Common Sense Note
This is a movie that sets out to entertain, and does so ingeniously, without blood or sensational violence. Still, the shadowy, suspenseful mood and wry dialogue may not appeal to some preteens, so this one is better for teens and their parents.
Common Sense Review
Reviewed By: Scott G. Mignola
Several factors contribute to make THE THIRD MAN as powerful and as stunningly original now as it was when it premiered to great acclaim in 1949. Graham Green's taut story and wonderfully snappy dialogue provide a strong foundation for some outstanding performances. Then there are the dank and glorious ruins of Vienna, exquisitely captured by Robert Krasker's Oscar-winning camerawork.
And there's that music, a lone zither plucking jauntily away throughout the movie, even at the scene of a murder. Director Carol Reed's unconventional choice to have unknown musician Anton Karas perform the entire soundtrack met with objections, but it worked splendidly and made a star of Karas. ("He'll have you in a dither with his zither," proclaimed the original theatrical trailer.)
Orson Welles doesn't appear onscreen until two-thirds of the way through, but his presence is felt early on. The skewed camera angles, the imposing shadows; these, he said, were Reed's genius, but there's no mistaking the influence of his own Touch of Evil and Citizen Kane, which Welles and Joseph Cotten also starred in together.
This is a movie that sets out to entertain, and does so ingeniously, without blood or sensational violence. The American Film Institute voted it number fifty-seven on their list of the 100 greatest American movies of all time. It stands there in very good company between Sunset Boulevard and Hitchcock's Vertigo.
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ViolenceNone except for a few fatal gunshots, only by reference. A murder scene is tastefully presented without a drop of blood. The dark, haunting mood and a chase through a winding sewer system might unnerve some preteen viewers. |
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