The Third Man (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
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Movie Reviews of The Third Man (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]
Movie Review: A man walks into Vienna and a parrot bites his finger...
Summary: 5 Stars
The Third Man is one of those reputed classics of cinema that I'd always wanted to watch, and when I saw that it had been released on blu-ray, I decided that this was the time. Really, it was an experiment - not only did I want to see it for the first time, but I was most interested on the effect the blu-ray transfer would have on a black and white film. The success or failure of "The Third Man" on this technology would go a long way toward convincing me whether the effort should be applied to other classics, and whether or not it would be worth my time to buy or rent them if I already owned them on conventional DVDs.
I wanted to say a quick word about the 'feel' of film on the new high resolution televisions and blu-ray players. I adjusted to the 'soap opera look' (where filmed material almost has the look of something shot on video) very quickly, and, even though I thought that it would be distracting and that I wouldn't like it, I've since changed my mind and have come to enjoy the crispness and the clarity. But for a film like 'The Third Man', or other classics that someone may have watched over and over, the effect may be as jarring as when cd's finally killed off LP's. Back then, the hiss of the needle on the record seemed like another section of the orchestra, and it actually took me a while to get used to the clean sounds of the cd.
Before I come off as a complete old fogey, or as a audio snob, I'll say that I also quickly adjusted to cd's, and judging from current sales of records, I assume everyone else did too. And so may be the case with blu-ray. Of course, if the new look is too bothersome, one can always adjust the player and television to playback the film in a more familiar aspect, but then what would be the point of putting it (or buying it) in the blu-ray format to begin with?
These were some of the questions I was asking myself when I sat down to watch Carol Reed's postwar noir thriller about black marketeers and political tension in the Austrian capital of Vienna. The film begins with a short narration about the state of the city, and how it is quartered into zones of control by the English, French, Russians, and Americans. In and among this police state, the black market is thriving, and can be murderous. Into this tautly strung situation comes a rather ignorant and naive American writer of horse operas named Holly Martin (Joeseph Cotton), who came at the request of his friend Harry Lime. No more than a few hours after arriving in Vienna, though, Martin discovers that Lime has been struck by a car and is dead. This launches Martin into an investigation that takes him into the shadowy streets of Vienna, and under the spell unintentionally cast by Lime's czech lover, Anna. Martin continues to search Vienna for the trail of his friend and for a way to clear Lime's name, after a captain in the British zone tells Martin that Lime was involved in a deadly scheme involving black market penicillin.
There are several things that elevate this movie into a classic status, but none probably so much as the scarred and rubble strewn city of Vienna itself. Black and white film may have found its perfect accomplice in the interplay of light and shadow along its cobblestone streets, which in turn highlight the depths of characters as they dogde and dart and keep their true motivations to themselves for most of the film. This is one of the most mature films from the 40's that I've ever seen - one of the staples from that time was at least a few moments of comic relief, or else the villians have themselves almost become cartoony. 'The Third Man' isn't flawless in this respect, but it comes close. (I also felt a striking similarity between the British police in 'The Third Man', and the authorities in Terry Gilliam's masterpiece 'Brazil'. They both give me the feeling I could be good friends with the authoritarian arms of a British police state, and in the end feel a little sorry for all the trouble I'd be causing them as they put me in prison and tortured me.)
'The Third Man' deserves its classic status, if for nothing more than its cinematography (and definitely not for the zither music on the soundtrack. What a strange and distracting decision). The questions in my mind about the transfer disappeared the first time I saw Joeseph Cotton clattering his way over the cobblestone streets, and the gigantic shadows thrown against the buildings of the city. Though this film didn't originate the noir genre, it certainly capitalized on all its aspects, but the one question I still can't answer is if that alone would be worth the cost to purchase this film in blu-ray if I had already owned the last re-issue on a conventional DVD.
From my experiences so far, a good upconversion of a DVD on a quality system rivals (but doesn't equal) the blu-ray picture. I haven't seen this particular film on conventional discs, so I cannot make a direct comparison, though as more and more films are transferred into blu-ray I'll eventually get the chance to put some of them head-to-head. After doing a little research, I found that this edition of 'The Third Man' doesn't contain any other features than what was included in the 2007 DVD release, so the exclusive reason for this edition is the blu-ray technology.
