Friday 16 October 2009

The Third Man still quite good shock!!!

How much did Orson Welles pay the cinematographer on theThird Man?

Went with S and W to Crystal Palace to the increasingly excellent Crystal Palace Pictures Film Club to see TTM and even though I've seen it before was blown away again. It's audacious, famously Orson doesn't turn up for a hour and Joseph Cotton and Alida Valli have to hold the film. The fact that Vienna looks great in all it's crumbling shiny cobbled wonderfulness helps. But it's the fact that every shot Orson Welles is in looks fantastic that makes the film so great the last 20 minutes are startling. Oh and last scene is great too.
The only stumble in the whole film is the scene when Cotton and the British Officers enter the sewers and they are surrounded by rushing water and well you know what and there are rats running in the distance and Cotton turns and asks "What is this place?" sorry I had to laugh. That quibblette aside it's a joy from end to end.

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