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The Third Man - Criterion Collection (2-Disc Edition) | 
 enlarge | Actors: Nelly Arno, Leo Bieber, Hedwig Bleibtreu, Martin Boddey, Siegfried Breuer
Studio: Criterion Collection
Category: DVD
List Price: $39.95
Buy New: $27.99
You Save: $11.96 (30%)
New (37) Used (10) Collectible (1) from $26.82
Rating:  273 reviews
Sales Rank: 3361
Format: Black & White, Dolby, Dvd-video, Full Screen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), German (Original Language), Russian (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Number Of Discs: 2
Running Time: 104 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 5.6 x 0.8
MPN: IMEDCC1690D
UPC: 715515023429
EAN: 0715515023429
ASIN: B000NOK0GM
Theatrical Release Date: 1949
Release Date: May 22, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: still shrinkwrapped with original price tag, fast shipping
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Product Description
Pulp novelist holly martins travels to shadowy postwar vienna only to find himself investigating the mysterious death of an old friend black-market opportunist harry lime - and thus begins this legendary tale of love deception & murder. Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 05/15/2007 Starring: Joseph Cotten Orson Welles Run time: 104 minutes Rating: Nr Director: Carol Reed
Amazon.com essential video
There have been few better movies in the history of the planet than The Third Man, and fewer still as brilliantly directed from second to second. Orson Welles played the title role, and his legend has tended to engulf the film. But it was directed by Carol Reed and written--except for a Wellesian riff on the Borgias--by Graham Greene, and the credit for this masterpiece is properly theirs. Theirs and Joseph Cotten's; for awesome as Welles is, his Citizen Kane second banana is onscreen about six times as much, and Cotten uses every minute to create one of the most distinctive--if also forlorn--of modern heroes. You know the story. Holly Martins (Cotten), a writer of pulp Westerns and one of life's congenital third-raters, arrives in post-WWII Vienna only to learn that his old pal Harry Lime, the guy who sent him his plane ticket, is being buried. Everybody, from a cynical British cop named Calloway (Trevor Howard) to Harry's Continental knockout of a girlfriend (Alida Valli) and his sundry absurd/Euro-sinister business associates, feels that Holly should get on another plane and go home. He doesn't. Things come to light. Other deaths follow. The world lies in utter ruin. The Third Man completed a sublime hat trick--an international critical and popular smash following upon the success of Reed's Odd Man Out ('47) and The Fallen Idol ('48). Although other filmmakers had begun to use war-ravaged Europe as a great movie set, The Third Man is so vivid in its canny mix of gray semidocumentary and insanely angular, Expressionist/Surrealist chiaroscuro that it seems to have imagined not only the postwar thriller but also postwar Europe itself singlehandedly. What great movie moments: The throwaway details like a mourner who forgets to drop his wreath on a newly dug grave. The sly editing whereby thick-headed Sergeant Paine (Bernard Lee, once and future "M" to 007) goes on leafing through a magazine, knowing just the moment he must rise and subdue the nervy Yank who would take a punch at his boss. The way Anton Karas's legendary zither score seems to jangle in the very guy-lines of a bridge where, far below Robert Krasker's Oscar-winning camera, the Third Man calls a war council. The shadow of a dead man towering, big as Europe, over the nighttime streets of Vienna. --Richard T. Jameson
Amazon.com
The fractured Europe post-World War II is perfectly captured in Carol Reed's masterpiece thriller, set in a Vienna still shell-shocked from battle. Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) is an alcoholic pulp writer come to visit his old friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). But when Cotton first arrives in Vienna, Lime's funeral is under way. From Lime's girlfriend and an occupying British officer, Martins learns of allegations of Lime's involvement in racketeering, which Martins vows to clear from his friend's reputation. As he is drawn deeper into postwar intrigue, Martins finds layer under layer of deception, which he desperately tries to sort out. Welles's long-delayed entrance in the film has become one of the hallmarks of modern cinematography, and it is just one of dozens of cockeyed camera angles that seem to mirror the off-kilter postwar society. Cotten and Welles give career-making performances, and the Anton Karas zither theme will haunt you. --Anne Hurley
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| Customer Reviews: Read 268 more reviews...
 The Third Man - Blu-ray Info January 5, 2009
LGANS316 (Tokyo Japan)
Version: U.S.A / Criterion / Region A
Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
MPEG-4 AVC / BD-50 / AACS / High Profile 4.1
Running time: 1:45:13
Movie size: 27,23 GB
Disc size: 43,30 GB
Total bit rate: 34.51 Mbps
Average video bit rate: 30.48 Mbps
Subtitles: English SDH
Number of chapters: 23
LPCM Audio English 768 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 768 kbps / 16-bit
Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio English 224 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 224 kbps
#Video introduction by writer-director
#Two audio commentaries
#Shadowing "The Third Man" - Making of (2005 - 90 mins)
#Abridged recording of Graham Greene's treatment
#Graham Greene: The Hunted Man, 1968 episode of the BBC's Omnibus series
#Who Was the Third Man? - Austrian documentary(2000 - 30 mins)
#The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 "A Ticket to Tangiers"
#Production history / behind-the-scenes photos, original UK press book
#U.S. trailer
#Actor Joseph Cotten's alternate opening voice-over narration for the U.S. version
#Archival footage of postwar Vienna
#A look at the untranslated foreign dialogue in the film
#Liner notes booklet
 Blu-ray version of the Criterion presentation of "The Third Man" (1949) January 4, 2009
B. Chandler (Arlington, Texas)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is one of those films that everyone thought the saw. This is of course because of all the popular actors and directors. Of those viewers that have seen this film they will never forget.
