Review of The Third Man (1949) by The W — 17 Aug 2010

I have long since acknowledged, and came to peace with, the realization that my only solace in the miserable fact of me living in the present day and age happens to be my all-encompassing affinity for Hip Hop. I'm not talking about that MTV-fueled, bravado-misogynistic Urban-pop nonsense that does such a despicable job of representing said art form on the radio and television, nor am I even talking about that new, weird Hipster-Hop sub-genre that has emerged with the likes of Kanye West and subsequently copied by dozens of new and rising artists rapping about clothes and girls, while wearing rainbow colored, unnaturally tight clothing that would be more befitting at a Gay-Pride parade than on a Hip Hop stage, not that I have anything against my fellow homosapien homosexuals. (<-Longest sentence ever).

I am instead referring to the Underground circuit, which, while having it's fair share of trash, is mainly composed of individuals that refuse to sacrifice their artistic integrity for the ever-present allure of being able to sleep on a bed stitched together from nothing but money. A brilliant example of this would be the phenomenal album "How I Got Over" by The Roots; a Rap-Band in the literal sense, comprised of 7 musicians playing various instruments. The album has a very heavy Jazz and Soul influence and I definitely urge you to check it out even if you have no interest in Hip Hop, as I believe that good music can be appreciated by anyone, regardless of what their preferred genre happens to be. But I seem to have strayed off on a highly deceptive, obtuse tangent - winding up many miles from where I was initially hoping to arrive.

All of this has been said with the intent to illustrate my belief that I was born about 60 years too late. What I wouldn't give to be 22 years old in the 50s and experience the boom of the Film-Noir and Gangster genres... mind you, I wouldn't like to come across sounding naive and narrow-minded, as I am fully aware that not everything was peaches and cream in that time, but I sincerely believe that my moral code and general display of etiquette really doesn't have a place in modern society - I would much rather wear a hat, scarf and trench-coat (or suit) than walk around in Jeans, T-Shirts and DC Shoes, although I do love my DCs. Ah! to be sitting in the theater at the premier of The Third Man, to be enthralled and captivated along with the rest of the audience in attendance by the sheer genius and magnificence of what is happening on the screen and unfolding in front of my very eyes - it's poetic, I assure you.

This movie tells the story of Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), an American pulp-Western writer who arrives in a devastated, post-World War II Vienna at the request of his friend; one Harry Lime, exceptionally played by Orson Welles. Upon arriving, however, he is dismayed to discover that his friend was hit by a lorry while trying to cross the very street on which his apartment is situated, succumbing to his injuries shortly after. At the funeral, Holly meets two police officers who happened to have been at Lime's side at his moment of death, and claim that his last wishes were for them to take care of Martins and Anna, who is an actress that was seeing Harry Lime. However, not all is as it seems, and soon our protagonist hears rumors that suggest that his friends' death was not an accident at all, and that there was a third man present at the scene, hence the name of the movie. The rest of the film is spent on Martins' quest to find out the truth of what really transpired on that day, full of some twist and turns that might be fairly transparent by today's standards, but certainly would have taken the audience by surprise back when it was released.

Every single aspect of this film is uniformly excellent, especially the cinematography, which, while shot in black and white, uses varying gradients of shadows and brightness to display such a wide array of emotions and moods, I am positive that it would put most modern cinematographers to shame, causing their heads to bow down in embarrassment and possibly even forcing a single tear to run down their cheek from the right eye. The writing is magnificent, as are the actors reading the lines, with one scene in particular over-shadowing the rest of the film. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you what this scene is, as that would give away the whole film, but I can say that it takes place on a carousel; those who have seen this movie will undoubtedly know what I am talking about.

Alas, this movie is not perfect, although it is infinitely close to that distinction - a brilliant first and second act is somewhat let down by a rather formulaic third, although this might very well be solely my modern perception of a film from a bygone era. There have been too many movies released in these subsequent decades that rely upon, and I hope I'm not giving anything away, the obligatory chase sequence that has become somewhat of a staple in the majority of third acts seen today. As such, I really cannot comment upon how this was viewed back in 1949, but today it is seen as extremely generic and unimaginative, although I guess those 2 categories are one and the same.

In conclusion, this is a true masterpiece of cinema, a movie that sucks you in from the very first frame and doesn't relinquish its grip until the very last. There is absolutely no praise high enough for me to bestow upon Carol Reed to describe how I feel about the work he did on this feature, and while I might have a little bit of an issue with the third act, it is not nearly enough to detract from what is otherwise an exemplary Thriller; one that sets the bar very high for any movie, released or upcoming.

PS. The Blu-Ray for this movie, released in December 2008 by Criterion, is phenomenal. I would like to applaud those chaps for the beautiful transfer complete with an uncompressed, mono soundtrack and tons of extras, including a documentary nearly as long as the film itself and some wonderful audio commentaries.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, admittedly, long and rather self-indulgent review and please feel free to comment and thumb up/down!