Daily Dialogue — August 12, 2010

“I never knew the old Vienna before the war with its Strauss music, its glamor and easy charm. Constantinople suited me better. I really got to know it in the classic period of the black market. We’d run anything if people wanted it enough and had the money to pay…”

 — Holly Martin (Joseph Cotten), The Third Man (1949), screenplay by Graham Greene

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is notable opening lines.

Trivia: The ending was the subject of contention during production. Surprisingly, Graham Greene, known for his bleak, depressing stories, wanted the film to have a “happy ending”, with Holly Martins embracing Anna Schmidt after Lime’s funeral; whereas David O. Selznick, known for his love of “Hollywood endings”, advocated that Anna should ignore Holly after the funeral. Carol Reed agreed with Selznick and the sad ending was used. Reed, however, felt insecure about the length of the nearly 2-minute shoot he filmed where Martins waits for Anna and she walks by him without acknowledging his presence.