas's historical score, which has to be among the top ten scores ever composed.  The zither rocks my world.  Loved the cinematography and the cuckoo clock speech, which is Welles' only contribution to the script (funny though how it's the best line in the film).

one of my very favorite films...

as far as old films go, that's where my cinematic heart is personally.  I love the classics.  I find theatrical acting extremely charming and it adds to the artifice of cinema in the best sense... it enhances the escapist quality, i think.  And the way dialogue is delivered in classic films is razor sharp and I love that.  But to each his own... check out other film noirs since you seem to enjoy that type of thing.  Check out Sunset Boulevard, Double Indemnity, Sweet Smell of Success, The Killing, They Live by Night, In a Lonely Place... hopefully your fondness and appreciation for the classics grows from there.

[dufresne]

omg, i love the homage in xXx.

[classical gas]

great film!

[Gold Trumpet]

i liked this, but i didnt love it.  i dont know what my problem is, the story just didnt do it for me.  it seemed to be a little slow.  i liked the cool loopy guitar score though,  that was different.  and the orson speech and such.  i just dont know that i wanted to watch joseph cotten for 2 hours.  it needed more welles.

I agree mostly with this. For me, much of this movie is really crime novel genre without the engrossment and excitement of a good crime novel or the vision to be a great drama.

To disqualify the dramatic, the movie has much of its focus on the banalties of a crime novel. It begins with a mystery involved in a death/murder and follows up with a clue to clue investigation by Cotten searching for the truth of the crime, all standard crime novel and most of it connected only in superficial ways to the implied meanings through out the film. The end chase, as classic as it is, speaks little to character depth. It is the the usual end pay off. The story has dramatic ideas and some excellent scenes, but little is explored to say they drive the movie. They seem to just give the story more weight, but what crime novel doesn't touch on dramatic ideas in its story?

To disqualify the excellence of genre, the mystery at the beginning hangs on a premise with very little intrigue. We are given little to involve ourselves in the importance of Cotten and Welles friendship to truly care about it. We get Cotten going to Venice just talking about the friendship and even saying it was a friendship "many years ago", a saying usually alligned with things minor in importance when someone talks about them. Thus, the investigation flows with little intrigue and the romance as well because we are again told about her relationship to Welles when we know little of anything involving anyone. We are just told things. The performance by Welles is what saves the movie from total boredom of genre suspence because he is so intriguing as a superficial character. I was moved by just his apperance on screen and little wry smile. The movie persona of Welles was nicely shown with lighting and excellent dialogue (cuckoo clock speech).

This movie feels like a prime example of the theory '3 great scenes and no bad ones'. There are no bad scenes in the movie, but the vision is so limited overall that accomplishing the theory requirements doesn't really say much at all.

[freakerdude]

I know...but it's cheap and shipping is free of charge.

$28.76 total with free shipping here