Carol Reed is certainly one of the great British film makers. Up there with Powell and Pressburger, David Lean and Alfred Hitchcock although he is, arguably, less well-known. It was a trilogy of films in the mid 1940s which made him a force to be reckoned with – IRA chase drama Odd Man Out in 1947; coming-of-age tragedy The Fallen Idol in 1948 and, of course, in 1949, the brilliantly made Graham Greene scripted thriller The Third Man.
However, whilst not so celebrated, the 1950s also saw him produce solid work – 1952’s Joseph Conrad adaptation Outcast of the Islands (which starred the brilliant Trevor Howard and Fallen Idol’s Ralph Richardson); 1953’s spy thriller The Man Between (which reunited him with Odd Man Out’s James Mason); big Hollywood circus Tony Curtis/Burt Lancaster/Gina Lollobrigida movie Trapeze in 1956 and William Holden and Sophia Loren wartime romance The Key in 1958 (Trevor Howard turns up in this one too and 1959’s Our Man in Havana, which reunited him with novelist Graham Greene and starred Alec Guinness).
His biggest success, in 1968, which won him an Oscar for best director, was the smash hit musical Oliver! which turned out to be his final movie. Interestingly enough, when the casting director suggested the raffish British actor Oliver Reed might make an ideal Bill Sykes (which Reed most definitely did), he was unaware of the fact that the two Reeds were related – Carol being Oliver’s uncle. Reed died of a heart attack in his King’s Road, Chelsea home in 1976, aged 69.
It is, of course The Third Man however, which remains Reed’s most celebrated film and it is showing in a new 75th anniversary restored print at the UPP this weekend. It’s an unmissable experience for a number of reasons, although because of its European setting and American stars, it always strikes me as a very atypical “British” film (its world weary post war cynicism aligning it far more closely to the popular Hollywood film noirs of the time rather than the class conscious Ealing dramas, for example which were being made in this country).
Orson Welles, of course steals the film as the duplicitous Harry Lime. This was another role, like his performance in Citizen Kane, which captured Welles’ charm and self-awareness – but also proved that, underneath, Welles was capable of revealing deep-seated rot and moral decay. It’s a truly ambiguous performance – Lime is one of cinema’s most engaging villains – every bit as memorable as his brilliantly shot (by Robert Krasker, who was awarded an Oscar for his work on the film) first appearance from the shadows about a third of the way in; that fabulous “cuckoo clock” speech (which Welles is rumoured to have written) and the film’s superb zither music soundtrack, which was composed by Anton Karas.
However, Welles’ friend Joseph Cotten (who had also been superb in both Citizen Kane and its disastrous follow up The Magnificent Ambersons, which the studios had butchered) is also on top form; the Italian actress Alida Valli (who had also worked with Hitchock [and Gregory Peck] on a rare misfire – courtroom drama The Paradine Case, in 1947) is amazingly beautiful and eminently desirable (the final tracking shot of Valli walking past Cotten is one of the great endings of any movie) and Brief Encounter star Trevor Howard, who was hot off of Lean’s 1949 unsung romance The Passionate Friends (which I think holds its own against Brief Encounter) is also on strong form (as noted, Howard, who was a notorious drinker and Reed forged a good working relationship on this film – working together on several subsequent projects. Interestingly, these also include 1962’s Mutiny on the Bounty – which Reed was originally set to direct before he fell out with its star Marlon Brando).
Two other familiar faces crop up in The Third Man’s cast in minor roles – Bernard Lee (the original M in the Bond films, who had previously worked with Reed on The Fallen Idol) plays Sergeant Paine and Wilfrid Hyde-White (best known for his comedy performances in, amongst others, Carry On Nurse and Two Way Stretch and his turn as Colonel Pickering in 1964’s My Fair Lady) is Crabbin. Both of these actors have fascinating lives – Lee suffering from terrible bad luck in the 1970s, following the death of his wife in a house fire (which Lee himself survived) and a random mugging – which left him alcoholic and penniless, until Richard Burton, of all people ran into him in a pub (of course) and spontaneously wrote his a cheque for six grand to pay off his debts, which enabled him to get back on his feet. Hyde-White, bon viveur and reckless gambler, declared himself bankrupt at the end of the 70s and spent his final years living as a tax exile in Los Angeles, where he died in 1979 from heart failure, aged 87, ending his career appearing on TV in (amongst others) Columbo, Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rodgers in the 25th Century.
The Third Man currently resides at number 63 in the BFI list of the “greatest” films of all time, says he, sounding like a 1970s Radio One DJ. That’s about right, I would say. There are a number of films which are “better than” The Third Man, and to place it any higher would mean it’s being over-rated. To place it any lower, on the other hand, would be doing this memorable, superbly executed, morally complex and fantastically acted British gem a major disservice.
If you’ve never seen it, make the effort. If you’ve already seen it, make the effort to do so again. See you there. Down in the sewers.
Dr Andrew C Webber is a Film teacher and examiner with nearly 40 years’ experience. He currently contributes to both the Cinema of the 70s and 80s magazines (available on Amazon); cassette gazette fanzine (available from cassette pirate on e-bay) and the Low Noise music podcast available on Spotify and Apple podcasts.
