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The Third Man [Blu-ray]
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Additional Blu-ray options | Edition | Discs | Price | New from | Used from |
Blu-ray
July 20, 2015 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
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| $13.43 | $16.38 |
Blu-ray
July 25, 2017 "Please retry" | BLURAY | 1 |
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| $24.95 | — |
Blu-ray
September 13, 2010 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
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| $80.00 | — |
Blu-ray
January 13, 2014 "Please retry" | — | 1 |
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| — | $36.81 |
Watch Instantly with | Rent | Buy |
The Third Man | — | — |
Purchase options and add-ons
Genre | Thriller |
Format | Closed-captioned, Subtitled, Dolby, Blu-ray, Full Screen, Black & White |
Contributor | Joseph Cotten, Bernard Lee, Carol Reed, London Films Prods. Ltd., Trevor Howard, Alida Valli, Alexander Korda, Orson Welles See more |
Language | English |
Runtime | 1 hour and 45 minutes |
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Product Description
THE THIRD MAN is a British cinematic icon: from director Carol Reed, author Graham Greene and starring Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Orson Welles. Set in post-war Vienna, the film noir features some of cinema's most memorable set pieces --- the chase through the sewers, the enormous ferris wheel, the elm-lined cemetery...and Anton Karas' zither score, a worldwide phenomenon in itself. THE THIRD MAN is a swirling blend of thriller, romance, mystery and war film that was nominated for three Oscars(R) and named to the AFI's Top 100 Movies List. French & Spanish Subtitles
Product details
- Aspect Ratio : 1.33:1
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- MPAA rating : NR (Not Rated)
- Product Dimensions : 0.7 x 7.5 x 5.4 inches; 2.08 ounces
- Item model number : 28634
- Director : Carol Reed
- Media Format : Closed-captioned, Subtitled, Dolby, Blu-ray, Full Screen, Black & White
- Run time : 1 hour and 45 minutes
- Release date : September 14, 2010
- Actors : Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard, Bernard Lee
- Subtitles: : Spanish
- Producers : Alexander Korda
- Studio : Lionsgate
- ASIN : B003ULW74S
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,396 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
- Customer Reviews:
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Greene's path in researching the film is in many ways mirrored by the character he ended up creating, one Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten, a prolific actor of the era who never reached the level of recognition of Stewart, Grant, or Bogart); arriving in Vienna, Greene prowled the bombed-out streets and drank in the Casanova Club, talking with local officials. He was inspired by stories of postwar shortage, organized smuggling, and the interaction of the four great powers in the early days of the Cold War. Martins arrives, having been summoned by his prewar friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles, in what is, apart from Charles Foster Kane, his most famous role), only to find on arrival that Lime has been mysteriously killed in a car accident. The local British security chief, Major Calloway (Trevor Howard) insinuates that Harry was a notorious racketeer involved in everything up to and including murder, and Martins, a writer of pulp novelettes about gunslingers, refuses to let that explanation stand. He delves deeper into Harry's world, from acquaintances such as Baron Kurtz (Ernst Deutch, who couldn't appear less trustworthy if he tried) and Dr. Winkle (Erich Ponto), who were both present at his death, and, most importantly, Anna Schmidt (Alida Valli), a Czech living in Austria on a forged passport provided by Lime to help her avoid repatriation to Soviet-held territory. Martins' first big lead? Witness reports that an unidentified third man was present at Lime's death.
"The Third Man"'s plot suffers from a case of what TV Tropes would call a 'Rosebud': the fact that the main plot twist is common knowledge because of the movie's notoriety (and, like the original Rosebud, Orson Welles is involved). We all know that Harry Lime isn't actually dead because he is due to appear and give him famous speech about cuckoo clocks (though Welles is listed in the opening credits, so perhaps it was never that big a secret). However, there is still plenty in the movie for the viewer to be surprised about, just as "Citizen Kane" retains its lustre.
The movie has several great performances, starting with Cotten as the 'very American' (in the worlds of Peter Bogdanovich) lead man, Alida Valli as Anna, Trevor Howard as Calloway, and an enjoyable comic turn from Bernard Lee (later M to the Connery, Lazenby, and Moore incarnations of James Bond) as Calloway's batman, a sergeant who is quite a fan of Holly's writing. The performance that everyone always ends up talking about is Welles, however, in what amounts to an extended cameo (two scenes, the second with basically no dialogue).
The other notable production components include the music, provided by Anton Karas on his zither string instrument, who was hired on the spur of the moment after impressing the director at a wartime party, and it was an inspired choice, though it may jar some people expecting more traditional noir stuff. The film is filmed in the actual postwar Vienna, still a place of ruined buildings, providing for a very high level of verisimilitude.
Criterion's DVD version provides an extensive selection of extras, including several commentaries, features on the film's production, and, best of all, several older segments that include an interview with Greene on his career, and some old newsreels spotlighting the Vienna of the period, and showing the level of detail that Reed and company were able to capture.
