Cheap The Third Man (50th Anniversary Edition) - Criterion Collection (DVD) (Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles) (Carol Reed) Price

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Customer Reviews of The Third Man (50th Anniversary Edition) - Criterion Collection

an excellent movie with tons of extras
The Criterion Collection has put together an excellent DVD complete with plenty of additional and supportive content. I found both the photo collection with explanations and the Greene treatment particularly interesting and enjoyable. The Greene treatment is designed to play in place of the soundtrack of the movie, but I think it's best experienced with the TV turned off, listened to like a radio broadcast. It's something of a shame that The Third Man is so closely associated with Orson Welles, because many people assume he directed it. In fact it is Carol Reed's masterpiece. This is a movie that is enjoyable to film buffs and to more typical modern audiences. It is a mystery with a hook and surprising plot twists, and it contains a love story, or rather a story of love unreturned. The final scene following the second funeral when Anna walks toward the camera through falling leaves is perhaps the finest example of the poetry of the cinema that I know.

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A Masterpiece of Suspense
Anyone who has net yet seen this cinematic masterpiece is in for a rare treat. "The Third Man" is both a brilliant achievement from the standpoint of superb black and white photography, with an Oscar being won in that category by cameraman Robert Krasker,and in dramatic storytelling with British fiction great Graham Greene delivering the premier screenplay of his notable career.

The film captures the dark and suspicious Vienna underworld by night during the black market and rationing period following World War Two. American Holly Martens, played with an appropriate bumbling innocence by normally suave Joseph Cotten, leaves his middle class existence as a pulp fiction writer of westerns to fly to Vienna after an invitation from his longstanding friend, Harry Lime, played with a colorful ruthlessness by Orson Welles, to join him in a business enterprise.

The film's first shock occurs at the beginning of "The Third Man," when Cotten is informed on arrival that Welles has been killed after being accidentally hit by a car. Cotten is suspicious from the beginning. His skepticism accelerates after talking to Welles' girlfriend, played with a sexy nonchalance by Alida Valli. Eventually he learns that Welles is very much alive. His anything but surefooted detective activities cause concern for British Army captain Trevor Howard, who fears that Cotten will be killed by Welles or another operative in his syndicate, which specializes in stealing penicillin, dilluting it, then selling it at enormous profits to hospitals.

"The Third Man" exudes effortless suspense from the opening scene up to the film's dramatic end. British director Carol Reed was at the peak of his career when he did "The Third Man." Once your appetite has been sufficently enhanced by this film, make sure to also view two other Reed classics of the period, "Odd Man Out" and "The Fallen Idol."

William Hare

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By far one of the top films ever made!
First at all , the ravishing presence of Orson Welles is felt all along this movie in such level you may well state this film was four hands directed . The powerful and menacing atmosphere that surrounds Vienna after the WW2 , the expressionist style , the superb photograph , the bitter and clever dialogues , the high caliber acting level , the somber passages under Vienna's streets , the sideral beauty and presence of Alida Vali , the extraordinary performance given by Joseph Cotten , the unforgettable zither music of Anton Karas and the dark secrets all along the story demands from you special attention. This film won Cannes Festival 1949.
You will never get tired of watching over and over this giant work. A Cold War spy classic. From Graham Greene novel.
Magnificent!