It’s definitely going to be difficult focusing in on the film and camera angle aspect of the movies we watch. I find myself focusing either too much on the minute details such as the fluidity of the film (such as the scene at the beginning of The Third Man where it shows the cars parked, and then there is a break in the picture and then the car is driving away) or focusing only 0n the story line and what is going to happen.
I thought that it was interesting that this film was created by the London Film Production, was set in Vienna, prominently featured an American citizen, involved several German speaking characters, and contained the Russian police. I found the mix of cultures and backgrounds surprising because of the time this movie was created during (1949). In the reading the author points out that the film camera is constantly showing scenes of wreckage left behind from the war. I hadn’t noticed this when first watching the movie, but realized the significance of the destruction after having it pointed out to me. The author writes, “legibility and coherence are lost in the rubble, as Reed disorients us with the rapid cuts of the opening montage (twenty eight different shots in six seconds).” These opening scenes include views of the rubble, shots of the black market, and the occupied allied armies. These scenes of instability come up repeatedly throughout the movie. The “old Vienna” is gone to those of the present, and what is left is a place of deceit and the memory of fascism. I also noticed the lack of subtitles when characters were speaking in a language other than English. The author suggests that this represents the total breakdown of understanding and the mutual incomprehension of the Allied officials and the audience.
The introduction to the movie seemed simple yet clever to me. It took me about a minute to realize that the screen was not just a normal black and white striped image, but a stringed instrument that was being plucked as the different names came and went. Today’s movies seem to feature complicated scenes pertaining to the film or overly dramatic sequences. I always find the simplicity of old movie introductions refreshing. The memorable overtures and laid back openings are notable and humble in comparison to most present day beginnings.
One of the main elements I noticed that was used in this movie was that of foreshadowing. The movie begins with Holly Martins walking underneath a ladder. Although I do not know European superstitions, I must suppose that they are related to the American ones. This sets the movie up for a string of events bursting with bad luck. When Holly is told his friend Harry has been killed in a freak automobile accident, the story and the bad luck begin.
Another element used was that of Dutch angles. I think this technique suggests to the viewer the dispositions of certain characters, and it also allows the audience to gain insight into what may happen (such as when glimpses of minute characters are given). It provides the eyeline in which a given character is viewing a scene and gives the audience their prospective.
I found myself most excited by the fact that I actually recognized one of the actors (Wilfrid Hyde-White) as having played Coronal Pickering in one of my favorite musicals, My Fair Lady (1964).
I automatically became more invested with this movie after seeing him. As the plot thickened I didn’t even care that his part was to be considered minor at best. The murder mystery became more intriguing and I began to focus in on the clues that were left for both the characters in the story and the on looking audience. The most important clues I picked up were the dog that both the baron and the doctor shared (this connected the two together in a much bigger way than just them happening to be brought together by the “accident”) and the cat that Anna proclaimed only liked Harry. As soon as the cat rubbed against the unseen man in the alley way I suspected it to be Harry, and when Harry was shown to definitely still be alive I found myself coming to the conclusion that it was the medical man that was actually murdered.
Narrative Film to 1940 