Daily Dialogue — October 1, 2010

“Hello, old man. How are you?”

 — Harry Lime (Orson Welles), The Third Man (1949), written by Graham Greene

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week is character’s opening lines suggested by Judith.

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.