I just watched _The Third Man_ in full for the first time

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Having only since bits of it here and there beforehand. Uh, so how brilliant is brilliant? Pretty damn brilliant.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 06:42 (twenty years ago) link

it's really just the greatest.

s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 06:47 (twenty years ago) link

The Orson Welles film? Ive only seen it once but I thoght it was pretty bloody marvellous I must say. Some of the shots and framing especially... this one scene sticks in my mind where hes in a doorway and half his face is lit and this ... *expression* on his face. Wonderful.

Trayce (trayce), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 06:48 (twenty years ago) link

and what an ending! (i wont give it away)

todd swiss (eliti), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 06:48 (twenty years ago) link

this ... *expression* on his face.

Grabbed me the moment I saw it, that look. Amazing stuff. And oh yes, THE SCORE. But I'm going to catch some sleep and might ponder more on the morrow.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 06:51 (twenty years ago) link

Yeah, it's all around amazing. I've been looking for a copy of that score forever.

Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 07:22 (twenty years ago) link

The book is great too.

Colin Beckett (Colin Beckett), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 07:22 (twenty years ago) link

Probably the best of the Orson Welles' noirs (which is not much of a compliment actually) but not the best of Carol Reed's Graham Greene adaptation (Our Man in Havana takes it--SADLY IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND.)

Alex in SF (Alex in SF), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 07:31 (twenty years ago) link

I love Our Man In Havana!

Speedy Gonzalas (Speedy Gonzalas), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 07:34 (twenty years ago) link

Right, anyway. So the cast as ensemble -- strong, not necessarily across the board stunning (Lime's various contacts are suitably shifty but not much more than that -- then again, the roles are fairly minimal). Trevor Howard and Bernard Lee make for a very interesting team, Howard getting the better lines all in all -- my favorite being "It WASN'T the German gin," for some reason. Joseph Cotton, man, did that guy make a bad movie in the forties (and counting Kane, late thirties)? Part bravado, part crippling unsureness. And of course Welles.

The photography, the lighting, the editing...*raises hands helplessly*...can't add much beyond saying how astonishing it all was.

Two things about the ending struck me -- the final gunshot has the same impact and sense of setting/location (away from the camera/audience) as does The French Connection; Friedkin must have intended that as a nod. And finally, what I really liked about the absolute final camera shot/scene was that there were several different points where it could have ended, but that it turned out to be the longest and the least hopeful was something I wasn't expecting.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:00 (twenty years ago) link

was this the recent restored version?

hstencil, Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:01 (twenty years ago) link

Criterion Collection DVD from a couple of years back, yep. I found it used. People are strange.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:03 (twenty years ago) link

Probably the best of the Orson Welles' noirs

And we're fuckin' counting fuckin' Touch Of Evil in those? Yeah, I know it's canonical, but it's fuckin' great.

Tiny Fuckin' Robot, Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:07 (twenty years ago) link

Big Welles fest at the Film Forum starting this Friday here in NYC! Can't wait to see The Magnificent Ambersons again. And ...F For Fake !

Ned - you're so lucky to have found The Third Man used!

Jay Vee (Manon_70), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:30 (twenty years ago) link

It's sorta ridiculous, what I've been able to find used at local stores DVD wise. A LOT of Critierion releases for a start.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:31 (twenty years ago) link

just saw this last week, and almost posted a thread on this.

i did like how Bernard Lee played the British Sergeant, and later "M".

Kingfish Beatbox (Kingfish), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:33 (twenty years ago) link

Ned - if you see Diary Of A Country Priest used I suggest you BUY. As for Welles stuff -- the Othello restored DVd is fairly excellent, except for a few gripes I have with the new music score they recorded for it.

Jay Vee (Manon_70), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:37 (twenty years ago) link

There's all sorts of great movie love stuff in it, but taken as a whole it isn't all that special.

gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:39 (twenty years ago) link

i did like how Bernard Lee played the British Sergeant, and later "M".

I know, it was bugging me for a bit that I knew the actor but couldn't place him, even though Lee had a fairly distinct voice (though M did speak differently). And I have the first five Bonds on DVD as well!

There's all sorts of great movie love stuff in it, but taken as a whole it isn't all that special.

Hm, I'd have to think about that more after reviewing it sometime. Definitely worked as a first time experience, though I had guessed the exact nature of the 'third man' riddle about a third of the way in or so.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:44 (twenty years ago) link

This movie is so utterly wonderful and spectacular. But I need to see it again soon.

