The Third Man (1949)

[AngeloColombus]

Was going to get the single disc release at £12 but now I might spend the extra money and get the limited edition.

[JMcBride]

Someone I know (from Ireland) adamantly prefers the American
revised version Selznick did with Joseph Cotten
replacing Carol Reed as narrator and some other changes. I prefer the
original version with Reed's dryly ironic narration.
But I respect my friend's view, and at least both versions
should be available, but we have been unable to find
a complete print of the American version on homevideo.
Any suggestions?

[AngeloColombus]

I saw on Ebay some old dvd releases of The Third Man that might have Joseph Cotton doing the narration.

[JMcBride]

Thanks. I will look for the Cotten-narration version, though
I have before and it usually is not that one.

[Wellesnet]

‘Third Man’ returns for 75th anniversary showings:
https://www.wellesnet.com/third-man-cinemas/

[tonyw]

Good on the retrospective level since more people have the opportunity of seeing a quality film. But the last time I wacthed it I thought, "If I see another canted angle in this film, I'll scream"! However, Orson's speech to Joe makes the film immortal.

[JMcBride]

DP Robert Krasker did the canted stuff also
in the "1921" segment of Ford's 1957 film THE
RISING OF THE MOON, to show a world out
of whack in Ireland during the war with the British.
It's a fine sequence.

[tonyw]

Yes, I read about that in Scout's book on Ford. It'd been years since I ran RISING OF THE MOON (which I have on DVD and must look at again since I'm reading Sean 0'Casey's plays. But I can't remember it being as intrusive as in THE THIRD man.

[Le Chiffre]

I've never had a problem with the canted angles in THE THIRD MAN, but then I've always had a soft spot for cinematic worlds out of whack. As Pauline Kael put it about TOUCH OF EVIL:

"If Welles can't resist the candy of baroque shadows and angles, he turns it into far more entertaining fare than most directors' solemn meat and potatoes."

It's all a matter of personal taste.

[JMcBride]

Howard Hawks told me he thought Anton Karas's
zither score for THE THIRD MAN was the best
score he'd ever heard for a film.

[Le Chiffre]

"I never knew the old Vienna before the war with its Strauss music, its glamour and easy charm."

The Zither adds so much to the film's unique atmosphere. It evokes that "glamour and easy charm" of 19th-century Vienna, which makes a wonderfully ironic contrast with the post-war Vienna of the film: a gloomy and bombed out twilight zone of crime and corruption.

[Wellesnet]

Cineversary podcast celebrates ‘Third Man’ at 75:
https://www.wellesnet.com/third-man-podcast-2/

[tonyw]

During the mid-50s on a visit to London with my parents I remember passing a restaurant in Soho where Anton Karas was playing, His zither music was so evocative for that time.

[Wellesnet]

‘Third Man’ 4K UHD coming from StudioCanal:
https://www.wellesnet.com/third-man-4k- ... aZJ0SM21Yg

[Wellesnet]

Tripwire Reviews The Third Man 75th Anniversary 4K Restored Edition:
https://tripwiremagazine.co.uk/headline ... PqTFZIX_mA