"The Third Man"

The first thing I want to talk about is not the movie, it's Orson Welles. Much like John Wayne, Orson Welles has become a staple for impressionists all the way up to today. Believe it or not, I had not ever seen him in a movie until I saw, "The Third Man". My only knowledge of him came from his voice during his "War of the Worlds" broadcast, "The Brain" from Animaniacs, and all the jokes at his expense on the best animated show ever, "The Critic". I have to say, he's a phenomenal actor. He really had presence and his character (Harry Lime) in "The Third Man" was the most charming scumbag ever put on film. I can see why he's become iconic. (Though, to me, he did look like the bi-product of a genetic combination of William Shatner and Jonathan Frakes.)

The movie is set in post WWII Vienna, which is still so war-torn it has been separated into 4 districts. One for the Americans, one for the British, one for the Russians, and one for the French. Needless to say, the environment is a little tense and militaristic. Carol Reed, the director, does a great job of showing the tension in the city. He especially seems to focus on language differences, many times letting the audience suffer through a language they don't understand, the same way the lead characters do. As someone who has personally experienced being the linguistic fish out of water, I had a great deal of patience for this and respected how it supported the story.

The film looks a lot like an art movie. It's shot in black and white, which lends a lot more weight to many of the frame-ups. The iconic one being near the end of the movie, where the lead character (played well by Joseph Cottons) is looking for his friend, Harry Lime, down a series of either dark or backlit tunnels. Since the entire movie revolves around the mystery of whether or not Harry Lime is dead, I saw these scenes as being metaphorical for death. You know, everyone running toward the light at the end of the tunnel.