This is like an Anti-Casablanca. There is criminals, hideouts, women, and astonishing black & white cinematography. But where Casablanca had some hope and good intentions...The Third Man is a bit pessimistic. It was filmed in post-war Vienna and it really sets quite a mood. The mystery that Joseph Cotten is trying to solve kept me intrigued and the arrival of Orson Welles is so great. That scene in the ferris wheel is definitely the best part.
Terrance Malick has such somber, slow-moving, hypnotic movies. This film was slow, but short, and wholly melancholic and tragic. People have complained that the love triangle and the emotions that come from it aren't quite fleshed out. I got why Malick kept it all reserved. The point of view is from the young girl and how she observes it all...and the desolation of the vast wheat fields adds to the somber mood and sloth-like advances of the day. I found it intriguing and whimsical.
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These are Kevin's viewings out of the above Steven Jay Schneider tome Archives
May 2012
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