An afternoon at the flicks

[Chulla 4,946]

The best film ever made in Britain is being re-released. I refer to The Third Man. The Broadway is showing it from this Friday until next Thursday. Here's an idea. Those interested in seeing it; lets go and then go for bite to eat and drink afterwards. The afternoon showing-times are Saturday 12.00, Sunday 14.15, Monday 14.15, Tuesday 14.15, Wednesday 16.15 and Thursday 17.15. Ticket price for us old 'uns is £6.50. It was only a bob last time I saw it at the Aspley. All in favour say aye (I can hear the deafening silence). I bet you'll all be running hither and zither to get there.

[carni 10,094]

Chulla, It sounds like a good plan, but I am sorry to say we will have to miss out on this one. We are coming to Nottingham with our Son and his Partner on Sunday for "The Armed forces Day" at Wollaton Park, and we have commitments for most days next week. Still it means you won't have to buy us a 99 or a Sucker this time.

[Chulla 4,946]

Oh, shame. I was saving a snogging seat for you and Chris.

[denshaw 2,877]

Carni, see you on Sunday. Anyone else going?

[carni 10,094]

We will look out for you Den

Is anyone else going?

[Coffers77 34]

#1 Not sure how far you take your interest in film Chulla but there was a good piece in the Independent today about Martin Scorcese's admiration for The Third Man that he first saw when a teenager growing up in New York.

He explores a range of the Director's approaches to the making of the film that he admires.

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/martin-scorsese-on-the-third-man-the-best-revelation-in-all-cinema-10340553.html

[Chulla 4,946]

Thank you for that, Coffers77. I had not seen it and am always interested in reading about the film. Sadly, hardly anyone gives the film a second glance nowadays, too hypnotized by the modern tripe spewed out these days. I will probably go to see the evening performance on Saturday, and expect to see the place full or almost full of people like me. I went there last Christmas Eve to see It's a Wonderful Life. Despite it being shown there every Christmas the place is full of true film enthusiasts. There are still some of us around.

I must have seen the film about half a dozen times, and have the DVD; but it is 65 years since I saw it on the big screen along with an audience. The only thing missing will be the tobacco smoke! Looking forward to it.

Scorcese is a great admirer of British films from the golden era, particularly Powell and Pressburger films. It pleases me that he has a great admiration for the best film ever made in this country.

[Coffers77 34]

Hi Chulla

I really like to get into films reading a lot of the background, reviews and history. I take in all sorts especially world and independent cinema and I also occasionally explore rare and vintage UK films through my Lovefilm subscription. From your post re the Third Man I am going to add a few of Carol Reed's less well known films to my rental list.

There are many good films made today even in Hollywood but you just need to separate out the lower value ones made for box office\cash returns.

On that Michael Powell link I remember Scorcese saying that he (Powell) was his guest when editing Raging Bull. It was Powell who advised on the discreet use of colour in some of the black and white fight sequences.

And on Powell and Pressburger a unique piece of film making that really enthrals me is Black Narcissus.

[Chulla 4,946]

Agree about Black Narcissus, but my favourite P & P film is A Canterbury Tale - I never tire of seeing it. I have never seen a film that evokes English life so well. I have a box-set of P & P films. Getting back to The Third Man, it is one of those (very few) films that you cannot fault. The story, screenplay, acting, direction, music, photography and art direction are all perfect, as is the choice of actors. For me one of the highlights is the old German woman in the building ranting way in German at the police on an echo-y staircase. She was eighty years old, probably spent most of her life in acting and she puts on this wonderful fifteen seconds or so in a scene that everyone will remember her for.

Carol Reed's other great film is The Fallen Idol, made just before The Third Man. His Odd Man Out is considered by some to be his best, but is too dark for my liking.

I recently bought the book telling the story of how the film was made, with visits to the sites filmed then and now. I have always wanted to see the American release of the film, just out of curiosity. It is shorter with bits and pieces changed.

[Chulla 4,946]

We went to the Broadway last night. Along with 50 others we enjoyed seeing a film we had seen a number of times, but on the big screen with superb sound - the zither never sounded better. With the evening being very warm, Broad Street was heaving with people sitting outside of the cinema and at all of the pavement tables of the bars along the street. Very noisy but not roudy. A really nice atmosphere.

[DavidA 153]

I might go and see this. It's a classic, and is far better than the souless dross the studios spew out today.

[Michael Booth 7,364]

I can never understand why people will watch the same film a number of times. Once you know the ending all the mystery and suspense has gone.

[Chulla 4,946]

Michael, there are countless films I would say the same about, but there are films that, like music, touch our senses in a different way. When I view a film like The Third Man I look deeper than the storyline, which has to be good, I should say. Such films have an ambience that over-rides any previous knowledge of how it ends. It is the look of the film, the mood it puts you in, a good screenplay, and excellence in all of the disciplines associated with film-making. It is not very often that all the boxes are ticked - virtually never these days.

It was interesting to see that more than half of the people in the cinema last night were ladies - some on their own, some in pairs. This for a film that essentially is about a nasty person, and without anything like a proper love interest. They saw that special something that the great films have, and wanted to see it again on a big screen.

