Written for the screen by novelist Graham Greene (The Quiet American), Carol Reed’s 1949 classic The Third Man tells the tale of unemployed American Pulp novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton), who travels to post-WWII Vienna on the promise of employment from his old friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles). Unfortunately, Martins arrives only to discover that Lime has recently died in a car accident. At Harry’s funeral, Holly meets British sector authority Major Calloway (Trevor Howard), who during a post-funeral drink accuses Lime of criminal behavior, going as far as to call the man “the worst racketeer in such a dirty city.”
Against the advice of Calloway, the incensed novelist decides to stick around to investigate his friend’s death and uncover the truth. Searching the bombed-out buildings and dark alleyways of Vienna, Holly earnestly questions Lime’s associates, a disparaging collection of black-market hustlers whose contradictory recollections get him nowhere. Holly also becomes more and more entranced by Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), Lime’s beautiful girlfriend and someone who might be able to help bring out the truth about Harry. When Calloway finally provides evidence of Lime’s true nature to Martins, the despondent novelist plans on giving up and return back home when, in the flick of a switch, everything changes in a shadowed moment.
The Third Man was one of those cinematic happy accidents where all the elements successfully came together to form a movie for the ages. Greene’s screenplay is filled with sharp dialogue, memorable characters and astute observations on love, friendship, loyalty and deception as well as the naïve optimism of America and untrusting weariness of Europe following the Second World War. Reed uses Greene’s script to fashion a multifaceted film that slowly and skillfully peels away layers pulling both its protagonist –and the viewer- further and further into a world shrouded in darkness, shadow and mystery. The atmosphere of the bombed-out buildings and alleyways of Vienna are beautifully captured by Robert Krasker’s Oscar-winning cinematography and enhanced by Anton Karas’ haunting zither music score so successfully that one could argue that the city itself is a supporting character.
Then there are the performances, of which there is not a single bad one to be had. Cotten perfectly conveys Holly’s naïveté and, as he discovers more about his friend and the world he inhabits, progressive disillusionment. Valli, Howard and, of course, Welles, all offer fantastic support. Welles’ turn as the eponymous character is equal parts charm, equal parts simmering menace. One needs to look no further for Welles’ winning combo than the Ferris wheel meeting between Harry and Holly, which is capped off by one of the all-time great quotes (improved by Welles and not written by Greene). Welles is only in The Third Man for a short amount of time. But when he is, he commands the screen like no other.
There are films that you hear about for years and years before you eventually resign yourself to viewing the film to see what all the talk is about. And a fair amount of the time, you wind up walking away afterwards wondering what the big deal was. Fortunately, The Third Man is not one of those films. You can listen to someone wax poetic, be it in conversation or even a film review, about its cinematography, Harry’s first appearance or the climactic chase through the Vienna sewers endlessly and it would still not dilute that all-too-important initial visceral impact. The Third Man is an involving, fascinating and endlessly entertaining piece of film noir that has rarely been matched or surpassed.
When the Criterion Collection starts up in a new home video format, it is a pretty safe bet that this film will be among the first titles to be released. It was their fifth release on Laserdisc, arrived on DVD in 1999 in time for its fiftieth anniversary and Criterion’s premiere year in that format (a reissue followed in 2007) and now becomes one of the company’s initial releases on the next-generation Blu-ray Disc format. For serious film fans, Criterion’s BD arrival is nothing short of a miracle. Based on the content present on here, that film-geek jubilation is more than justified.
Presented in its original ratio of 1.33:1 (Criterion states the transfer is window-boxed, I couldn’t tell on my set up), the 1080p AVC MPEG-4 encode of The Third Man looks great. While the print of the UK version of this film still shows some unavoidable wear and tear (a line here, a few marks there), the restored image is very strong. Grain is nicely presented throughout, with strong picture detail, black and contrast levels to match. I didn’t notice any DNR or Edge Enhancement, but then again I didn’t expect to find any given the company releasing the title. Watching Criterion’s Blu-ray of The Third Man is like sitting in your favorite revival house and watching a freshly struck anniversary print being unspooled for the first time.
The audio underwent a restoration recently and the results are generally pleasing. Mastered at 24-bit from a 35-mm fine-grain master positive print (according to the disc’s booklet), the audio thankfully remains monaural. You’re not going to be giving your surrounds or subwoofer a workout with this one, but you will be pleased with the clear center-channel sound that contains very little hiss and nary an audio pop anywhere. If I do have one criticism, it is that on occasion the music comes across slightly louder than the other elements of the film’s soundtrack. This isn’t a persistent problem, but the higher levels are noticeable here and there.
With the exception of a condensed version of the booklet that accompanied the DVD reissue, Criterion has ported over all the supplements found on its 2007 two-disc release to this next-gen presentation and it is quite the impressive collection of behind-the-scenes material. All of the video-based supplements are presented in nice-quality 480p standard definition.
An approximately five-minute Video Introduction by filmmaker and Orson Welles biographer Peter Bogdonavich (The Last Picture Show) starts things off. The director talks about Carol Reed, the black-and-white photography and Welles, who referred to B&W cinematography as “an actor’s friend,” stating that the role of Harry Lime was a “star part” which allowed for a grand entrance halfway through the picture following an hour of other characters talking about you. Spoken like a true egotist.
