as far as carol reed goes, "the fallen idol" is a near perfect masterpiece that no one even talks about. this movie? pretty meh.

I was really looking forward to finally seeing this movie, but I have to throw my hat in with those who described it as flat and perfunctory. That about sums it up for me. Nice, but not spectacular.
Not to beat a dead horse about the music, but the monotony was maddening. Hey I LOVE key lime pie. But even key lime pie, binge eaten for hours and hours, will eventually make me throw up. By the end of the movie, the predominant thought I had had nothing to do with the plot or Holly Martins or Anna or even meningitis. It was sheer relief that I didn't have to listen to that tune anymore.

You're absolutely entitled to your opinion. People shouldn't disparage you for your opinion. I love this film. I love the music and the cinematography, and the performances. But if you don't, that's ok. Doesn't take away from my enjoyment of it.

it didn't do much for me either, but then my taste runs more to comedies. i can see it's a very good film in it's way, it's just not something that appeals to me. i find though that this is the case with many films that are considered great, they may well be, they just don't do anything for me.

In my opinion, this is one of the greatest films ever made.
"Has there ever been a film where the music more perfectly suited the action than in Carol Reed's "The Third Man"?" -Roger Ebert
I completely agree with Ebert. The score is astoundingly fitting to the tone of the film.
Cotten's performance is extremely impressive with much depth and complexity. The supporting actors are also very good (Howard, Valli and especially Welles, of course).
The cinematography is absolutely beautiful, particularly in the closing scene.
I think the story is flawless. It's intriguing at every turn and the dialogue is expertly written and delivered, particularly in the ferris wheel scene and in the scene where a drunk Holly professes his love for Anna.
I absolutely love this movie. Interestingly, I think that if this film was changed in any way, it would have completely fallen apart. If you don't like it, that's your opinion, but I think it is a flawless masterpiece.

If I may ask, which were the "three of the most memorable shots in cinema history" and the "two of the most memorable bits of dialogue"?

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I got the impression that Joseph Cotton felt that his ignorance of James Joyce had finally led to his demise at the business-end of a crowbar, and rightly so.
"Someone has been tampering with Hank's memories."

Seen Drop Dead Gorgeous? Written by one of The Simpsons scriptwriters and just as profligate with jokes and subversion. Soylent Green gets a big mensh.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0157503

I'm rather too fond of Soylent Green and whenever I watch it, I get the feeling that Joseph Cotten is remembering his days in Vienna as he waits for the assassin.
Marlon, Claudia & Dimby the cats 1989-2010. Clio the cat, July 1997 - 1 May 2016.

It has three of the most memorable shots in cinema history and two of the most memorable bits of dialogue. It has the best performances from Welles, Cotten, Alida Valli, one of Trevor Howard's best and Bernard Paine's most memorable performance. It has a score everyone recognises and cinematography that is unmistakable. It features Germany's two greatest post war actors at the top of their form and has an unforgettable performance from a German child actor. It never misses a beat when stitching tension and relief together, often with humour. Classic technique. Superb story-telling.
It's one of the first films to feature only amoral anti-heroes and THE first film to recognise that after WW2, the world was broken beyond repair having reduced humanity to thousands of dispensable dots. It paved the way for Catch 22 and a series of similar revisionist work on the war.
Feted as he was for Citizen Kane, everywhere Welles appeared, they introduced him with the Third Man theme.
if you take away 1 great performance, there is nothing left.
This is nonsense.
If you take away the one performance you think distinguishes it, Welles as Lime, the role would have been played by Trevor Howard and the movie would not have suffered all that much.
It's a masterpiece. Clearly not one universally admired these days (though it was when it was released) but It fully deserves its place at the head of the British Movie pantheon and the current movie school trend to denigrate it is pretty contemptible given how much the British Film Industry learned from it (not to mention how much to benefitted from its stellar earnings).

Disagree. I thought Cotton, Howard and Valli were all good and played off each other perfectly. The supporting players were also well done.

It is only memorable for Welles performance. Take it away and the film is just perfunctory.
It's that man again!!

I agree with you both
Favorite films of all time list
http://www.imdb.com/list/ls031708001

Only Welles saved it for me. Shame you had to wait 75 minutes for him.

I actually pretty much agree. Well, not entirely. Aside from the great cinematography, Welles' perfect acting and a fantastic score, that fits the movie very well, I just didn't found the movie to be that intruiging as I hoped it would have been. Also, when Welles is finally revealed to us, I expected a bigger impact. It just felt flat to me. I'd probably rewatch it again in the future, just to give it another change. But as of now, I don't have the attention to ever see that movie again.
#MakeFilmGeneralGreatAgain