Third Man, The (1949)
Director: Carol Reed
Honors:
Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black and White)
Capturing the eerie beauty of black and white cinematography
and the sustained devastation of one of Europe’s great cities following Wold
War II as its location, The Third Man
is a stunning motion picture that sustains generational praise for it cinematic
artistry. Long considered one of very best of British cinema, this picture
captures the grit, drama, suspense, emotions, and visuals that made film noir
such a distinct genre which embraced the drama of black and white
cinematography like no other. The feature reintroduces Orson Welles to
audiences, if only for a brief time, as one of the most fascinating actors of
his day. This postwar drama can be observed as simply a suspense thriller, but
with the stunning location work, the creative photography, and brilliant performances
it easily comes together as one those immortal movies that embed itself into
the fabric of film lovers for generations to come.
The Third Man is a
British film noir of a man’s investigation of his friend’s suspicious death
only to discover behind it a string of corruption. In a shadowy postwar Vienna,
American pulp novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) is suspicious of the death
of Harry Lime (Orson Welles), his good friend, setting himself on a pursuit for
answers about the supposed accident. Conflicting stories unearthed by Martins about
the incident by eyewitnesses leads him on a personal investigation encountering
police, compatriots of Harry, and Harry’s somewhat mysterious lover Anna (Alida
Valli). Martins’ discovery of Harry’s involvement is forging Anna’s documents
and inconsistency of a mysterious “third man” at the scene of the accident makes
him dig deeper into what his friend was hiding, ultimately learning that Harry
is in fact not dead. What becomes unveiled in Martins’ pursuit of his friend is
a tale of black market trading of penicillin by Harry within a city desperately
in need of it. This leads to Martins and the authorities on a chase for the Harry
through his quagmire of underworld pathways used by the shadowy Harry to
protect himself to a final confrontation.
In what is one of the most beautiful gritty films ever shot,
this motion picture can be easily appreciated as one of the most influential features
for future gestation of filmmakers in style and content. With a suspenseful story
of corruption, stunning visuals, a uniquely memorable score, and absolutely
brilliant acting, the stands above most films of its day. Carrol Reed literally
and figuratively turns filming on its side as he features a heavy use of
“dutch” angles to portray the unease of the story and character. Joseph Cotten provides
a wonderfully flawed hero, Alida Valli a mysterious and damaged lover interest,
and Orson Welles a brief yet commanding performance as an enigmatic villain reminding
us of his subdued greatness as a performer.
A co-venture of English producer Alexander Korda and America
movie mogul David O. Selznick, The Third
Man was a work by one of England’s finest filmmakers Carol Reed coming off
his emotional postwar critical hit The
Fallen Idol. The story was commissioned to screenwriter Graham Greene who
worked painstakingly to develop the tone and atmosphere to go along with his
plot. To best describe his tone Greene penned a lengthy treatment that grew
into a novella concurrently with the development of his script to best capture
his vision for the story and help guide Reed with a better idea of the full
rounded atmosphere of his story.
The deep tones created an importance for shooting on
location in Vienna to manifest the real devastation of the postwar city. This
practice was uncommon among British films, but with the inspiration of the beleaguered
state of the city and its unique underground tunnels below it that inspired the
story it was clear that the film needed to shot in Vienna. The ruins and rubble
from the fall out of World War II manifest the state in which much of the continent’s
great cities were in during the years following the conflict, and this film
helps capture the feeling of living in the shadows of these great structural
scares. The black and white cinematography with it harsh contrasts of darkness
and light, shadows, and use of reflective wet surfaces all provide the tangible
setting you can almost feel or even smell and taste within the picture
The film reunites Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, two
co-stars from the all-time great film Citizen
Kane. Welles by this time was already somewhat shunned by Hollywood, only
able to find mainstream work in the form of brief appearances as favors, but
most recently finding work in Europe. Reed recruited Welles for his presence as
the actor tended to command his performance with his stature and booming, yet
controlled voice that can be kind and very menacing at times. Joseph Cotton’s
casting was the result of Selznick’s insistence of having the actor under
contract with his production company and wanting to reunite him with Welles.
The film’s love interest is provided by Italian born actress
Alida Valli who was also touted by Selznick. Her performance delivers a somber
and deep character that can be likened to a younger Greta Garbo with her thick
accent and brooding nature. The stunningly beautiful Valli is kept subdued with
her appearance as an actress with a haunted life. Despite providing a powerful
performance Selznick was angered by how Reed showcased his glamorous starlet,
dressing her in drab costumes. Selznick saw her as a glitzy star instead of the
downtrodden manner this film called for her to be presented as, showing how
this American producer was out of touch with artistry at times. Selznick as a
producer was a conduit to many great things in this feature, but proved to be a
great pain to Reed and Korda who kept the Hollywood mogul from affecting the vision
of the picture.
