The Third Man

August 23rd, 2009

I am such a fan of The Third Man! Not only is it a well acted and well-shot movie, I loved the fact that I could pick out individual places of interest in the background. I was sitting next to Natalie in the movie theater and we probably interrupted each other 8-10 times trying to tell each other that we recognized a church, statue, or monument that was being shot. One of the important things that I took out of the movie was the "feeling" of what it was like living in Wien post-World War II. It was interesting to see the portrayal of the militarized zones and the officers that were keeping "order" in their individual part of the city.

In many ways the "Cuckoo Clock Speech" is a metaphor for the way that people felt after going through the Great War and trying to survive in a city like Wien. When Lime compares the people to dots he is acting like an air force pilot on a bombing raid. In many ways his profession is like an air raider in that he sets off the bomb (bad drugs) and doesn't watch the innocent suffer the consequences. His speech reminded me of the countless civilian bombing campaigns that what on during the Great War and how people justified it. Maybe they are black dots. If they don't have faces do they actually count? There were times in the movie that I actually understood where he was coming from, which is frightening. I think that he was just trying to make quick and easy money, but who can say what you personally would do if you were stuck in post war Wien. It seemed like everyone in the movie except Sgt. Pain had some kind of backwards motive to them, and he was the one in the end who suffered the consequences.

I really liked the score to the movie, composed by Anton Karas. What I liked is that the plunky/catchy tune was so NOT what I envision for Wien today. I'm sure that was done on purpose (no waltzes) and shows that at that time in Wien's history she wasn't actually herself. Wien was in a much darker place after the war, evident by the bombed out streets and blatant mistrust amongst the four sides within the city.

One aspect I did catch onto was the way that the "Soviet Zone" was referred too. The soldiers often talk about how Harry could easily escape into the Soviet Zone and there is little cooperation between the parties involved. There is still talk in Wien about the distaste of the Russians during the occupation and the horrors and savagery that they brought to the people as payback. Knowing this I still wonder why the Viennese haven't torn down the monument to the Russian Soldier, although Dr. O says it is because the Viennese don't like change.