Manny Calavera
Distinguished Member
- Joined
- Apr 15, 2006
- Messages
- 2,630
- Reaction score
- 5
This might be a failed experiment, but I thought I'd create a new thread for those of us that want to talk about movies without slogging through posts about Spider-Man 3. May end up talking to myself, but whatever.
I finally got to tear into the new Criterion transfer of The Third Man yesterday and it completely floored me and reminded me of why The Third Man is one of my favorite (if not my favorite) films of all-time. That's saying a lot as I'm not a particularly huge fan of either British cinema or noir. However, the film is just perfect in every respect, a great film about fluid identity. The performances of Alida Valli, Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles are spot-on. The cinematography of Robert Krasker is unmatched and the use of light and shadow in the film is amazing ("Holy hyperbole, Batman!"). The most overlooked aspect of the film, the zither score by Anton Karas totally propels the tension and adds a bit of dark comedy that might otherwise be lost. And I'd add that this is far and away Reed's best film, though those that don't know better might prefer The Fallen Idol.
Can't praise this film enough. When you watch something like this that's almost 60 years old, it really puts the faults of modern cinema into perspective. Such wonderful pacing and amazing, iconic shots like the centerpiece, the most heartbreaking part of the film and DVD cover, which gives us Holly Martins walking down the sewer towards the camera:
I finally got to tear into the new Criterion transfer of The Third Man yesterday and it completely floored me and reminded me of why The Third Man is one of my favorite (if not my favorite) films of all-time. That's saying a lot as I'm not a particularly huge fan of either British cinema or noir. However, the film is just perfect in every respect, a great film about fluid identity. The performances of Alida Valli, Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles are spot-on. The cinematography of Robert Krasker is unmatched and the use of light and shadow in the film is amazing ("Holy hyperbole, Batman!"). The most overlooked aspect of the film, the zither score by Anton Karas totally propels the tension and adds a bit of dark comedy that might otherwise be lost. And I'd add that this is far and away Reed's best film, though those that don't know better might prefer The Fallen Idol.
Can't praise this film enough. When you watch something like this that's almost 60 years old, it really puts the faults of modern cinema into perspective. Such wonderful pacing and amazing, iconic shots like the centerpiece, the most heartbreaking part of the film and DVD cover, which gives us Holly Martins walking down the sewer towards the camera: