ViewGuide

Created Nov 15, 2010 10:02PM PST • Edited Jul 21, 2015 10:02AM PST

1. Quality

2. Summary

   Good 3.0

   Classic film noir doesn’t necessarily age well, The Third Man a case in point, cool cover notwithstanding. Slow and stilted by contemporary standards, it nonetheless deserves its status as a benchmark of the genre, if not the perfect rating so many give it. Most intriguingly, it would make a dandy remake.

   Set in post-WWII Vienna, it tells the story of an American writer traveling to that bombed-out city on invitation of his childhood buddy. Arriving penniless, he learns that his friend has been killed in a freak accident and been accused of heinous crimes – equally distressing developments. The writer falls in with his buddy’s beautiful girlfriend. Together they sleuth the truth about their common departed. Their quest and stilted romance provides a platform to examine the then-fresh Central European power-sharing arrangement between the Americans, British and Russians.

   Now to the potential remake: Set it in 2011 Baghdad. Or even better, 2012 Baghdad, flashing back to 2011, 2010 and beyond. Americans, Sunnis, Shiites, Iranians and Brits form a platform to examine a war-torn city that’s just thrown off a heinous totalitarian regime. Tremendously compelling cinema, that.

   Anyway, back to the original. Fans of noir and of Orsen Welles consider The Third Man a must-see, even though the Great Welles neither directed nor appears in it for more than a memorable cameo.

4. Acting

   Great 4.0

   Though thought of as an Orson Welles vehicle, it’s really Joseph Cotten’s movie to carry. He does so ably, if not memorably or especially gracefully.

   Welles intrigues in little more than a cameo appearance. The guy knew how to make an impression.

5. Male Stars Very Good 3.5

   Joseph Cotten

6. Female Stars Great 4.0

7. Female Costars Great 4.0

8. Male Costars Great 4.0

   Orson Welles

10. Film

    Good 3.0

    Black & White, with many shades of gray. Classic film noir.

11. Direction OK 2.5

12. Play OK 2.5

13. Music Good 3.0

    The opening number, played on a zither, is quite famous.

14. Visuals Great 4.0

    How about that cover? Orson Welles stands in the dark. Noir, man. Noir.

15. Content

16. Edge

    Tame 1.1

17. Sex Innocent 1.1

18. Violence Gentle 1.2

19. Rudeness Polite 1.0

21. Reality

    Glib 1.3

22. Circumstantial Glib 1.9

23. Biological Natural 1.0

24. Physical Natural 1.0