Review of The Third Man (1949) by Martin B — 24 Jul 2011

According to the experts this movie might even be one of the greatest films ever made. I do agree with some of the verdicts of this epic noir, but not completely.

It is a great movie in classic black and white. It makes great use of Vienna in just post world war II-environments in the night time and it do feature an interesting cast, especially Orson Wells himself (although he won't appear until after a while in film.) The music of course is world-renowned, and strong in its use totally wiping out the need for a more traditional orchestrated score.

But,.

Should a movie be judged upon the fact that it's the first in a long line of aftercoming movies to explore new ways of moviemaking or should we judge it solely upon how it actually works today?

The Third Man uses demonstrably new movie making techniques as revolutionary camera angels, new ways of using light and darkness, the musical score, the usage of foregein lanuague (german) as a mood-setter and a lot of other stuff that certainly would have made a cinema visitor in 1949 to go stunned of impressions.

I choose the perspective of 2011 though, And I do find a great movie. It's just the first half that is a little slow, then it picks up speed and interest to the fully in the other half. The compulsory mysterious brunette is bit more weird and hard to get a grip upon as the story goes on, but still a classic film noir.

Martins: You used to believe in God.

Harry Lime: Oh, I still do believe in God, old man. I believe in God and Mercy and all that. But the dead are happier dead. They don't miss much here, poor devils.