WHY do you love this film SO MUCH?
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schwapj — 13 years ago(December 06, 2012 09:41 PM)
That's a damn good review. It's certainly not one of my three favorite movies, but as to the craft of moviemaking, it could be one of the three best. If you see this comment, I'm curiouswhat are the other two, in your opinion?
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yespat — 12 years ago(October 22, 2013 06:00 PM)
I just finished watching this film for the first time and I have to say, I don''t get how it is so revered, from a plot pov at least. Harry calls his old friend to come to Vienna, gives him money and buys his ticket, then hides from him. Then when he does see him, he runs away from him. If Harry did not want holly to go to the police, harry should have stayed and talked with him, letting him in on what was going on. I just don't get how, what roger ebert used to call idiot plots, could be overlooked. Perhaps plot is not as important as actors, cinematography, black and white photography and an interesting score. Or maybe I am missing something. I'm open to someone explaining what that was all about and look forward to being enlightened. Thanks!
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Krustallos — 12 years ago(December 20, 2013 09:34 AM)
Harry calls his old friend to come to Vienna, gives him money and buys his ticket, then hides from him. Then when he does see him, he runs away from him. If Harry did not want holly to go to the police, harry should have stayed and talked with him, letting him in on what was going on.
It's a while since I saw this, but didn't Harry invite Holly when things were going well for him, then when they got too hot he had to 'disappear'? So he had an enforced change of plan, basically. He didn't actually want Holly to know what was going on because on some level he was ashamed of what he'd become and knew Holly wouldn't approve. But perhaps I've misremembered. Will be watching it again soon
I used to want to change the world. Now I just want to leave the room with a little dignity. -
jsrrtzjr10 — 13 years ago(September 28, 2012 12:49 PM)
Maybe that noir atmospheric Europe immediately after World War II. A once proud and beautiful continent now downtrodden, defeated and ruined, but people still trying to make a big buck by betraying one another. And that remarkable dialogue, good acting and a smart music. Don't mark me wrong: there are plenty of old classics I like such as 1933's "King Kong", "Casablanca" and "Citizen Kane" [and surprisingly I love science fiction classics like "Things to Come" of 1935 and others]. But if so many consider "The Third Man" a great film, they must have good reason why they love this classic. And it is impossible today to make a movie like this one.
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jd-276 — 13 years ago(November 10, 2012 06:47 PM)
But if so many consider "The Third Man" a great film, they must have good reason why they love this classic. And it is impossible today to make a movie like this one.
Have you seen Pepe Le Moko? It's very similar and influenced Carol Reed in the making of The Third Man. -
bouzane — 13 years ago(September 28, 2012 08:02 PM)
Personally, I enjoyed every aspect of this movie from the acting and the story to the setting and cinematography. That being said, nothing was particularly outstanding (except the music, which was outstandingly awful). I liked it but not enough to re-watch it or recommend it to anybody I know. I though it was good but I don't see what makes it good enough to be #73 on the tops.
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rpartrid-2 — 13 years ago(February 22, 2013 04:56 PM)
I love it for the reasons people have suggested and for the last scene - the romantic holly waiting and waiting and she walks by seemingly oblivious - end of movie. One of (if not the best) the best endings ever - right up there with another favorite of mine Chinatown.
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camusimagination — 13 years ago(February 24, 2013 01:37 PM)
Love Joseph Cotten and put this up there as one of his best performances. One of the people that loved the music, though i can admit that the music editing wasn't great and they missed places, but that is just nit picking. The directing is well done, the reveal scene, the Ferris wheel scene, the scenes in the sewers and of course the final shot is one of the best endings of a movie ever. Plus there is some wonderful dialogue, both of the snappy quick type which was classic in that day and the Ferris wheel scene. Orson Welles does a perfect job as Lime, the charm that makes you almost agree with his stance on what he has done, then the sewer scene was just amazing. Plus I really enjoy Trevor Howard as Calloway, it isn't great acting and most times goes under looked against Cotten's and Welles' performances, but to me he was perfect in that role.
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes? -
deeveed — 13 years ago(February 27, 2013 08:12 AM)
Love Joseph Cotten and put this up there as one of his best performances.
Yeah boy he's good here. He nailed Holly M's (American) character. Sometimes when I watch I just focus on him all through the film and I'm probably ready to buy one of his Westerns. And I feel bad that he let that lit society down. One thing about Holly he ain't no Dickens or Jimmy Joyce. He initially only knew the way of the West. No 'grays' for him until he got 'educated' in Vienna, a thousand+ miles away from the tumbleweeds. -
MacacoBanditi — 12 years ago(June 14, 2013 09:01 PM)
I appreciate the cinematography and the atmosphere, etc, etc. However I can't love this movie, there's so many things putting you off all the time. Cotten's acting is cardboard at best, and he is basically a complete idiot whom the audience can't really relate to. He gives away the name of his informant, who subsequently gets horribly murdered, but no one seems to pay any attention to this detail! Anna's motivations are contradictory to say the least, women were never really put in a good light in 1940s movies, but they went a little too far here, she is a particulary loathsome character. Lastly, the score. Seriously, some people have praised the music in this movie to the skies, how is that possible? How can something so ridiculously out of place not stand out and make you cringe? Imagine Schindler's List with a grassroots sountrack played on a banjo or play Blade Runner muted to a Justin Bieber record. That's how stupidly annoying and off-putting the score of The Third Man is. Summing up, too many reasons not to love this movie.
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alfa — 12 years ago(June 16, 2013 05:31 AM)
Imagine Schindler's List with a grassroots sountrack played on a banjo or play Blade Runner muted to a Justin Bieber record
Imagine a film set in Vienna with the entire score played on the quintessential Viennese instrument.
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You don't have to. You've seen TTM. -
caroline69-1 — 12 years ago(November 24, 2013 01:12 PM)
Those are all things that make me love the film! The protagonist (Holly Martins, not Harry Lime) is a nave fool who tries to act like the hero of a western, or a Hollywood movie, but things don't go the way they're supposed to in a Hollywood movie: he makes a fool of himself when he drinks;
when he tries to prove his friend's innocence he gets a man killed and ends up proving just the opposite; he not only can't get the girl but she ends up despising him; he kills his good friend
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I love the score for the same reason: it's so different from the melodramatic orchestra music you'd expect from a black-and-white film from the forties dealing with death, destruction and corruption. And it's Viennese music in a film where lovely, ravaged Vienna is as much of a star as any of the human characters. -
ComposerKuandohan — 11 years ago(June 26, 2014 01:11 AM)
Oh now I get it. Holly is kind of a satirical character for general western noir films like Casablanca, where things that characters like Rick Blaine do, just do not work where Holly is. His mannerisms. actions, ect.
That ending especially was different than what he imagined. It's like Holly had in his mind that he could play the "Cool" guy till the end, but he just doesn't get it.
I had this whole movies wrong in the beginning. LOL
Wow, that makes me like the film more.
