Category: Films

A not-too-smart hack novelist, Holly Martins, blunders onto the streets and dives of post-war Vienna to solve the riddle of how his shady friend, Harry Lime, died…

The Third Man ranks up there with Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, and The Grapes of Wrath as one the great English-speaking films: a multi-faceted jewel of a picture.

From the innovative opening credits, introduced by the haunting zither rendition by Anton Karas of the movie’s theme, you are hooked.

With great performances from Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, and Trevor Howard, with a strong supporting cast in an adaptation by Graham Greene of his own novel, director Carol Reed and cinematographer Robert Krasker together define a dark and intriguing filmic universe that renders the city of Vienna as important as the the story which is played out on its streets and below.

The strength of the story is more than the engaging cavalcade of characters in a true human comedy, but the deep analysis of love and friendship, and the imperatives of conscience. Is loyalty out of passion stronger and more genuine than the loyalty of friendship, where the object of affection is amoral and commits despicable acts?

The following kaleidoscope of frames from the film convey the film’s atmosphere:

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Nazi war criminal is stalked in a sleepy Connecticut town…

A strong thriller with Orson Welles directing and playing the lead in a screenplay by Victor Trivas. Edward G Robinson is solid – as always – as the investigator, with the beautiful Loretta Young perfect as the innocent and loyal wife. Welles’ deft direction and the camera-work of Russell Metty transform an over-the-top thriller into a moody and intelligent noir, where Jungian concepts of the unconscious are woven with a taut psychological study of the deranged mind of a desperate man.

Strong expressionist lighting make the visuals so compelling that dialog is not needed to propel the story at all – the essence of film art that was largely lost when the talkies arrived. This feat is achieved with particularly strong performances by the leads:

• Robinson’s mannerisms and the clever use of his pipe as a prop,
• Welle’s controlled demeanour with all the emotion subtly expressed facially, and
• Young an emotional powerhouse portraying kinetically the full range of emotions from the joyous innocence of a bride-to-be to the hysteria of a woman clinging to her last shred of faith in the man she loves.

“I’m a janitor.”

George Clooney plays Michael Clayton, a fixer for a big NY law firm’s well-heeled clients who get into trouble. When the firm’s top litigator Arthur (Tom Wilkinson) goes off the wall, Clayton’s called in to clean up. Any more and I risk spoilers.

My only comment: the wrong guy is given the film’s title, and that another protagonist risks more for higher purpose and deserves fuller exploration.

Don’t miss it.

After writing yesterday’s post, The Left Hand Of Noir, which referred to the HUAC Hollwood blacklistings of the 50’s, I recalled the excellent 1992 film Guilty by Suspicion starring Rober De Niro:

David Merrill, a successful director, has spent the last couple of years working on movies overseas. He returns right in the middle of the McCarthy era Communist witch-hunt that was sweeping through Hollywood. When first approached by the ‘inquisitors’ he rebuffs them, not realizing how much influence they have. He soon finds that he can’t get work, having been blacklisted for failing to cooperate. However, if he will just tell them what they want to know, he can go back to work… From IMDB: Written by Brian W Martz {B.Martz@Genie.com}

The original screenplay was written by Abraham Polonsky, the writer of Body and Soul (1947) and writer/director of Force of Evil (1948), two of the great films noir of the 1940s, which both starred John Garfield, who was also blacklisted.

When the director, Irwin Winkler, decided to rewrite the script by changing De Niro’s character from a Communist to a ‘liberal’, Polonsky had his name removed from the film’s credits. Polonksy said in an interview in the New York Times: “I wanted it to be about Communists because that’s the way it really happened… They didn’t need another story about a man who was falsely accused.”

The careers of Polonsky and Garfield were effectively destroyed by the thugs on the HAUC. Garfield’s already frail health did not recover from the blow and he died two years later in 1952 at age 39.