Is that enough to justify another purchase? I suppose that depends on where this movie ranks in one's personal best films list. If I were buying for the first time, then yes, I would definitely go with blu-ray - the cost is not that prohibitive. If I had just bought the last release...well, that's another story. I will say that the blu-ray transfer might be a good reason to break down and buy some classics that I'd not considered owning before.
I did not have a large library of films when VHS was replaced by DVD, so I haven't had to go through the experience of replacing a collection yet. And the older I get, the less likely I am to start now. Though the 'The Third Man' isn't one of them, I can see repurchasing some stellar (in my opinion) films in blu-ray, and if 'The Third Man' is one of your stellar films, then I'd certainly recommend it in blu-ray for your collection. For me, though, I was happy to rent this version of an extremely enjoyable film
Movie Review: Who Do You Love?
Summary: 5 Stars
Criterion Blu ray. Out of print. Awesome none the less. I feel foolish sharing my views on a film that is typically on the top ten list of just every film critic that ever was. But the film is really something. Everything just, works. It all combines in a magical goulash of sensory impressions, suspense, and thoughtful provocation. All the little threads knit together seamlessly. It is a film that relies heavily on style, but all of the acting is so nuanced, and understated. This may be Joseph Cotton's best role, although Orson Welles is also a standout. So many wheels within wheels, subterfuge within subterfuge, in postwar Vienna. So many great lines:
"You were born to be murdered."
"In Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace - and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."
"We should have dug a deeper grave!"
"Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don't. Why should we? They talk about the people and the proletariat, I talk about the suckers and the mugs - it's the same thing. They have their five-year plans, so have I."
Here is a man loved by two people, his boyhood friend, and his most recent lover. This man is also wanted by the Authorities for the grim act of diluting penicillin and selling it on the black market, with terrible repercussions to little children in the grip of an outbreak of meningitis. What to do? You love the man but the conduct was monstrous, and you never really knew the man. When looking down on people from a great height, they look like little dots. "Victims? Don't be melodramatic. [gestures to people far below] Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax - the only way you can save money nowadays."
What is the nature of loyalty? Loyalty to people--or loyalty to a principle? What does it take to bring a sword, instead of peace between friends and loved ones? When the people we love are wolves in sheeps clothing--what does it take to see the wolf in them? Anna, Harry Lime's former lover says"A person doesn't change because you find out more." But Hollly, the old friend, isn't so sure. This Harry Lime he discovers in Vienna--he has hurt innocent people, little children, badly. Old friend or not--Who do you love? What do you love? When do you love? and Why do you love?
A timeless classic, suffused with the atmosphere of postwar Vienna. The British Film Institute ranks it the best film of the 20th century. I'm not sure I would go that far, but I understand the sentiment.
Movie Review: Harry Lime
Summary: 5 Stars
"I never knew the Vienna before the war"....
Thus begins one of the greatest films ever made and one of the greatest film characters ever created in the charismatic and brilliantly dangerous Harry Lime. Who created him has been argued about for years. Welles was always diplomatic and gave credit to Carol Reed, but anyone who has ever seen this film knows better. Fans of Orson Welles can easily discern his fingerprints everywhere.
He brings the enigmatic Lime to life, his genius hanging over every frame of this wonderful Carol Reed production. Joseph Cotten, a friend and staple in a lot of his films, is on hand as pulp western writer Holly Martins. When Cotten comes to postwar Vienna it is an uncoordinated international mess, the black market thriving in the chaos. When Martins discovers his old friend Harry Lime is dead this film really begins.
Alida Valli is the strikingly beautiful actress Cotten falls for, but has no chance with because she's in love with his old friend Harry. But Harry might not be so dead after all, at least not according to Trevor Howard, the detective hot on Harry's heels for racketeering. Cotten is having none of it and sets out to clear his friend's name. What follows is the most stylishly filmed noir in film history.
The stark black and white photography and the off-kilter camera angles serve to highlight a postwar world where things are not quite right. From the moment Welles steps out of the shadows into the streets of Vienna we are mesmerized. Harry Lime is almost amused by the chase and the proceedings. The scene on a ferris wheel between Martins and Harry, who may not be the same man he knew, is unforgettable, as is Lime's views of the Swiss!
