-
Seasonal Offer:
This title is part of our Seasonal Offers promotion.
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade in The Third Man (BFI Film Classics) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Special Offers and Product Promotions
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
A window is thrown open and sudden light illuminates the face of Orson Welles. Harry Lime's return from the dead in "The Third Man" (1949), Carol Reed's unique thriller set in occupied Vienna, is one of the most famous scenes in all cinema. But there is more besides: the zither score, the tilted shots, the cuckoo-clock speech, the desperate manhunt in the city sewers. A British-American co-production overseen by Alexander Korda and David O. Selznick, "The Third Man" was written by Graham Greene, photographed by Robert Krasker and featured, along with Welles, Joseph Cotten, Alida Valli and Trevor Howard. All of the did superb work under Reed's subtle direction. After "The Third Man", Carol Reed was hailed as one of the world's great directors. This title sets out to understand what kind of artist Reed was and whether he deserved such accolades. Rob White explores how the film came to be made and seeks to explain its fascination.
About the Author
Rob White joined the staff of the British Film Institute in 1995. He writes the 'Channelling' column for Sight and Sound.
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
There are no customer reviews yet on Amazon.co.uk.
5 star
4 star
3 star
2 star
1 star
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
"Cafe Mozart at Midnight"
17 Oct 2006
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a fine entry in the series of BFI guides to classic films. White basically describes the film, interrupting his description with background material. Perhaps a splendid way to enjoy this book is to watch "The Third Man" on DVD. Watch a scene, then read what White has to say, then watch the next scene.
Some of the material White brought up was familiar to me, such as the wrangling between producer Alexander Korda and distributor David Selznik, but he also brought up things I had never read before, such as the background and credits of the European performers who play Dr. Winkel, the landlord, Anna's landlady, Baron Kurtz and Popescu.
"The Third Man" is one of the great movies of all time, and this book will increase your enjoyment of it.
Some of the material White brought up was familiar to me, such as the wrangling between producer Alexander Korda and distributor David Selznik, but he also brought up things I had never read before, such as the background and credits of the European performers who play Dr. Winkel, the landlord, Anna's landlady, Baron Kurtz and Popescu.
"The Third Man" is one of the great movies of all time, and this book will increase your enjoyment of it.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Graham Greene, Carol Reed, Orson Welles, et al., including the zither
1 Mar 2012
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the entry in the series of books, BFI Film Classics, on the movie "The Third Man" - directed by Carol Reed, with the screenplay by Graham Greene. Released in 1949, the movie was hailed by the British Film Institute as the best British film of the 20th Century. The American Film Institute decided that it was sufficiently American (it was co-produced by David O. Selznick) to include it in its list of the 100 Greatest American Films (though at number 57, one more instance in which British aesthetic taste is superior to ours).
If you liked "The Third Man", you will enjoy paging through this brief book. It consists of a narrative and analysis of the film interspersed with numerous relevant asides, such as background on the Reed-Greene collaboration, casting decisions (Cary Grant rather than Joseph Cotten was first offered the role of Holly Martins, but Grant wanted too much money), Anton Karas and the distinctive zither accompaniment, and various cinematic influences. In addition, the book includes dozens of stills from the movie and a handful of photographs from the shooting of the film. The text is informed and informative, but without academic pretentiousness. Here are two of those nuggets:
In Graham Greene's original screenplay and in his novella, the dangerously innocent American who stumbles and bumbles his way through Vienna looking for his boyhood friend Harry Lime is named Rollo Martins; in the film, his name is Holly Martins. Why the change? Joseph Cotten objected to playing someone named Rollo; he thought it sounded homosexual. David O. Selznick also was uneasy about what he detected to be homosexual overtones to Greene's screenplay. Indeed, in an initial conversation with Greene he asked, "And what's all this buggery?" Greene responded, "Buggery?" Selznick said, "Look. Chap goes out to find his friend. Doesn't find him. He's apparently dead. Why doesn't he go home?" Talk about homophobia.
Nor does Greene's novella contain the most famous lines from the movie, spoken by Orson Welles/Harry Lime to Holly Martins at the Prater ferris wheel. The words were improvised by Orson Welles: "In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly."
If you liked "The Third Man", you will enjoy paging through this brief book. It consists of a narrative and analysis of the film interspersed with numerous relevant asides, such as background on the Reed-Greene collaboration, casting decisions (Cary Grant rather than Joseph Cotten was first offered the role of Holly Martins, but Grant wanted too much money), Anton Karas and the distinctive zither accompaniment, and various cinematic influences. In addition, the book includes dozens of stills from the movie and a handful of photographs from the shooting of the film. The text is informed and informative, but without academic pretentiousness. Here are two of those nuggets:
In Graham Greene's original screenplay and in his novella, the dangerously innocent American who stumbles and bumbles his way through Vienna looking for his boyhood friend Harry Lime is named Rollo Martins; in the film, his name is Holly Martins. Why the change? Joseph Cotten objected to playing someone named Rollo; he thought it sounded homosexual. David O. Selznick also was uneasy about what he detected to be homosexual overtones to Greene's screenplay. Indeed, in an initial conversation with Greene he asked, "And what's all this buggery?" Greene responded, "Buggery?" Selznick said, "Look. Chap goes out to find his friend. Doesn't find him. He's apparently dead. Why doesn't he go home?" Talk about homophobia.
Nor does Greene's novella contain the most famous lines from the movie, spoken by Orson Welles/Harry Lime to Holly Martins at the Prater ferris wheel. The words were improvised by Orson Welles: "In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly."
Start the Zither music!
14 May 2011
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
The whole concept of small, pithy books of film criticism is top notch. Here you have a very knowledgeable author who clearly loves and understands not only "The Third Man" but who also knows how to tell a tale.
Cannot say too much about this book. If you think you know the film, the book will add an additional layer of insight. If you have never seen the film or are too young to understand the meaning and consequences of a "black market" and moral ambiguity then this movie and book should be required reading and viewing.
To paraphrase the book, "I never saw Vienna before the war or shortly after the war either" the movie and this book shed some light that. It also makes us look at ourselves are we a Holly Martin or Harry Lime?
EXCELLENT ALL AROUND
Cannot say too much about this book. If you think you know the film, the book will add an additional layer of insight. If you have never seen the film or are too young to understand the meaning and consequences of a "black market" and moral ambiguity then this movie and book should be required reading and viewing.
To paraphrase the book, "I never saw Vienna before the war or shortly after the war either" the movie and this book shed some light that. It also makes us look at ourselves are we a Holly Martin or Harry Lime?
EXCELLENT ALL AROUND
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
- Books > History > Cultural History
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > Criticism & Theory
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Film > Guides & Reference
- Books > Music, Stage & Screen > Performing Arts
- Books > Reference > Directories > Art
- Books > Reference > Directories > Film & Performing Arts
- Books > Reference > Encyclopaedias
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