Sym (shmuel), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:50 (twenty years ago) link

i saw it in vienna once and then went to the prater and rode the ferris wheel!

s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:52 (twenty years ago) link

Were you mentally destroyed by the experience?

Sym (shmuel), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:56 (twenty years ago) link

plus, they used to show us bits of the flick in film class. as the prof noted, "watch how the screen tilts. everytime the frame is tilted like that, someone is lying to Holly."

Kingfish Beatbox (Kingfish), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:56 (twenty years ago) link

That's called a fuckin' "Dutch tilt" for a reason, ya know.

Tiny Fuckin Robot, Wednesday, 18 February 2004 19:58 (twenty years ago) link

everytime the frame is tilted like that, someone is
lying to Holly

What about the chase/action sequences filmed that way?

"You think I'm pursuing you! But I'm not!"

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 20:00 (twenty years ago) link

Were you mentally destroyed by the experience?

no, but i was psyched by all those tax-free dots down there!

s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 20:09 (twenty years ago) link

You'd take all the money you could, you 'orrible man.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 20:14 (twenty years ago) link

tax-free, old man!

s1ocki (slutsky), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 20:17 (twenty years ago) link

The Swiss invented Yello, Celtic Frost and the Young Gods = FUCK YOUR ITALIAN RENAISSANCE CRAP.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 18 February 2004 20:19 (twenty years ago) link

Bond Facts:
Not just Bernard Lee. One of the Bond directors worked as editor (or something on 'The Third Man', and you get a nice/terrible 'Third Man' pastiche in 'The Living Daylights'.

ENRQ (Enrique), Thursday, 19 February 2004 10:25 (twenty years ago) link

I think this has my favourite ending of any film. Just last month while I watched someone walk up the long road away from my flat and out of my life forever, I thought "This is just like the end of the 'Third Man'".

Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 19 February 2004 10:37 (twenty years ago) link

OMG. I just went to the Criterion website. OMG. I need to get a high-paying job STAT cos some of those (the Fassbinder BRD trilogy, esp) look absolutely INCREDIBLE. Thanks Christ for the strong £! Down with the $!!!

ENRQ (Enrique), Thursday, 19 February 2004 11:43 (twenty years ago) link

Fairly chunky period of my life when I'd have named this as my favourite film. Wouldn't go that far now (others have stood up to repeated viewing better) but still a very great classic. It has a more organic feel than Kane or Touch of Evil and I certainly prefer it to the former (albeit a lot less mind-blowingly impressive or "influential"). If you like TTM, "The Man Between" is an very underrated subsequent effort by Reed with a lot of the same ingredients, including the corrupt, seedy post-war central European setting and stunning photography (plus it has James Mason). Not quite as great, inevitably, but pushes a lot of the same buttons.

ArfArf, Thursday, 19 February 2004 12:55 (twenty years ago) link

One of the Bond directors worked as editor (or something on 'The Third Man'

Guy Hamilton, assistant director to Reed, director of Goldfinger and a couple of others later.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:12 (twenty years ago) link

I've got a photo of me in the doorway where Orson Welles first appears.

MikeyG (MikeyG), Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:19 (twenty years ago) link

Do you look surprised, amused and fascinated all at once?

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:21 (twenty years ago) link

No, I look blurry. My girlfriend shook the camera.

MikeyG (MikeyG), Thursday, 19 February 2004 14:34 (twenty years ago) link

How arty.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 19 February 2004 15:57 (twenty years ago) link

That's what she said. Domestic violence resolved the issue.

MikeyG (MikeyG), Thursday, 19 February 2004 16:07 (twenty years ago) link

Um.

Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 19 February 2004 16:08 (twenty years ago) link

WOMEN BE (PHOTO)SHOPPIN'!

Kingfish Beatbox (Kingfish), Thursday, 19 February 2004 16:12 (twenty years ago) link

two years pass...
I have three words for you: The Fallen Idol.

Redd Harvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 06:16 (eighteen years ago) link

A thread about "The Third Man" with no mention of Alida Valli!?!??!?!

http://www.istrianet.org/istria/illustri/valli/images/valli1-300.jpg

Rotatey Diskers With Dadaismus (Dada), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 10:46 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, I saw The Fallen Idol yesterday for the first time in a decade probably. The scene of Phil running through the London streets after the accident looks very much like a visual dry run for the Vienna nighttime stuff in T3M (which, from the first few posts above, does indeed appear to be the most miscredited film of all time; I wonder how irked Reed was about Welles contributing some dialogue grew over the years into it being HIS movie...).

Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 14:32 (eighteen years ago) link

i gotta see the fallen idol sometime...

i was just thinking about how this one of the movies i could probably watch at any given time.

s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:13 (eighteen years ago) link

Having got back from Vienna yesterday, I definitely need to see this again...

Markelby (Mark C), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:14 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, Morbius, I went last night too. Maybe we should have waited until today, since the guy who played the kid is going to make an appearance.

Redd Harvest (Ken L), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:28 (eighteen years ago) link

great movie!! where is the thread with mark's hilarious post about the old dude at the hotel and his 'just a moment!' finger

,,, Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:30 (eighteen years ago) link

I am pleased by Ned's reaction to this movie.

Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:31 (eighteen years ago) link

There's all sorts of great movie love stuff in it, but taken as a whole it isn't all that special.

Oh, pish.

A thread about "The Third Man" with no mention of Alida Valli!?!??!?!

It's worse that there's only passing mention of Graham Greene.

Paunchy Stratego (kenan), Tuesday, 21 February 2006 17:36 (eighteen years ago) link

I can recall either the Harry Lime theme or the Curb Your Enthusiasm music, but not both. If the wrong ones in my head I won’t find the other.

Bidh boladh a' mhairbh de 'n láimh fhalaimh (dowd), Monday, 30 September 2019 09:12 (four years ago) link

They go together like a horse and carriage... I have the same with Curb Theme and "Love & Marriage"

licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Monday, 30 September 2019 09:48 (four years ago) link

I saw this film recently, while I was on holiday, in Vienna, with a friend who is a little bit obsessed with the film. I knew the twist already (Orson Welles isn't dead!) which spoilered it a little, but the atmosphere of the film, its twists and turns and odd moral logic and dark humour, was still deeply compelling. One of the things that affected me most deeply, was the way that the strange, atmospheric, ruined city of Vienna (with its weird twisting baroque statues and its shortcuts and its sewers) itself seemed to be a character in the film, as much as any of the humans.

We visisted a lot of scenes from the film - Harry Lime's house where the 'accident' took place; the infamous door with its baroque tat; we even went down the sewers - of course there is a Third Man Tour, where they will pull up the weird triangular covers and take you down into those passages and sewers and buried rivers and sluices where they actually filmed it (rats and all). It's an amazing, magical place - the film does a pretty good job of conveying just how creepy those sewers are. However, they don't adequately capture the smell!

I have photos of a lot of the sites, including the sewers, if anyone is interested in seeing them? But if you are ever in Vienna and love the film, the sewer tour is a real treat.

Branwell with an N, Monday, 30 September 2019 10:52 (four years ago) link

not many cities you can say that about

Is it true the star Beetle Juice is going to explode in 2012 (bizarro gazzara), Monday, 30 September 2019 11:01 (four years ago) link

Paris?

The Hillbilly Chespirito (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 30 September 2019 11:45 (four years ago) link

Would love to see those photos!

stet, Monday, 30 September 2019 11:50 (four years ago) link

Love this film but I think I'd give a tour of the sewers a miss tbh.

Let them eat Pfifferlinge an Schneckensauce (Tom D.), Monday, 30 September 2019 11:54 (four years ago) link

playing crpgs in my formative years means i would go on a sewer tour like a shot even if this movie didn't exist

would love to visit the site of the "accident", that's so neat branwell. def post pics

difficult listening hour, Monday, 30 September 2019 19:00 (four years ago) link

two years pass...

Old man, you never should have gone to the poilce, you know.

Mardi Gras Mambo Sun (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 18 March 2022 19:07 (two years ago) link

nine months pass...

My server tonight is named Callahan, and my first thought was not Clint Eastwood.

A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 29 December 2022 00:57 (one year ago) link

Calloway. I'm not Irish.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 29 December 2022 00:58 (one year ago) link

i don't want another murder in this case, and you were born to be murdered, so

difficult listening hour, Thursday, 29 December 2022 00:59 (one year ago) link

:)

A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 29 December 2022 01:04 (one year ago) link

You can have any part you want, so long as you don't interfere...I have never cut you out of anything yet.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, 29 December 2022 01:21 (one year ago) link

I never knew ye olde ILX before the war, with its sinister music, its 12ft lizards and poxy fules.

