December 10 movie: The Third Man. What a great movie this is. The story, the pacing, the characters, the music, the visuals -- it all comes together beautifully. If you haven't seen it yet, see it. Right now. I mean it.
I don't think I've ever seen a movie starring Joseph Cotten that I didn't love, and this is no exception. The plot is Cotten in postwar Vienna, investigating the death of his friend Harry Lime. The mystery is exciting and well-paced, but the movie is really about Cotten's American naivete clashing with the world-weary cynicism of the Europeans. This was my second viewing, which is almost sad in a way. You can't have that moment of discovering who the third man is twice. And they handle the moment so perfectly. On the other hand, this time I got to look for clues that didn't make so much sense to me the first time around.
Visually the movie is superb. There are a few shots -- a man reaching through a sewer grate, another of a looming shadow, plus of course the big reveal and the final shot -- that make the hairs stand up on the back of my neck just thinking about them. The use of locations in the actual post-war Vienna makes the movie so vivid and real. And the music is just perfect. It's one theme played on the zither, with various tones and moods to match the action. And the iTunes music store has a bunch of versions of it! I bought the original and one by the Skatalites.
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I saw The Third Man in a theater when it was first released. Although I was just 15, the film had quite an impact on me, and continued to impress me during many subsequent viewings over the years. I bought a 45 rpm of Anton Karas' zither theme song and still have it today. The cast, the music, the directon, the locale--it's all a perfect confluence of great moviemaking ingredients. The performance turned in by Alida Valli remains as one of the most haunting in all of filmdom.