The Third Man

Archived Review
August, 2005

The Third Man
Reed, 1949



The Third Man grabbed me – right from the credits with the classic score, to the utterly brilliant opening narration, The Third Man dug its hooks into me and wouldn’t let go. Everything goes by so fast yet nothing is rushed. It is perfectly paced, and just so enjoyable and entertaining. This film is very likely more entertaining than any major 90s blockbuster you can name. Third Man has a rare energy and zest to it. It just feels alive, and I love it.

However, being entertaining is not a trait normally processed by a film noir, but some how Third Man pulls it off. It finds equilibrium between serious drama and mystery and charm that works indescribably well.

The Third Man features what is now one of my favourite scores of all time, but Zither. It is upbeat and vigorous, and just fits the feel of Third Man so well, especially in chase scenes and the like. There really was something about this kind of score being in a 40s movie that felt odd, sort of like The Good the Bad and the Ugly’sunconventional score, but it works, well, perfectly.

In addition to the amazing score, we have some excellent performances featured. Joseph Cotton gave a splendid and fitting performance as the foreign American looking for clues in post war Vienna, and he contributed a sort of stubborn quality the worked very well. Valli and Howard as Anna and Maj. Calloway respectively also give high quality performances, and Howard in particular really owned his character. However, Welles completely steals the show. His performance would rank in my top 20 performances of all time if I had it. He gives his character such a smug charm and he is actually quite likeable, but at the same time he gives his character a decidedly evil, sadistic and sinister tone. To say the least, the performances really supplied The Third Man was ammunition and if the entire movie was crappy and had only Welles’ performance, I’d most likely still be entertained.

To structure these facets of film making, we are told a great story with top-notch dialogue and narrative direction. As I mentioned, the plot is very fast moving, yet it doesn’t let anything be rushed and doesn’t sacrifice quality for a swift pace. The actual story is quite simple at first, but it gradually expands with all sorts of twists and turns until a startling and frankly grin-inducing discovery is made. This structure works very well overall, particularly the last half of the film, but my only complaint is it might have benefited from a little boost in the first half. It’s not that I was bored, but maybe if something happened that hit me a bit hard would have made it better – or maybe it wouldn’t have, I don’t know. However, I should mention the climactic chase sequence is one of the best I've ever seen. It was just so gripping and tense and was just masterfully directed. I love the heck out of it, even though I've seen it only once. The dialogue, like the plot, also works marvelously. There are some classic one-liners and dialogue, the most notable being the speech written by Welles himself about war and cookoo clocks. This sometimes deadly serious and dramatic, other times witty dialogue is yet another great contribution to the film.

However, the best element of The Third Man is brilliant the cinematography and direction. Carl Reed gave the film a deceive edge with his sharp direction. He often times placed the cameras at awkward slants giving scenes a distinctive mysterious feel to them, and the editing was great, the best example being the marvelous opening sequence. The actual cinematography and lighting takes the gold though. The streets of Vienna at night are strikingly beautiful and at the same time foreboding and mystifying. The dazzling lighting of Vienna’s night streets never ceased the astonish me, and the final sequence in the tunnels is, in my opinion, the best directed chase scene ever, as well as being one of the best, peroid. But the use of shadows and silluets, blacks and whites is all just impeccable. The Third Man most defiantly features some of my favourite cinematography of all time.

Overall, I can safely say I loved the movie. Upon first viewing I feel perfectly comfortable saying it deserves a spot in my top 20 should I ever create one. Everything just sort of comes together, and what is spawned is strikingly spectacular imagery, an intriguing plot, classic characters and performances, and one of the best scores I can recall. A masterpiece that's thoughly entertaining yet darkly mysterious.