The Lives Of Harry Lime

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

I read in a New York Times article the other day that Orson Welles only did the Harry Lime adventures because he needed to work on getting back his voice deepness. Or practice on his voice exercises, something like that. Stupid words always confuse me. Especially when coming from a stupid article.

Orson Welles, to me anyway, had the perfect voice for everyone, everywhere, and everything. Why doesn't the idiot who wrote the column read of all of the narrating Mr. Welles had done.

What an asshole.

bye now.

[R Kadin]

Fear not, fair Natalie: whether the hack's words are true or not, what remains inarguable is that - if ever he so chose - OW could turn even a banal vocal exercise into an exciting work of art. (nice avatar, btw!)

[Welles Fan]

R Kadin is correct. i've listened to about half of the Harry Limes, and have greatly enjoyed them. If O.W. was "phoning it in", he certainly seemed to be having fun while he did!

[Obssessed_with_Orson]

have you heard the episode called "gold"

to me it was more horrifying than it was as a third man theme. it was good. it was orson. it's as if the two brothers had the part of harry lime and orson had the part of a sweeheart.

but then of course, harry lime is a sweetheart. isn't he?

bye now!

[sergio]

The only episode I have ever listened to all the way through is TICKET TOTANGIERS as it appears on the Criterion DVD of THE THIRD MAN - with regards to Welles "phoning it in", I will say the following - although it may be the fault of the original source, the whole of the first act sounds like a Welles impersonator rather than the real thing -

This may sound a bit daft, and I hope to be corrected by someone that is more expert on the matter, but to me it sounds like an Englishman!

Incidentally, there is a place online that offeres all of the Harry Lime adventures on audio tape and CD - does anyone know if they are reputable?

The URL of one of them is
http://www.oldtimeradioprograms.com/HarryLime/

Many thanks

Sergio

[Jeff Wilson]

Sergio, I use that guy's FTP service to download programs, and he's a good guy. I also have a disc of all the Harry Lime programs that I bought at eBay, and the sound quality is good on the episodes I've heard. So it's likely a good deal. You might get a cheaper price at eBay, though; I think I spent about $6 for my disc.

[Welles Fan]

The episode included on the The Third Man DVD suffers from being re-recorded at too slow a tempo, which makes Welles sound rather more like that guy who used to be on Magnum P.I. than Harry Lime. If you listen to the shows at the proper speed, you will hear that Welles is attempting a sort of nonchalant world-weary witty style, which sounds rather too detached and robot-like if the sound is slowed down too much.

[sergio]

Thanks Jeff - I'm not a great user of e-bay to be honest (I never ever have in fact)

That's really interesting about the Criterion DVD, though his voice does go "back to normal" after the first ad break - I take the point about the style Welles was adopting - I still think something is amiss, but I suppose it could be that the speed was corrected after the first break, yes?

Incidentally, the MAGNUM PI reference made me laugh as it reminded me that Welles actually played Robin Masters in the first few episodes of the series (and the pilot), although he was only heard, while his face was hidded, which was a bit daft really, especially as it lead to a massive continuity error in the last series where it was suggested that Higgins (played by John Hillerman) was actually the mysteriously never seen novelist Robin Masters, which was just not possible (for viewers with a long memory anyway)