Hidden Movie Gem: “The Third Man”

Today’s Hidden Movie Gem guest post comes from Jonathan Melikidse.

MOVIE TITLE: The Third Man

YEAR: 1949

WRITER: Graham Greene

LEAD ACTORS: Orson Welles, Joseph Cotton, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard

DIRECTOR: Carol Reed

PLOT SUMMARY: 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.

WHY I THINK THIS IS A HIDDEN GEM: It has it all: Interesting characters, great dialogue and beautifully shot in a post-war setting.

MY FAVORITE MOMENT IN THE MOVIE: Harry’s Porter (played by Paul Hoerbiger) trying to explain in broken English to fresh-off- the -plane Martins that the friend who sent for him is dead.

MY FAVORITE DIALOGUE:

Harry: Don’t be so gloomy. After all it’s not all that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love — they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long Holly.

— —

Crabbin: [inviting Holly Martins to give a lecture at the local Cultural Reeducation Society] We do a little show each week. Last week we had “Hamlet.” The week before we had… something.
Sgt. Paine: The striptease, sir.
Crabbin: Yes, the Hindu dancers. Thank you, sergeant.

KEY THINGS YOU SHOULD LOOK FOR WHEN WATCHING THIS MOVIE: The setting — how it was shot. The entire location holds a beauty to it that could only have been built by time, but it’s torn and beaten down by war. Not your usual “Hollywood” ending where he gets the girl and everything is roses. This movie is just as much about the cat and mouse game the characters are involved in as it is about the way life was in post war Vienna.

TRAILER:

Thanks, Jonathan! To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!

Tomorrow: Another Hidden Movie Gem!

Note: At this point, we have 30 guest posts. We are shooting for 31. If you’d like to submit a post for one of your favorite Hidden Movie Gems, please use the above template and email to me.

Also I’m looking for a special horror gem to post on Halloween Day.

You’ve done a great job so far, folks. Let’s finish this series strong!

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