Date Seen: 6/4/17
Score: 5/5
DIRECTOR: Carol Reed
PRODUCERS: Carol Reed, Alexander Korda & David O. Selznick
STUDIO: British Lion Film Corporation
SCREENPLAY: Graham Greene
CINEMATOGRAPHY: Robert Krasker
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| Orson Welles |
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| Fittingly, the beginning of the film shows the strings of a zither being plucked. The film's score- unconventional for a film noir- is entirely zither music. |
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| Post-war Vienna as depicted in the film |
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| Joseph Cotten |
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| Alida Valli |
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| Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli |
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| Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli |
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| Alida Valli |
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| Trevor Howard |
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| Alida Valli |
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| Shadow play |
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| Paul Hörbiger |
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| "He only liked Harry" |
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| Orson Welles |
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| Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles |
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| Ernst Deutsch |
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| Trevor Howard |
I've included more stills than I usually do, because The Third Man is, among other things, a visual masterpiece. Although many people believe that Orson Welles wielded much of his creative influence over the film and its production, we can thank Carol Reed for this stylized, hyper-visual noir. Although the twist is a little too easy to figure out for a variety of reasons, among which is the fact that we know Harry Lime, played by Orson Welles and supposedly dead, will be in the film at some point, considering the actor has top billing. I wouldn't say that The Third Man is a difficult film to figure out- it's just very, very strange.
Take the score, for instance. It's entirely zither music. If you are unfamiliar with zither music, please
click on this link, press play, and continue reading. Although the film is incredibly dark and has very few moments of lightness, literally or figuratively, the score sounds like something you'd hear in an episode of
SpongeBob. Somehow, and I really don't understand how, it works.
The way this film is shot is incredibly interesting and innovative for a film noir. Reed and his cinematographer, Robert Krasker, go all-in with their uses of Dutch angles, long shots co-mingled with long takes (see last photos), harsh lighting, shadow play, and all-around use of black and white. The film's only Academy Award was won for its cinematography, and it makes sense. The Third Man, if I haven't made it clear yet, is pretty visually stunning.
Not only does the film's cinematography depict the harsh, partially-rebuilt post-war Vienna, showcasing decadence and luxury mixed freely with rubble and decay, but it shows, through use of shadows, the consuming mystery of human character. We see Joseph Cotten's Holly Martins flirt with the possibility of selling out to evil, not so much through his actions and thoughts, but through his body and shadow's transformation into the body and shadows of Orson Welles's Harry Lime, a man who has sold his soul, figuratively speaking, and betrayed those around him. Very much like Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train, though presented in an entirely different way, The Third Man features a generally good protagonist who is faced with the opportunity to witness his doppelgänger live out his dark fantasies. Only, in The Third Man, Cotten's Martins finds himself obsessed not with the possibility of himself giving into evil, but of unraveling the mystery of his best friend's descent into ethical apathy. In a way, the beautiful borderline femme fatale Anna, played by Alida Valli, can be seen as the character who takes the other end of the fork in the road, deciding to stay loyal to Harry and dooming her chance for a legitimate life. While the end of the movie shows Martins not exactly learning his lesson about staying out of trouble, the viewer can interpret his ultimate snubbing by Anna as the last straw in his attempts to win her over to the light side.
I'm going to have to spend a lot more time reading and thinking about this film, because it truly affected me. Until I figure out what I think it really means- and I think there are a lot of possibilities up for interpretation- I'll leave myself with some haunting shots from the film, and, of course, that damn zither music stuck in my head.
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