For me, who has seen it half a dozen times, and has the DVD, it is 65 years since I paid my bob and saw it at the Aspley cinema; a homage to the times when I did that sort of thing twice a week.

I note that the Broadway is going to have a single afternoon showing of Casablanca soon. That film has been on TV more times that I have had hot dinners, but I bet there will be a good crowd to see it again, in all its glory on a big screen.

[TBI 2,351]

I agree, Chulla. There are a great many films I can watch over and over, sometimes where I can even mouth the dialogue to myself. The fact I know the ending is not important. There is still the capacity for great enjoyment, previously missed detail and nuances of the screenplay, just savouring the action and acting and being entertained. It's just like listening to music, you never tire of your favourites.

[Guest]

Seen Kes 30 times or more, Italian job..and Von Ryan's a little more.movies for me are two hours where I can lose myself. Every Tuesday when I was at the Becket,I use to get the family allowance from queen st PO and slip into a matinee at the classic. Still love the cinema on my own!! Cross of iron, five graves to Cairo, and bunny lake is missing are some I recall. Co- op arts I remember the Broadway was called and had me a real good time in there.

[Blondie 1,392]

I can never understand why people will watch the same film a number of times. Once you know the ending all the mystery and suspense has gone.

I love watching some films over and over again - I keep them in my favourites on TV for when there is nothing on the box and I must admit I do get pleasure in re watching some of them, especially when I am feeling a bit down..............I am a bit of a romantic and do love watching the oldies........sometimes I do not get the film first time around and need to watch it again before I get to understand it.........

[Chulla 4,946]

The Third Man has one of the great film endings of all time. A dot of a person leaves the burial of Harry Lime and walks up the long avenue away from the grave. She walks slowly towards the camera, and towards the man she has come to despise. In the book the story has them walking away from the grave and linking arms. Not here. Not a word is spoken, the only sound being the final strains of the zither we have heard all the way through the film; here in melancholic mood. Will they acknowledge each other? - no, she walks straight past him without a glance and past the camera. He lights up a cigarette - silence, then fade to The End.

The author Graham Greene conceded that this was the better ending of the two, giving it a finality. Had the ending been as per the book it would have been so like many other films - man gets girl. But he didn't and as a result the ending has become legend.

[FLY2 10,109]

It's good that he didn't get the girl. That's one of the endearing moments of 'Educating Rita' that they don't 'get it on' .

[Coffers77 34]

Chulla

Really interested in this bit of film making and the departure from the book.

You must have seen Brighton Rock, also a film adaption of a Graham Greene book.

At the end of the film afer Pinkie's death, Rose is led away by nuns where the record Pinkie recorded

earlier has started playing saying how much he despised her (she loved Pinkie), but she is possibly unlikely to ever hear it fully as its scratched and therefore stuck before the really nasty stuff is spoken.

In the book it suggests Rose approaches the room where the record player is and Greene just alludes to the horror she is about to experience and it ends there.

Not sure why they made the change - Director (or studio) perhaps wanted to soften the ending just slightly.

[Chulla 4,946]

I have never seen Pinkie, would you believe. Changing details in the original story for a film screenplay has always been common, and understandable in many cases. Changing the ending is not so common, especially if the book has been in publication for a while and readers are familiar with the ending. In the case of The Third Man it was Graham Greene who wrote the screenplay, so no-one went behind his back, so to speak. I once read that the American release had a different ending, but a book I have about the film does not mention this even though it does mention other changes. The US release was eleven minutes shorter. An interesting piece of information is that the scene where Harry Lime is seen walking to the big wheel, and later away from it, is the only scene that Orson Wells shot in Vienna; all others were shot at Shepperton, including the famous doorway scene of his first appearance.

[Coffers77 34]

Diden't Orson Welles come to the shooting very late from another film he was making?

There is a piece on You Tube with Director Peter Bogdanovich where he talks about the dynamic between Carol Reed and Orson Welles.

Suggestion was that Reed was heavily influenced by Citizen Kane you can probably see some of that in the non standard camera work on the Third Man.

Also mentions that Welles only contribution to the screenplay was the bit about the Cuckoo Clock. Does all this that concur with your book?

[Chulla 4,946]

C77. No, Welles came to the shooting late because of his wayward lifestyle - here, there and everywhere in Europe. A number of scenes were shot where someone else wore the black coat and hat and ran along a street or in a sewer casting a large shadow.

There is no suggestion that Reed was influenced by Citizen Kane. Korda had a four-picture deal with Selznick, hence Valli and Joseph Cotton (Selznick contract players). Welles was an early suggestion for Harry Lime, including Noel Coward and Robert Mitchum. In the story, Lime is English. Cary Grant and James Stewart were considered for the role of Martins (Cotton).For the Valli (Anna Schmit role), Barbara Stanwyck was considered.

The famous cuckoo clock recitation was indeed scripted by Welles, but he had read something in the past that gave him the idea. Selznick wanted this removing from prints sent to be shown in Switzerland in case it offended them. Don' know if this was done.

Incidentally, during the filming of the long walk towards the camera at the end of the picture, the director considered fading out before she got to the man, thus leaving viewers wondering if she forgave him. The actual ending made it absolutely clear that she didn't.