Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Cafe du Cinema Society Discusses Carol Reed's The Third Man

Welcome to our second Cafe du Cinema discussion group. Each month, we're selecting a film that's showing on TCM, giving everyone about a week to watch it, and then sharing our views on the movie in this forum. This month, we picked The Third Man, starring Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles, which TCM broadcast last Wednesday, 21 October. I'm going to omit a plot synopsis because I assume all discussion participants have seen the movie. My goal is just to get the discussion started.
Rather than lead off the discussion with my views of the film (which might surprise you), I wanted to kick it off with this quote from Danny Peary in his book Guide for the Film Fanatic: "Reed conveys a world out of order, where good men do evil deeds, where the British and the Russians work side by side, where betrayal is more moral than loyalty (which I believe the film's major theme)."

Do you agree with Peary on the film's major theme? What was your assessment of The Third Man?

13 comments:

  1. Rick,

    I would love to join in on this discussion but I missed seeing The Third Man last week. I have seen the film once but it has been awhile. It's a little fuzzy in my head...I need to see it again. Hopefully I can watch it soon somewhere and get back with you guys.

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  2. Monty (and others), if you don't mind watching it in parts, THE THIRD MAN can be viewed on YouTube. Here's the URL to Part 1 (you'll have to cut and paste it from this comment block): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tT8ZmuwlOLk. I didn't watch the whole film, but the quality looked pretty good in Part 1.

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  3. Rick, Peary has a point. Just watch the Joseph Cotton change has he finds out the truth about his good pal Harry Lime. Trevor Howard showing him "THE PICTURES" starts the journey,and Harry's "comments" at the wheel is all he needs to see what Harry really is.

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  4. I feel that Alida Valli as Anna Schmidt hasn't received the attention her performance deserves as Harry Lime's (Welles) heart-broken, former lover and object of desire to the lovelorn Holly Martins (Cotton). An intense performance as she is carrying a torch for the "deceased" Harry Lime, so devastated, she tells Holly she only wishes she was dead too. Mostly depressed & detached she still manages to look attractive & fetching, even laughing/smiling enough during her stage performance to sweep Holly off his feet. Yet as bad off as her character was, living in the bombed out ruins of Vienna & with the Russians set to enslave her as one of their own, she throws away her golden opportunity to escape her living hell all for the man who had sold her out! But what a wonderfully told story of a colorful group of dysfunctional misfits trying to survive in the aftermath of World War II. Awesome!

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  5. Valli at the grave yard is one of the greatest shots in film history. It's really a long master shot , most other directors would have cut to a medium or close up, but not Carol Reed. He just lets it play out it's amazing. Freddie Young and David Lean did the same thing with Omar's entrance in Laurence.

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  6. While there is much to admire in THE THIRD MAN (e.g., the shot of Anna at the end, the setting, the chase in the sewers, the scene atop the ferris wheel), I am not a big fan. My central problem is with the characters of Holly and Anna; I don't understand their relationships with Harry. How could Holly and Harry be such good friends if Harry really thought that Holly would join him in the black market racket? Clearly, Holly is not that kind of person (and, besides, what value would Holly be to Harry in that line of business?). I suppose Anna's relationship with Harry can be explained as blind love, but--after the viewer "meets" Harry--it's hard to see the attraction. Welles makes Harry somewhat charming, but in a slimy kind of way. There's nothing to like about Harry, so why does he inspire such loyalty (especially from Anna)? The bottom line is that I would like THE THIRD MAN better if Harry Lime was more of a three-dimensional character, a richer mix of good and bad that reflects the setting (a city trying to rebuild even as profiteers try to take advantage of that). Hey, remember, a discussion is always more fun when there's an opposing view!

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  7. Rick, Holly was "down and out" and Harry felt he could use that to his advantage. What we don't know is what Harry and Holly really did together back in " the good old days" before the war. Looks like Holly went through some changes (as we used to say in the 70's) Harry seems to be whatever he needs to be to get what he wants such as caring lover to Anna( but he's not) listen to what he tells Holly when they talk in the wheel. Pure Ego all the way. This film reminds me of what my Psych intern supervisor told me when I was in grad school. that some people have a deep seated need to BS themselfs . Anna and Holly do about Harry, Anna needs Harry. Holly finds that he really does not need Harry anymore.

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  8. Thanks Rick for mentioning where I can see The Third Man. Being off from work this week, hope to make time for it. But I'm in the midst of a Hitchcock movie marathon right now so we'll see. Once you get started with Hitch, it's hard to watch something else. But I love the discussion so far on The Third Man.

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  9. Paul, I agree that Harry plays off people, being different things to different people. I just think the film would have been more interesting if Harry wasn't so obviously bad...if the viewer, like Holly, would have questioned Major Calloway's motives reference Mr. Lime. Then, when Harry's dark side was revealed, it would have been a surprise. Riffraff, I think Valli does what she can with the female lead, but I believe it's an underwritten role. The most fleshed out characters in THE THIRD MAN are Holly and the war-torn city. (Monty, I prefer most of Hitch's movies.)

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  10. I think that Harry being portrayed as so bad makes sense in relationship to Holly and Anna. It is easy to see his badness from the viewer's point of view, but not so easy for his friend and lover. Their views are complicated by memories of their earlier relationships,although even then they may have been hoodwinked by his charm. It is difficult to admit that a person who has been a dear friend is really a skunk and doesn't really care about you. I've experienced this, and it takes time to realize the truth. As far as finding out the same thing about a lover, many women fall into the trap of seeing a lover as a friend when he himself was only interested in the physical relationship. They just can't bring themselves to face the truth, and so continue with the sad charade to prove that he really did lover her after all. And, of course, I love that wonderful zither music. Unique.

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  11. Major themes aside, I'll paraphrase from a meme I took part in earlier this year...

    For me, the true glue of The Third Man is Trevor Howard’s Major Calloway. His dialogue is crisp, clever, and occasionally hilarious. Why Howard didn’t get an Oscar nom for Best Supporting Actor is beyond me.

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  12. FilmFather, I also think that Trevor Howard gave the finest performance in the film (but it helps that his character is also the best developed...I understood what motivated him). Has anyone seen Jacques Tourneur's BERLIN EXPRESS? It's also a post-war film set among the ruins of a European city. I personally think it's a better film.

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  13. While I can appreciate your objections, Rick, I must disagree; I regard "The Third Man" as a masterpiece (and, oddly, I am not so quick to judge Harry Lime, despite his repellent behavior). I think he does generate a certain smarmy charm and if you don't dismiss him out of hand as a villain, you can understand the affection Holly and Anna have for him. And that final shot of Anna's walk- an existential image for that time and place- is breathtaking.

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