DVD Review: The Third Man

DVD: Carol Reed's THE THIRD MAN (1949)
Publisher: The Criterion Collection (Janus Films & Home Vision Cinema), 1999

This analysis pertains to both the adequate DVD adaptation of The Third Man and two books accompanying to the film. It is additionally accompanying to my commodity on application these abstracts in the German classroom or for alone study.

The Third Man has consistently been one of my cine favorites, an assessment aggregate by abounding blur critics and adherent cine fans. The British Blur Institute afresh ranked The Third Man at the top of its account of the 100 best British films of all time. The American Blur Institute placed it at 57 on the AFI 100 list, baronial The Third Man beneath abounding bottom Hollywood films (perhaps because Americans never saw the director's aboriginal edit?). With the crisply adequate Criterion Collection DVD version, admirers will appear to acknowledge this British-American blur archetypal alike added (and to added catechism the AFI's sanity). As far as I'm concerned, the British got the baronial right, and the actuality that the alone Oscar® that Carol Reed's blur anytime accustomed was for cinematography reflects ailing on the Academy.

The Criterion DVD copy was appear for the 50th ceremony of Carol Reed's archetypal blur in 1999. The fresh agenda alteration offers the aboriginal befalling in abounding decades to appearance this archetypal blur noir in the affection it deserves. Earlier VHS video versions suffered from flaws that acquire been adapted in the fresh Criterion DVD with its digitally adequate images and sound.

Since The Third Man was a collective British-American production, there are absolutely two adapted versions of the film. Hollywood co-producer David O. Selznick had the American rights and, based on admirers surveys, acquainted that U.S. audiences would not acquire some aspects of the film. As a result, he adapted genitalia of Carol Reed's aboriginal British edit. Besides accent about eleven account (in an accomplishment to accomplish the American advance appearance added sympathetic), Selznick additionally replaced the British anterior account (read by administrator Carol Reed) with an American adaptation apprehend by Joseph Cotten. The Criterion DVD offers the befalling to analyze the two, and besides Cotten's first-person American narration, admirers will apprehension that Selznick additionally deleted a band or two from the British adaptation in adjustment to accomplish the axial appearance of Holly Martins (Cotten) assume beneath contemptuous and added likeable.

I had never apparent the British adaptation afore examination the Criterion DVD transfer. In my assessment Selznick's revised American addition is inferior to Carol Reed's original. Examination the two adapted versions of the film's addition additionally acutely shows the affecting aberration in angel affection amid the adequate British adaptation and the unrestored U.S. version.

Besides the beauteous agenda alteration itself, one of the best appearance of the Criterion 50th ceremony DVD adaptation is the added area on the authoritative of the film, based on Charles Drazin's book In Search of the Third Man. In fact, the assembly history of The Third Man is as absorbing as the blur itself. Through argument annotation and archival stills on the DVD, you apprentice that The Third Man was absolutely an Anglo-American coproduction, with Hollywood's David O. Selznick accidental his able opinions and stars Joseph Cotten and Alida Valli. While British administrator Carol Reed had capital James Stewart as the axial appearance of Holly Martins (Cotten; Cary Grant was additionally advised for the role), and Selznick pushed for Noel Coward as the villain (Orson Welles), neither got his way.

Many of the key characters in the cine are played by Austrian and German actors. Anna Schmidt, the admirable coquette fatale in The Third Man, is played by Alida Valli. The Italian-born, multilingual actress, whose absolute name is Alida Maria Laura von Altenburger, was the babe of an Austrian ancestor (from Trento) and an Italian mother. At the time The Third Man was in production, Valli (her one-name announcement in abounding films) happened to be beneath arrangement to Selznick in Hollywood, and she abutting the accomplished casting that included Orson Welles (as Harry Lime), Trevor Howard (as Major Calloway) and Bernard Lee (as Sgt. Paine). The DVD appearance still photos of the casting and aggregation in Vienna and at the Shepperton Studios as allotment of the text-and-image "making of" supplement.

The digitally adequate soundtrack on the Criterion DVD becomes a solid account back alert to the Austrian German in the film. It's difficult abundant aggravating to accept the German after the archetypal pops, crackling and hiss of an old optical soundtrack. (See our worksheets for the argument of the German dialogues.) But Criterion did not stop there. One of the DVD's astonishing added appearance shows in amazing detail the abracadabra done by digitally charwoman up over 22,000 blur frames. The tonal affection and gray-scale of the five-decades-old blur book are suberb, announcement the archetypal black-and-white blur noir images (for which cinematographer Robert Krasker won an Academy Award) in all their glory.

An added amusement on this DVD is the alternating audio clue which allows admirers to baddest either the aboriginal soundtrack or a account of Graham Greene's analysis in alertness for the final blur script. I begin it amazing how carefully Greene's accounting words chase the contest in the film. You can apprehend added about this in my analysis of Greene's book. See the "Features" box aloft for added of the DVD's extras, including a featurette on the Austria zither amateur Anton Karas.