If you haven't seen this film, you've been missing one of the five best films ever made. Whenever I think of Welles, this is what I think of. His Harry Lime is unforgettable. Welles would later portray the same character on a weekly radio show. When Martins discovers what Harry has been up to he must make a decision that will change his chances with Valli, and could cost him a lot more.
Anton Karas' zither theme helps set the off-center mood for this film and is justly famous. It is not something that would work independent of the film but is a perfect match for what is happening onscreen. All the extra goodies on this Blu-Ray Criterion edition are listed in the product description. The most fabulous of these, for radio lovers at least, is Welles' portrayal of Harry Lime in one of the finest from that radio series.
Every single part of this film works within the atmospheric framework to create a dark and exciting jigsaw puzzle you'll never forget. A true screen classic.
Movie Review: BLU-RAY "THIRD MAN" IS BREATHTAKING -- EVEN THE GRAIN IS SHARPER!
Summary: 5 Stars
Film buffs have a reason to celebrate.
Carol Reed's "THE THIRD MAN," perhaps the most highly-regarded film in world cinema is now available in a jaw-dropping Blu-ray transfer.
This wondrous movie has never looked better and it is hard to imagine anything more that could possible be done to improve the image quality. It looks like a first viewing directly from the lab. I doubt Carol Reed ever saw it in such a pristine condition! The blacks are velvety and the grays and whites shimmer with a silvery sheen. And the retro mono sound is sharp. This ultimate edition deserves a special place in the digital library.
The plot is minimal. American pulp novelist Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton) travels to post WW II Vienna to see his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). But instead ends up investigating the apparent death of the black market operator in a city of fractured, shadowy loyalties. It is a tale that, on the surface, is about love, deception and murder. The dark trinity of great noir mysteries.
But it is not so much the plot that makes this remarkable film so highly-regarded but rather the extraordinary sense of time and place. Graham Greene's acerbic dialogue seduces and cuts. There's the brilliant black and white photography by Robert Krasker -- often slight askew and reminiscent of German expressionism. And the audacious zither score by Anton Karas perfectly frames the mood and atmosphere of this unforgettable film that somehow burns itself into one's own experience.
If the story is secondary, what is this film really "about"? Perhaps it is about being lost in a fractured landscape where old ideals and values have evaporated. Where meaning is ephemeral. It is a post-modern amorality tale awash in the frisson of deception and cynicism of the time. The war's over -- now what? How do we know what's real and true and good? But whatever existential metaphors are embedded in the film, it is a hypnotically compelling exercise that is much more than the sum of it's masterful parts. Unquestionably a great film as well as art. A rare achievement indeed.
This hi-def disc is a transfer identical in content to the previous, restored, two-disc edition.
The extras are generous and defined in the product description.
Movie Review: One of the really great film classics
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are a fan of 1940s black and white film noir you're in for a real treat with "The Third Man." This film's cinamatogaphy is incredibly beautiful, as are the camera angles, the lighting, and music sound track. Anton Karas provides the zither music for the film introduction and as edge of your seat accompaniment throughout the movie, which adds to the intensity of the story. The setting for the film is post-Second World War Vienna, with emphasis put on the black market profiteering going on in that time. Here, we find out that the film's villain, an American named Harry Lime, was making scads of money from his involvement in racketeeing in watered down penicillin. There was little enough of this drug to go around to treat the severely injured. Many babies died or were suffered permanent crippling and catastrophic illnesses after having this worthless medication administered to them.
Holly Martins, an American writer of pulp fiction/dime store novels, as played by well-cast actor Joseph Cotten, arrives in Vienna on the promise of a job from his good friend, Harry Lime. Soon after Martins inquires about his friend, he is told that Lime was killed as the result of a hit and run car accident. The facts point to other conclusions. Martins meets Lime's girlfriend, Anna, as played by the beautiful Alida Valli, who has her own problems related to her status in allied occupied Vienna. Orson Welles is quite sinister as Harry Lime, while maintaining a certain amount of charm which enables him to retain a touch of undeserved sympathy. We are introduced to Orson Welles's character in a rather amusing and startling manner which adds to the film's noir appeal. Martin's loyalty to Lime can only go so far, and their relationship, as well as Lime's career, end very badly. The film's ending is very unsettling for all concerned, but this scintillating and beautifully photographed work of art, nevertheless proves to be, at least in my opinion, one of most suspenseful and satisfying post-war films ever made.