A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 2 January 2023 22:05 (one year ago) link

Harry, delete ILX plz

A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 2 January 2023 22:09 (one year ago) link

A few borad beefs, a few image bombz - why don’t you try and catch a real troll, Callahan?

A Kestrel for a Neve (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 2 January 2023 22:27 (one year ago) link

three weeks pass...

_"I never knew the old Vienna before the war, with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm."_

Constantinople suited me better

I really got to know it in the classic period of the black market. We’d run anything if people wanted it enough and had the money to pay.

Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 24 January 2023 01:44 (one year ago) link

still, good fellows, on the whole. did their best, you know.

difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 01:48 (one year ago) link

Oh, Paine, Paine.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 January 2023 01:51 (one year ago) link

I like a good Western. That’s what I like about them, sir. You can pick them up and put them down anytime.

Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 24 January 2023 01:53 (one year ago) link

i’ve got them muddled

difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 02:39 (one year ago) link

Vienna doesn't really look any worse than a lot of other European cities. Bombed about a bit.

omar little, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 02:56 (one year ago) link

all's well that ends well! ladies and gentlemen, i have much pleasure in introducing mr. holly martins, from the other side.

difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 03:13 (one year ago) link

He's only a scribbler with too much drink in him. Take Mr. Holly home.

Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 24 January 2023 03:21 (one year ago) link

That's Mr Martins' little joke, of course. We all know perfectly well Zane Grey wrote what we call "westerns."

omar little, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 03:23 (one year ago) link

It wasn't for German gin.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 03:27 (one year ago) link

We just watched an episode of Richard Ayoade's Travel Man where they do The Third Man tour and are underwhelmed. Hats off to whoever had the idea to turn the actual sewer system into a tourist trap.

Chris L, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 03:35 (one year ago) link

I am annoyed that's not an actual quote from the film.

Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 03:43 (one year ago) link

I like a good Western. That’s what I like about them, sir. You can pick them up and put them down anytime.

iirc there is a cut and change of location between the two halves of this line, implying payne has been enthusing cheerfully about westerns for an entire jeep ride

difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 03:57 (one year ago) link

Have you, Sergeant? Author? Martins? Thank you, Sergeant.
☝🏻😗

omar little, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 04:12 (one year ago) link

lolllll

difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 04:22 (one year ago) link

i can't very well introduce you to everybody.

difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 04:22 (one year ago) link

Truly delightful character, responsible for one of the most clever tricks in cinema.

omar little, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 04:44 (one year ago) link

no! a major? did you really?

difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 24 January 2023 06:59 (one year ago) link

_I like a good Western. That’s what I like about them, sir. You can pick them up and put them down anytime._

iirc there is a cut and change of location between the two halves of this line, implying payne has been enthusing cheerfully about westerns for an entire jeep ride

Yes! It starts as they are leaving the bar which dissolves into them entering the hotel.

Cry for a Shadowgraph (James Redd and the Blecchs), Tuesday, 24 January 2023 12:57 (one year ago) link

Mr. Crabbin?

And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 22:53 (one year ago) link

Once when I was hard up I sold some tyres on the black market.

And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 23:03 (one year ago) link

Even at the end his thoughts were of you.

And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 23:05 (one year ago) link

What's the use of another post-mortem?

And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 23:08 (one year ago) link

On, pinning things on girls now!

And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 23:21 (one year ago) link

Hilda!
Ja?
Führen Sie den Herrn herein!

And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 5 February 2023 23:26 (one year ago) link

some ice for mr. martins!

difficult listening hour, Monday, 6 February 2023 00:44 (one year ago) link

Am I wrong in thinking that for some movies, excessive quoting drains the life from them, but not this one?

And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 6 February 2023 00:47 (one year ago) link

By some I mean most.

And Your Borad Can Zing (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 6 February 2023 00:51 (one year ago) link

one year passes...

I watched this with my 12 yo and we got to the last scene where the leaves are falling and Anna walks by Holly without acknowledging him and I started laughing…my kid looked at me strangely and I told him he’d understand when he’s older

pioneering hardcore username technologies (calstars), Saturday, 2 March 2024 00:30 (one month ago) link

you found out my little secret. a man must live.

difficult listening hour, Saturday, 2 March 2024 04:13 (one month ago) link

Damn that scene is so sad!!!!

ian, Saturday, 2 March 2024 16:50 (one month ago) link

sometimes he said i laughed too much

difficult listening hour, Saturday, 2 March 2024 17:45 (one month ago) link


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