THE THIRD MAN (1949)

Surprisingly funny. Author Holly Martins, travels to post-war Vienna to visit his friend, but finds that the friend has recently passed. Holly becomes a little obsessed with figuring out whether his buddy Harry Lime was murdered and begins to conduct his own investigation, only to learn that Lime was 1) a right bastard and more surprisingly 2) alive! Then everything comes to a head in a great sewer chase.

I saw this on DCP with a 4K restoration, but the sound quality was a little wonky. It was definitely hard to hear at parts, and with all my ear straining, I began to pick up the loudest popcorn munchers of all time. All jokes aside, why did we decide popcorn should be the snack of choice in a theater? The only snack in a theater should be shutting up. Anyway, I wish they had explored Holly and Harry’s relationship a little more. Why was Holly visiting him? Did he always know that Harry was a bit of a rascal? He didn’t seem too perturbed to discover that Lime was involved with some rackets, but he also wasn’t super quick to defend his friend when he found out what the racket really was (stealing penicillin, then watering it down and selling it). There were brief moments of what felt like a dilemma for Holly, but I think it would have been an interesting exercise for the audience to grapple with it too. That’s his friend. He stuck around extra to try and solve his murder, and now Holly has to contend with the knowledge that his friend is a monster. We didn’t get to sit with it for as long as I’d like. 

The last reel or so was banger stuff. Beautiful editing. Great tension. 

Aside from all the questions I posed above, the biggest one that has been nagging me has been: Is Orson Welles hot in this movie? I mean that shard of light reveal. Wow.

Food Recommendation: Now this one is mostly for the bit. I’d like to recommend some blue cheese, as they are made with the same bacteria that gives us Penicillin. Pair it with a Sauternes; a classic pairing, for a classic film.