And what a film it is! It's perfectly paced by director Carol Reed, memorably acted by Joseph Cotton, Orson Welles, Trevor Howard and many others (with wonderful layers of tension, humor and romance), and stunningly photographed -- mostly at night -- by cinematographer Robert Krasker (for which he won a richly-deserved Oscar). Even the theme music, composed and performed on the zither by Anton Karas, was a huge hit in both the UK and the US. Surely one of the great film noirs of all time, The Third Man was also voted the best British film of the 20th Century by the British Film Institute.
If you love movies, you'll love this film.
Criterion brought out their version in Blu-ray in 2008. This version is now legendary.The original film was shot by three crews working simultaneously, with two handling the night exteriors and interior sets while another shot the few daytime exteriors. Reed apparently didn't supervise the daytime unit as closely as the others, and, with one or two notable exceptions (the famous ending, for example), those sequences aren't as memorable as the night exteriors and the interior sets. Thus, they don't seem to be especially improved by either Criterion's restoration or the Blu-ray technology.
But the night and interior shots! Wow! Everyone who knows the movie talks about the "wet streets" where much of the action takes place. In the Criterion Blu-ray version, we see these streets in a wholly new way. They have a beautiful sparkle and luminosity that shades into the deep nighttime blackness of the buildings and the atmosphere. Surely this is what Reed and Krasner actually saw and wanted us to see. Close-ups of the actors reveal subtle changes in the eyes and in facial expressions that are much more veiled in the DVD (not to mention VHS) formats. The range of grays -- between the film's deep, unlit blacks and it spotlit whites, is far richer and more nuanced in this version. The set designs are more detailed to the eye; the actors' wardrobes easier to study. So this is not only a very fun version for fans of the film. It's also by far the best version for people who enjoy the building blocks of movies -- the cinematography, the lighting, the art direction.
Those are big advantages, in my opinion.
Now for the bad news. The Blu-ray edition went out of print not long after it was released. Due to some apparently undisclosed issues over the future rights to the film, it looks unlikely to ever be released again. (Now and then I've contacted Criterion about it, but they're not saying much.) Therefore this edition has become breathtakingly expensive in the aftermarket. I looked at it a year ago and it was selling for $100. This year it seems to be up to $200. I considered myself lucky to get a new, unopened one for $150.
I don't regret it for a moment, but then again, I've loved this movie for years and I had a pretty good idea what a step up the Criterion Blu-ray would be. It's totally met my expectations. Then again, I can't imagine another movie I'd spend $150 on.
The rival Studio-Canal Blu-ray version of the film is pretty good, and may well be fine for all but zealots like me. The regular Criterion DVD version of the film, though also out of print, is much less expensive in the aftermarket, and it includes the extras, which are terrific.
So if you've "gotta, gotta" have the undisputed best version of The Third Man, in all likelihood this is it. But it's going to cost you. If, on the other hand, just enjoying this great movie is reward enough, consider some of the other versions on the market.
Top reviews from other countries
van de verkoper ( uiterst tevreden )
:-):-):-)
This film is based on a screenplay by the great British writer Graham Greene. Greene wrote novels and film scripts. In this case, he wrote the novella and screenplay pretty well together, and the result is one of the greatest, most memorable, most instantly recognisable of all British films, arguably of any film. BFI listed it as the British No 1 in 1999:Time Out placed it behind ‘Don’t Look Now’(1973) in 2011 ~ which is rubbish!
The director was another towering figure ~ Sir Carol Reed. He'd served in an Army film unit during WW2, and then directed the superb ‘Odd Man Out’ with James Mason in 1947. Krasker had been the cinematographer, in another majestically atmospheric work of shadows, dark streets, street lights and confined places.
The story, of the naive American, Holly Martins, and his street-wise old pal Harry Lime, is brilliantly written. The characterisation is sublime, with a smorgasbord of morally dubious ‘mittle-Europeans’ and some well-crafted Brits, led by Trevor Howard, playing it absolutely straight. Joseph Cotton, as Holly, is excellent, with just the right mix of obstinate Yank, and dawning realisation. Orson Welles, immense as Harry, manages to create a spellbinding, scene-stealing, persona, even though he is not often on screen.
But the real star, dominating the action, consuming our attention, is the wrecked, bombed-out Vienna where the action takes place. The film was shot on location in Vienna in November and December 1948, and the dark, dank streets, the bomb sites and ruined buildings loom. Scenes shot in the sewers were finally completed at Shepperton, after Welles complained!
Filming was not entirely stress free. Welles was a major figure, and a director himself. In later years, Welles hinted that he had taken a role in the direction of the film, but this is refuted by all others involved. He and Reed got on well, and the only known Wellesian addition was a famously improvised and very funny little speech from Harry Lime, about cuckoo clocks. You will know it when you hear it! The other slight flurry was over the film’s ending. Greene and the producer, David O. Selznick had one view, Reed another, which was slightly different from Greene’s novella. Reed won, and in retrospect, Greene considered Reed to have been proved “triumphantly right”.
Reed was also responsible for the unique and instantly recognisable zither music, having spotted the player whilst in Austria. It is yet another mark of how extraordinary this film is. Everything about it is classy and extraordinary, and it truly is a 6 Star film, if I could grant it.