There are two feature-length Audio Commentaries on this disc. Recorded in 2007, track one has filmmakers Steven Soderbergh and Tony Gilroy providing an informative and entertaining conversation about the movie full of behind-the-scenes tidbits and observations on elements that has made the film stand the test of time. Track two was recorded in 2006 and features film historian Dana Polan. Polan delves into the symbolism of the story and characters and is the more technical of the two. Both are quite interesting and worth your time.
Graham Greene felt that he could not write a screenplay without first writing the story out in novel form first. An abridged version of Greene’s Story Treatment, recorded in August of 1999 and read by actor Richard Clarke, is included as the next audio supplement. Clarke provides a nice reading of the treatment as it corresponds with the onscreen events, which makes for an interesting comparison on how things changed from story to screen. Greene’s introduction to his story treatment is also included in text form.
The Third Man had a film director who took the equivalent of Speed so he could stay awake for twenty hours to direct three productions units at once. It also had a temperamental star that arrived two weeks late and eventually forced the production to relocate to England when he refused to work in the Vienna sewers. It also had two producers who were constantly at odds with each other even after the film was released. Clocking in at a runtime almost as long as its subject, the 2005 documentary Shadowing The Third Man is a in-depth look at the origins and making of the film that proves to be as intriguing as Reed’s movie. Narrated by John Hurt and featuring interviews with surviving crew members such as Assistant Director Guy Hamilton (who went on to direct Goldfinger) and Angela Allen, Frederick Baker’s documentary covers all aspects of the production from start to finish and does so in an involving manner, even if its artistic flourishes occasionally get in the way.
In honor of its fiftieth anniversary, the Vienna Sewer Department commissioned a special honoring the film. Running a half hour and originally broadcast in April of 2000, Who Was the Third Man: A Search for Clues 50 Years Later gives a quick recap of the principal participants in the making of the film as well as the film’s production in the Austrian city. A few of the surviving participants are interviewed. While I found the special to be an interesting one, I could have done without the rather amateurish re-creation of the famous sewer chase scene. Insider Information runs a little under nine minutes, but is a nice little short that offers up a collection of behind-the-scenes photos and, via Robb Webb’s voiceover narration, recollections of the film’s production.
Before Hollywood entered the era of the unnecessary sequels and remakes, Tinseltown found ways to milk a product via the occasional radio spinoff. The Third Man proved to be such a popular film upon its release that the character of Harry Lime got his own weekly radio series in the early 1950s entitled The Lives of Harry Lime starring none other than Orson Welles himself. The Lives of Harry Lime: Ticket to Tangiers was broadcast on August 24, 1951 and was written by the actor (several episodes in the series were). Focusing on Lime’s life and times prior to the events of The Third Man, the radio series focused more on Harry’s charming ways than it did his deceptiveness, making for interesting background listening.
Lux Radio Theater Presents The Third Man is the second radio program spun off from the motion picture. The one-hour adaptation of Greene’s story brings back Joseph Cotten as Holly, but has Evelyn Keyes playing Anna and Ted de Costa playing Harry. It is a well done, albeit condensed, version of the film’s story. Yet, one can’t help but long for the participation of Valli and Welles who are sorely missed.
One of the infamous battles between producers David Selznick and Alexander Kodra resulted in The Third Man having Alternate Opening Voiceovers, one for the American release and one for the United Kingdom. The UK version’s voiceover was done by director Reed which gives a bit of background on Vienna and its Black Market as if described by one of its nameless marketers. The American opening has Cotten’s character providing the voiceover which feels completely out of place. You will not need a slide ruler to see that the Reed narration was the only one that should have been used to open the picture.
There are several sequences in the film that are not spoken in English and Reed wisely chose not to include subtitles. For those who have always wondered what exactly those people were saying during these scenes, the five-and-a-half-minute Kind To Foreigners presents these scenes subtitled. Fortunately, this is the one and only place that I have seen these scenes spelled out for us. The American Theatrical Trailer is also included, which really does not do a good job at selling the movie.
The final disc-based supplement is a 56-minute episode of BBC’s Omnibus program entitled Graham Greene: The Hunted Man. Produced in 1968, the show is a unique look at the author offering a rare interview with the man while looking back at his life. Greene is never shown during the show, his voice only heard over photos and various footage and recreations. This is an interesting doc worth checking out if you want to know more about the elusive author’s life.
I am not sure if this is a Blu-ray exclusive or not, but there is an option on the disc that can be accessed from either the main menu page or from the pop-up menu while the film is playing. It’s entitled Timeline and when selected, chapters for the film, the two audio commentaries and story treatment come up allowing the viewer to jump around to whichever option they want. This is a very nice feature made even better by the fact that each of the commentary and treatment chapters has titles similar to ones found on the film.
Anyone who knows even the slightest bit about the history of motion pictures does not need me to tell them that The Third Man is one of the all-time great works of 20th Century cinema. Funny, suspenseful, romantic, moving and entertaining from first frame to last, Carol Reed’s film is as fresh today as it was sixty years ago. Criterion’s Blu-ray edition of the film is a winner, delivering a great audio and video presentation as well as supplements that are both exhaustive and informative. To paraphrase another black-and-white classic released on the next-gen format this holiday season, Criterion… this looks to be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.
-Shawn Fitzgerald
