Review of The Third Man (1949) by Patrick B — 26 May 2009

Within the last couple years, I've definitely become a big fan of film noir. I love the whole dark style, the moody shadows, the complex storylines, and the twisted characters. So with The Third Man being considered as one of the best film noirs of all time, I definitely had to see it.

Did it live up to it's title? Eh, yes and no. Technically, this movie is brilliant. The cinematography is just jaw-droppingly beautiful. Huge human shadows run along buildings, characters hide in alleyways where the darkness covers everything but their feet.

Just about every shot is brilliantly realized, and although I haven't seen all of the great film noirs, I'm willing to bet that I will never see a film noir this well shot again. The direction here is just superb.

What disappointed me a little was the storyline itself. Now, it wasn't a bad story by any means. It was an intriguing idea, and I'm sure even more intriguing during the 1940s. But I like a little more backstabbing, a little more corruption in my film noirs.

This one mostly just deals with a man's friend being murdered, and his quest to find out how his friend died. Sure, the characters all have their shades of gray, and the story expands with a few twists and turns scattered throughout, but I felt like I knew what I was getting into from the very beginning.

I was trusting of the characters, and they didn't let me down. In films such as Double Indemnity and Sunset Boulevard, there was a sense of mistrust. You didn't always know the bad guys from the good guys.

Here, it's pretty easy to figure out. Even with the less than thrilling plot, The Third Man still manages to be a great film thanks to the wonderful performances by Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles, and Alida Valli, and the superb cinematography that sparked life into this fairly simple film noir story.