Some
Previous Students’ Bibliographic Annotations of Secondary Sources for
The
Third Man
These sources and notes are not all high-quality work. I wanted to give you some sense of the spectrum of what students had written so that you could experience for yourself the difference between a well-chosen source (e.g., Osteen and Thomas) and poorly chosen sources (the unsigned New York Times review and Noble), and between well-written notes that tell you exactly what might be useful about the source's thinking (e.g., the discussions of Driver and Flinn) and notes that are so vague that you would have to read the article yourself to know specifically what might be useful in it (e.g., the notes on Noble and the unsigned Sight and Sound review). Some notes (e.g., Thomas) confuse the bibliographic document format so badly that they would make it difficult for you to locate the source. Others (Flinn) keep you from knowing how recently the source is writing.
Driver,
Paul. “A Third Man Cento.” Sight and Sound 59 (1989-1990): 36-41.
This critique summarizes all of the scenes in The Third Man and
comments on the history, musicality of the structure, and cruciform structure.
The advanced style of filming uses angled shots to create moods and location
shots where the picture mimics the narration. There is also a story relayed
about some of the real medical attendants who sold penicillin in Vienna. While
watching the movie they were horrified by the consequences of their crime. As
for the structure, Driver says that the “two funerals stand as prologue and
epilogue” (41). The critique also comments that Harry is a “cynical
allusion” (41) to the resurrected Christ.
Flinn,
Caryl. "In a lonely street;
film noir, genre, masculinity."
Signs
19: 786-91.
In "In a lonely street; film noir, genre, masculinity," Caryl
Flinn discusses what characteristics are important in a film.
One characteristic he mentions is challenging Hollywood's conventional
style. The Third Man
does just this in the fact that Holley does not get the girl in the end.
Another important aspect is the woman in the movie.
She is necessary to create a conflict for the characters.
Again, this happens in The Third Man.
Anna causes conflict for Holley in that she does not fall in love with
him in the end of the film.
Kemp,
Phillip. “The Third Man.” Sight & Sound April. 1994: 54-5.
“What
Welles did bring to the film¼was
an obsession he shared with Greene: the preoccupation with betrayal and lost
innocence.” This source offers a
good overview of the film, and retells all of
its major points. It is most valued for acknowledging Welles’ creative
influence on the film, and it gives us many examples as to what they were. Such
as, shot angles, and his own input into the development of his character, Harry.
Noble,
Peter. The Fabulous Orson Welles.
London: Hutchinson, 1956.
This biography of Orson Welles tells of his life from the beginning of
his childhood. A chapter of this
book is devoted to The Third Man and the involvement Welles had in
its development. It discusses the
character Welles played in the movie and the role he had in the production and
filming of it. It also mentions the
methods and style in which the movie was filmed.
Osteen,
Mark. "The Big Secret: Film
Noir and Nuclear Fear."
Journal
of Popular Film and Television. 22 Summer 1994: 79-90.
Osteen's article "The Big Secret:
Film Noir and Nuclear Fear" analyzes how the underlying fear of
nuclear war in postwar America was central to the plots in the film noir genre.
Osteen ascertains that the plot of the majority of the postwar film noir
productions involved "a big secret," as a direct result of the
conspiracy in U.S. government of the 1950's.
He goes on to say that "the secrets in films noirs thus act
structurally and thematically as atomic engines, or even as bombs" (81).
Within the "nuclear noir" category there are several different
plot schemes. These include:
Double Agents, Noirs of the Living Dead, Science and Silence, and What's
in It for Me?.
Osteen
uses detailed descriptions of several movies to explain the different types of
plot schemes. Among these descriptions is The Lady From Shanghai, a film
by Orson Welles whose plot has the structure of a "Noir of the Living
Dead."
“The
Third Man” The New York Times Feb 3, 29:2
(1949???)
This is a
review of the movie The Third Man. The person who wrote this critique
liked it very much. He said the
movie was cleverly laced with cinematic tricks to increase the excitement and
tension. The script was very good
and all of the actors played their parts well.
He also said that the music of the zither was the best part because it
adds to the thriller and the “swift intriguing romance" (29).
Psychoanalysis is embedded into the language, imagery, actions and
characters which appear in film noir. The
author discusses how the genre of film noir relates to psychoanalysis. The
reason for the correlation was the popularity of psychoanalysis at the times the
films began to emerge. The main
theme of the review is that in both psychoanalysis and film noir, looks are
deceiving and there is much emphasis on the conscious and unconscious.
The male protagonist especially embodies the essence of psychoanalysis in
that both his history and his instincts are stressed in the film. The male protagonist also refers to Freudian terms and
references, by discussing his dreams and his relations with his mother.
He is considered neurotic in that he obsesses about finishing unfinished
business. Flashbacks in the films
also illustrate the neurotic need to repeat and the psychoanalytical emphasis on
the past.
Unsigned Review Sight and Sound. 59 (Feb. 1992) 37-41.
The article reviewing the movie entitled The Third Man discusses
the many numerous aspects of the film. The
article covers areas such as cinematography, the plot, the actors, and the
script. The writer also picks out very important scenes that the
audience may not see as clearly as the film makers intended them to be, and
gives a full description of those more important ones.
This article mainly attempts to convey the ingenious film work and acting
that make this movie as successful and memorable as it is.