The default version is the U.K. version. However you can see the different versions compeered on the extras. Speaking about extras, one of the best is the abbreviated play being read over the film. I defiantly ordered the book.
This film is presented in black and white. You can see how tight the presentation is without a wasted word or glance. The Music is also one of the main characters of the film.
Even though the book looks from the view of Major Calloway (Trevor Howard in the film) and the film from the view of Holly Martins, it is the character of Sergeant Paine (Bernard Lee) that we find endearing.
Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton) an out of work novelist (Westerns) is offered a job in post war Vienna by his friend Harry Lime (Orson Welles). When Holly arrives he finds he is late for Harry's funeral. The authorities are besmirching Harry's memory. Harry's girl (Alida Valli) after hearing of a mysterious third man at Harry's car accident suggested that Harry's death may not have been an accident.
Now it is up to Holly to clear Harry's name. We may be in for a few surprises.
The Fallen Idol - Criterion Collection
3 stars out of 4 January 3, 2009
One-Line Film Reviews (Ann Arbor)
0 out of 3 found this review helpful
The Bottom Line:
Marred by the incongruously-jaunty zither music (though many like it) and the fact that the movie only really takes off when Orson Welles comes on scene, The Third Man is an incredily atmospheric and moody mystery that may be a bit flawed but is well-worth watching.
Orson Welles, Vienna & a Cool Zither Score December 28, 2008
The Movie Man (Maywood, New Jersey USA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
It's heartening to see that more and more classic films are being released in the Blu-ray format, which offers a crisp, sharp, High Definition picture and greater clarity of sound. The latest is "The Third Man," the 1949 film about post-World War II intrigue set in a Vienna divided into French, American, British, and Russian zones, each containing its share of suspicious characters.
Alcoholic pulp Western author Holly Martins (Joseph Cotton) has come to Vienna at the invitation of his friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles), who has offered him a job, but Holly arrives just as Lime is being buried. The film is based on the question, "Who killed Harry Lime?" We hear contrasting opinions of Lime. A British officer, Calloway (Trevor Howard), states unequivocally that Lime was a black market profiteer and deserves to be dead. Lime's girlfriend (Alida Valli) tells Holly that Lime is not the man Calloway has described and sets out to clear his name.
"The Third Man" was made by a team who experienced firsthand the war-torn devastation of Europe. Director Carol Reed worked for the British Army's wartime documentary unit and writer Graham Greene not only wrote about spies but sometimes was one. Reed filmed entirely on location in a Vienna still strewn with rubble and bomb craters four years after the war ended.
One of the film's most memorable features is its all-zither score by the Austrian Anton Karas. In fact, "The Third Man Theme" became one of the biggest hits of 1950. The music is certainly unique in the annals of film scoring and gives the film both an upbeat feel and an old world quality. In addition, the movie features a beautifully staged chase sequence that leads to the city's sewer system. The photography by Robert Krasker in this sequence is especially impressive, as long shots with bright light sources just out of sight throw elongated, distorted shadows, a characteristic of film noir.
The Blu-ray edition contains a restored high-definition digital transfer; a video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich; two audio commentaries; a 90-minute documentary on the making of the film; "Graham Greene: The Hunted Man," a 1968 episode of the BBC's "Omnibus" series; a 1951 episode of the radio series "The Lives of Harry Lime" written and performed by Orson Welles; archival footage of postwar Vienna; and a booklet featuring an essay on the movie and its impact.
 Overbearing and Underwhelming. December 24, 2008
Mr. Eddie (New York, NY)
0 out of 12 found this review helpful
For me, a film like "The Third Man" is the kind of experience that makes me deride the techniques of so-called "film noir". It is loaded with melodramatic camera angles, stark lighting, blaring music, and needlessly vague characterizations. It is so assured of its mysterious, bewitching power that scenes just kind of limp about the screen with no real emotion. And worse still are the flat to annoying performances of Cotten, Welles, Howard, and whomever played the female lead.
Yes, it was shot in Vienna in the 40s and as such has a lot of eye-candy to gawk at. The incessant zither music and odd characters are mildly amusing for the first hour -- but where things take a turn for the worse is when the sleuthing and romance fail to ignite any flames in the second half. And once Welles finally arrives the film descends into contrived set pieces and a hollow, pompous conclusion.
Carol Reed spends the majority of his time on a multitude of awkward, unsatisfying encounters -- but then never delivers on their promise. The creepy violinist never gets a decent scene. Neither does the doctor. And when Holly Martin finally gets his big chance to have a very human, comedic interplay in front of a nascent culture club, the director cuts away only to then conclude the episode with a fizzle. Compare it to Robert Donat's similar scene in The 39 Steps!
But as I mentioned before, the real irritant is Lime himself, acted by Orson Welles with his usual scene-chewing hamminess. That combined with the loser of a romance story and a dull mystery makes The Third Man one of the most overrated entries in all of "classic cinema". #1 on the BFI list of best British films of all time? I'll take Brief Encounter any day over this.
Also, the Blu-Ray does not look much if any better than a standard-def DVD. I enjoyed watching the gorgeous rerelease of Casablanca much more on every level.
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