THE THIRD MAN Appreciation Thread

[The Miles Trahan Burger Experiment]

Coming May 15th from the inimitable Criterion Collection:

SPECIAL EDITION DOUBLE-DISC SET FEATURES

New, restored high-definition digital transfer

Video introduction by writer-director Peter Bogdanovich

Audio commentary by film scholar Dana Polan

Shadowing "The Third Man", a ninety-minute 2005 feature documentary on the making of the film

Abridged recording of Graham Greene’s treatment, read by actor Richard Clarke

The Third Man on the radio: the 1951 “A Ticket to Tangiers” episode of The Lives of Harry Lime series, written and performed by Orson Welles; and the 1951 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of The Third Man

Illustrated production history with rare behind-the-scenes photos, original UK press book, and U.S. trailer

Actor Joseph Cotten’s alternate opening voiceover narration for the U.S. version

Archival footage and photos of postwar Vienna

A look at the untranslated foreign dialogue in the film

PLUS: A booklet featuring essays by Luc Sante, Charles Drazin, and Philip Kerr

[FlameOfCallandor]

What is this filth?

[The Miles Trahan Burger Experiment]

What is this filth?

Better than Star Wars by a country mile.

[Phoenix Dark]

I remember it came on AMC one time, but I didn't watch it because I had just gotten back home from Mexico.

Definitely need to see it

[The Miles Trahan Burger Experiment]

I remember it came on AMC one time, but I didn't watch it because I had just gotten back home from Mexico.

Definitely need to see it

Oh yes, you do. The Departed actually homages this...

spoiler (click to show/hide)

At the end funeral scene, how she walks right past him without a word.

[close]

[Himu]

It's been on my list for a long time.

[FlameOfCallandor]

Oh yes, you do. The Departed actually homages this...

   That's not a homage.

[The Miles Trahan Burger Experiment]

Uh, yes it is. Its framed exactly like the scene in The Third Man, and is practically entirely ripped from said film. Plus, Scorsese is noted as being a huge TTM fan, so its a no brainer.

[Phoenix Dark]

Well the scene you described sounds kinda generic - a woman, upset after a funeral, walks past a main character. That's happened in many movies and books.

But if it's frame for frame than you're probably right about it

[The Miles Trahan Burger Experiment]

Well the scene you described sounds kinda generic - a woman, upset after a funeral, walks past a main character. That's happened in many movies and books.

But if it's frame for frame than you're probably right about it

Wikipedia backs me up:

The scene where psychiatrist Madolyn Madden walks away from Sullivan at Costigan's funeral mirrors the scene in The Third Man where Anna walks away from Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten) at Harry Lime's (Orson Welles) funeral. Anna had a fling with Holly but could not forgive him for betraying Harry, her lover and a friend to Holly, to the Vienna police.

[bagofeyes]

You did that wiki yourself didnt you

[The Miles Trahan Burger Experiment]

You did that wiki yourself didnt you

Down in the "homage" section, there's actually quite a lot in The Departed. But no, I didn't write that one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Departed

[The Miles Trahan Burger Experiment]

Q: I saw "The Departed" today (I agree that the last shot was, well, cheesy). My question is about another shot in the film, when Vera Farmiga's character leaves the funeral and walks past Matt Damon. It's an obvious homage to the closing shot of "The Third Man." But why? There aren't a lot of parallels between the two stories.

Anonymous, Charlotte, NC 10/10/06
A: An unanswerable question, though you're right about the homage. (If only the movie had stopped with that shot, as "The Third Man" did.) I can't find other parallels, so I'm guessing Scorsese just paid visual tribute to a movie he loved.
Lawrence Toppman  10/11/06

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/entertainment/movies/qa_forum.html?forumId=1923&mode=display&action=&type=list&pageNo=10

So, in closing, blow me FoC.