Visually the picture is a stunning example of how well an
inspired filmmaker can use the camera in a motion picture. Reed’s liberal use
of dutch angles was a very uncommon practice for its day and upon release even received
critical jabbing from his crew and industry friends, but it proved to pay off
handsomely. The unease that it created in the portrayal of Martins and the
unraveling plot was atmosphere building, and if there was anything to be said
about what this film did great it was atmosphere building.
Sound mixing is something that commonly is overlooked in
films of the day, but The Third Man emerges
as a wonderful example of great sound mixing. Hollywood features tended to exaggerate
their scores and accentuate drama and emotion with swells in orchestral music
that flocks over the dramatic visuals. Here the The Third Man does virtually the opposite. Many of the most
suspenseful and dramatic scenes come with no music, leaving diegetic noises to
accentuate the surroundings. Beyond footsteps on stone or metal stairs, we get
the reverberation of noises off walls, the sounds of far off dogs barking, or
even a plane landing in the distance. In the scene of Harry and Martins conversing
on an old Ferris wheel we are delivered the building tension in the form of
silence accentuated with the creaking of the Ferris wheel metal, as well as cleverly
experiencing the dutch angle titling slowly from side to side. The silence is
what conveys the greatest drama in most scenes. The panicle of the lack of
continuous noise comes in the form of a gunshot ringing in the sewers which
proves to be far more harsh and impactful as it reverberates in the deep hollow
tunnels than any massive shoot out in a run of the mill action movie.
Talking about the audio of the picture would not be complete
without mention of the score. The film lacks the vast orchestral scores more
commonly known to major feature films. Instead we get simple music set to the
sounds of a zither, a very European sounding string instrument. Legend has it
Carol Reed discovered Anton Karas and his zither at a party while in Vienna and
instantly knew this was the sound he wanted to portray the postwar Europe of
his feature. However, the story varies depending on the sources, but in any
case the music is yet another point that stands out in the feature. The theme on
its own became a massive hit in popular culture, even being a top seller in
America before the film released in the United States. To this day is remains one
of the great scores in cinema history in its simplicity and beautiful tones.
Orson Welles does become a major focus of the feature when
looking back onto The Third Man even
with his brief screen time on screen. Ever a proud man that felt he was under-appreciated
and above nearly everything and everyone else creatively, Welles would only be
on set for one week of production. He would not even do much shooting in Vienna
as he felt the sewers locations to be dangerous for his health, resorting with the
production to utilize a body double for many scenes. To accommodate Welles set
recreations were constructed in London for these dramatic scenes at the film’s
climax for Welles to do most of his close up work on. Welles, performance would
be generally praised by critics, but the film industry would not be any closer
to accepting him back into the mainstream. On set Welles was difficult to work
with and interjected his own creative ideas during filming, much of it coming in
reworking his dialogue, most notably adding in the line about the Swiss and
their peaceful history resulting in only the cuckoo clock.
Due to his praised performance and the wonderful styling of
the picture many film historians believed the film was secretly directed by
Welles with Carol Reed being merely as front for the nearly blackballed
filmmaker. For years it appeared Welles allowed this rumor to grow and persist,
but eventually he would denounced the rumor, stating the film was 100% the work
of Carol Reed.
Creatively for the picture the greatest moment of contention
came in the form of the film’s conclusion. Greene’s original story had a much happier
ending, but Reed and Selznick both felt it was unnecessarily tacked on. To
better represent reality the ending sees Anna reject and walk by Martins
without acknowledging him, leaving our hero alone. Greene hated the idea, but
with time saw the change to be the absolute correct decision for the story.
Upon completion The
Third Man was an immediate success in Britain, quickly becoming the highest
praised feature in the country for 1949, topped off with award for Best British
Film. Selznick, who owned American distribution rights made slight alterations before
releasing it in the States. The opening narration, originally read by Carol Reed
himself to help set the picture, was rewritten and recorded with leading man
Joseph Cotton, which would make far better sense. Also nearly 11 minutes of
footage was trimmed, including shots or scenes needing trimming to fit American
censorship. Ultimately The American version would become better known due to
the new narration, but years later the removed footage would be edited back with
societal change making the edits unnecessary, fusing the British and American
versions into a singular, more cohesive unit.
For years The Third
Man had been considered the best picture in British cinema history. With
Selznick’s connection as a producer even the American Film Institute
acknowledged it as one the finest American features of all time in 1998, before
removing it from their 2007 review of all-time great “American” movies. With
its beautiful Academy Award winning cinematography that used light, darkness, staging
of artistic symmetry and unique angles this film had a wonderful style that
elevated its mastery of the cinematic arts. Today it remains on a high pedestal
of film and it does not take long to reveal that this thrilling movie is one of
British cinema’s greatest productions and continues to linger in the minds of
many students of celluloid.
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