The Third Man - Criterion Collection (2-Disc Edition)

Having just seen The Third Man, I feel that I must go back and subtract some stars from other films I've reviewed. They do not belong in the same class as this one.

It's extremely entertaining, it has a deep moral base, the acting is superb, it's visually awesome, and the music is like none other you've ever heard. (How many films have a zither background?)

I'm not going to retell the story as there are plenty of other reviewers doing that. I just want to add my vote to this totally satisfying film.

Ok, so I love the film and bought the first Criterion Collection edition. No complaints. When they re-released it, I was annoyed, suspicious, and skeptical. Bought it, though, and boy am I glad. Sure, the quality of the transfer is somewhat improved, though not dramatically. However, the second disk contains a full-length documentary on the making of the movie which is simply amazing, extremely creative, and ultimately worth the same repeat watching as you would give the Third Man itself. This package is two brilliant feature films, in one. I am so happy I bought this re-release.

I just do not understand why people like this film. The plot is incoherent, the music makes your skin crawl, and I'm not so hot on the acting either. Like another reviewer stated, it seems more of an ego trip for Orson Wells than anything else. So what? So they run through the streets and underground of Vienna using odd camera angles, lighting, and that annoying zither music. I have tried to like this film. Sorry, can't do it.
Lucky

Graham Greene originally wrote "The Third Man," a fine novel of intrigue about Post WW II Vienna, Austria, when the city, for a time, was divided up amongst frequently adversarial "Allies".

In both the book and the movie, a man named Holly Martin (Joseph Cotten) is down on his luck -- a well-to-do acquaintance in Vienna, Harry Lime (Orson Wells), sends him passage to this city of possible opportunity in which Holly envisions a lot of promise... but when Holly arrives in Vienna, his pal, Harry, is being buried! The ambiance of the book/film is that of political intrigue combined with a murder mystery.

I'll summarize this film up front: Here, we have yet another bizarre film associated with Orson Wells. Yes, the film has been highly acclaimed in the past by critics as being "artful"... but this movie fails utterly for the average viewer today.

The transitions from one scene to the next are very abrupt. This is quite distracting. Also, they've taken Greene's clear, straightforward story and made it notably incoherent. And it's clear that a huge priority for Orson Wells was to focus upon his personal "surprised-look-profile" for whatever time he's on screen -- his personal vanity ultimately dominates the story. The film climaxes in a multi-national foot chase through the active underground sewers of Vienna which drags on for much too long.

The worst facet of this flick is the weird filmscore -- the director decided to have the entire filmscore rendered by some guy who singularly played old Bavarian pub songs on a Zither! Don't know what a Zither is? It's the only musical instrument that is actually more noxious than an accordion! The end product is that the music comes off as distracting and totally inappropriate to the various dramatic scenes.

Finally, I DO need to point out that Joseph Cotten's performance in this film was indeed very good. Unfortunately, he had little with which to work.

You might wish to view this film as a curiosity but, beyond that, you're probably going to be shaking your head at what they did to Graham Greene's fine volume of period literature.

NOTE: this is an edit of my original review, based on my re-watching it and some discussion/feedback I've had; one of the changes I had wanted to make was to bump it up from 4 stars to 5, but Amazon will not let me edit that.

I'd never seen this, but based on its reputation was very interested in checking it out. Its reputation turns out to be richly deserved. I only have two complaints, one minor, and one major.

First, the DVD jacket itself gives away a major plot twist by telling you who Orson Welles' character is. Since I didn't know the plot going in, that took a lot of the suspense out.

My major complaint, though, is the soundtrack. I realize (now) that the zither was a ubiquitous instrument of the time and place, so yes, it does fit the "flavor" of the setting. Unfortunately, it does not fit the "mood" of the film itself. The movie is a tense, taught thriller, and the music is mostly happy major-key meanderings, which I find totally at odds with film's feel. I honestly found it distracting, and even annoying. On viewing it again, I was able to better tune it out/ignore it, but ocasionally I was still conscious of it, and still disliked it. Then again, the score obviously has its fair share of supporters who love it, so your mileage may vary.

That said, the plot is crisp (and rife with paranoia), the sets/locations are fantastic, and the cinemetography was awesome. This is perhaps the best black & white film I have seen that plays to the medium: use of lighting and shadows was masterful. The climax, in the sewers, was worth the price of admission alone, and mercifully wasn't ruined by the horrible music.

The DVD extras are okay but don't have a high repeat value. One of the nice things, though, was a segment showing the extent of restoration done to the film. Kudos to the team that handled repairs: this restored version looks great!

Highly recommended.