The Flick

A 1949 classic brought to new life in Blu-ray, The Third Man stars Joseph Cotten as Holly Martins, an out-of-work novelist visiting his old friend Harry Lime in Vienna.  Upon arriving, however, he learns that Harry was struck and killed in a car accident.  After some careful question-and-answer sessions with friends and associates, Holly realizes that there may be much more to his friend’s death than meets the eye.  Is Harry even dead?


Directed by the immensely talented Carol Reed with an alluring zither score by Anton Karas, The Third Man has aged well.  Set in post-war Vienna, this film would not have felt as genuine had it been made in color – the black-and-white quality lends itself so well to the dark adventure sense of the film.  One the opposite end of that, the plucky sounds of the zither offset the drama in a strangely attractive way. 

The story unravels piece by intricate piece, with characters like Anna Schmidt (played by the beautiful Alida Valli), Harry’s Czech girlfriend with forged Austrian papers and Harry’s sinister looking best friend “Baron” Kurtz (Ernst Deutsch) each playing a rich part in Holly’s search for the truth about his friend’s untimely death.  He is soon entangled in a dangerous web of secrets and lies, with Anna more than willing to help him out of some sticky situations.

There is not quite the sense of urgency that today’s mystery films have, which is somewhat disappointing to me.  I suppose I like a little more action to this genre.  Lack of special effects and the absence of better sound/film techniques may be the reason for this issue, or perhaps people in 1949 just didn’t feel as worked up over murders!  This small complaint in no way takes away from the movie itself – it’s just an observation.

Audio/Video

Back-and-white films typically aren’t meant for Blu-ray transfer.  It’s almost a waste – no crisp, bright colors to ooh and aah over, for one.  However, in 1080P High Definition with full screen presentation, The Third Man does all right.  There isn’t much contrast, but the lines are crisp.  It probably helps that the original presentation made great use of shadow and light – even gray is beautiful in this transfer. English, French and Spanish 2.0 Monaural DTS-HD Master Audio and French and Spanish subtitles round out these features.

Special Features

The Third Man on Blu-ray comes as a single disc collection in a standard recycle case with a slip cover and the following extras:

– Audio Commentary with Assistant Director Guy Hamilton, Simon Callow & 2nd Unit Script Supervisor Angela Allen
– The Third Man Interactive Vienna Tour
– The Third Man on the Radio
– Guardian National Film Theatre Audio Interviews with Joseph Cotten and Graham Greene
– Joseph Cotten’s Alternate Opening Voiceover Narration
– Interview and Zither Performance by Cornelia Mayer
– Stills Gallery
– Original Trailers

The Third Man Interactive Vienna Tour is a great look at different parts of Vienna, shown to us by Dr. Brigitte Timmerman, the founder of Vienna Walks and Talks.  This gives us not only background of Vienna but some extra tidbits about the movie as well.  I really enjoyed this featurette.

The Third Man on the Radio is a radio episode done after the movie by Orson Welles.  It’s almost half an hour long, so it may not be your cup of tea, but Welles’s voice is so alluring and rich that it’s hard not to get caught up.

The interview and zither performance by Cornelia Mayer was very cool to watch.  I love learning about music and different instruments and the zither looks impressive and complicated.

The original trailers are, to me, the most interesting, simply because of how different they are from today’s trailers, trying to show you the most interesting parts of film in one minute or less.  They run a bit longer, with voiceovers by both the actors and a narrator; one mentions the score done by Anton Karas, claiming, “He’ll have you in a dither with his zither!”  Awesome.

Overall

The Third Man was a joy to watch.  This is one of Joseph Cotten’s best roles, without question.  He was backed by a brilliant cast who helped create an aesthetically pleasing, involved and well thought out film.  I will be honest and say I wasn’t familiar with this movie before now.  Luckily for me, I’ve been shown the error of my ways.  This movie is a keeper – head out to find it today!

ComicsOnline gives The Third Man 4 out of 5 alley cats

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