|
Rating:  -
I have loved this movie for over fifty years and really can say it's my favorite of all movies. The DVD is so much sharper and richer in contrast than any other video format I've seen that it brought tears to my eyes. I really enjoyed being able to stop action to check out the city scenes in the background which I was able to actually visit last May. Also got to ride the very same Reisenrad where Lime and Cotten met.
The "extras" on the DVD explain how digital technology was able to clean up the original film and shows many of these scenes. A truly great film!
Rating:  -
Written originally as the outline for the screenplay of the famous 1949 film of the same name, Greene sets the story in Vienna just after World War II, employing the sectors established by the conquering British, Americans, French, and Russians to provide tension, mystery, and an almost palpable aura of menace as residents and visitors alike must deal with four different governments, four sets of officials, and four collections of laws as they move throughout the city. With massive bomb damage, the city is still emerging from devastation. Black markets, selling everything from food to penicillin, abound.
Rollo Martins, the author of cowboy novels written under the name of Buck Dexter, arrives in Vienna to visit an old school friend, Harry Lime, only to find that he has arrived on the day of Lime's funeral. Investigating Lime's death, Martins learns that a neighbor saw the traffic accident that killed Lime and observed three men carrying Lime's body from the scene. Only two of those men have been identified--the third man has vanished.
As Martins investigates, he must deal with the city's several different governments, each of which has carved out a sector. The initial co-operation among sectors has vanished, and co-operation with the Russian sector is almost non-existent. Wanted men use the city's sewers to escape from one sector to another, where they cannot be followed. The investigation of Lime's death becomes more complex when an inebriated Martins is sure that he has seen Harry Lime on the street.
By turns exciting and darkly humorous, the novel is a curiosity among Greene's entertainments, since this story was never written to be a novel at all. Intensely visual in its descriptions and action, it lacks the characterization and thematic focus which one associates with most of Greene's work. The novel's dialogue, rather than narrative, conveys the story, as it does in the film, and the setting in a war-torn city adds to the sense of danger and drama. Certainly not one of Greene's "finished" novels, it is still fun to read, especially when one is familiar with the even better film of it, directed by Carol Reed and starring Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, and Trevor Howard. Of particular interest to those studying writing and film-making, Greene's novella is full of wit and dark theatrics, and includes everything from a chase through the sewers to a love story. Mary Whipple
Rating: -
Graham Greene outdoes himself in this mystery set in Post-War Europe. A taut yarn that in many ways was an early precursor to later books and their filmed adaptations, such as The Ipcress File and Touch of Evil (also starring and directed by Orson Welles). Definitely a must read!
Rating: -
When Graham Green wrote this in 1949, he had a screenplay in mind. However, even though this short novella is only 157 pages long, it certainly can stand on its own. The setting is post-war Vienna, a once-beautiful city that was now nothing but war rubble. It's administered by the four victorious nations, Russia, France, Great Britain and the United States, and they all communicate with each other in the language of their former enemy. There's a somber mood, a feeling of decay and destruction throughout. And, of course there's a mystery, and lots of suspense, as the reader is swept into a story of intrigue, betrayal and constantly changing alliances.
The form is interesting too as it's narrated by a British policeman. He has some interesting philosophical discussions with the lead character, a fellow Brit named Rollo Martins who has been summoned to Vienna by a long-time friend, Harry Limes, only to find a funeral in progress for Limes when he arrives. The mystery deepens as he sets upon doing his own form of detective work. The writing is stark, with excellent dialog and the cast of characters is somewhat confusing at first. As we learn more and more, the book picks up speed and we're hurtled into the conclusion that, while it is satisfactory, never really answers all of the questions raised. With just a few words though, it made me look at some deeper issues than the plot, such as the moral conscience of the characters as well as the particular time period in which they lived. And if there are no easy answers? Well, that's the way life is.
Rating: -
This is a quick and wonderful read, but don't breeze through it too speedily. As with the other Greene novels I've read, The Third Man has much going on beneath the surface, and that is no pun on the setting for the climax of the novel! The real magic in Greene is the treatment of the narrators. It's important to know the narrator, just as it is to know the historian or biographer when you're reading their work.
This is really a perfect little thing. Enjoy!
Television Show
Collectibles
Movie Searches
|
|
|
Search for posters,
art prints, photos, collectables, merchandise, toys, t-shirts
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Join the Nielsen//NetRatings Research Panel and you could win a new car, a dream vacation, a dream home makeover or $50,000 Cash!
TV Guide
Program listings, celebrity profiles, industry
gossip, movie reviews, puzzle.
More
Entertainment
& TV Magazines
This site is
Hosted
by Bluehost
Read
my Bluehost Review
Original Superhero & other designs for t-shirts, bumper
stickers, prints, mugs, and other cool merchandise. |
|
